KingBrianI
Well-Known Member
First of all I'm new to brewing and don't claim to have a very thorough understanding of all the intricasies of the process so if I'm completely off base here please forgive me. Now on to the question. I'll be attempting a partial mash tomorrow on Orfy's Hobgoblin clone and got to thinking about the partial mash side of things. This recipe, along with pretty much all partial mash recipes, calls for the mashing of only specialty grains (crystal, carapils and chocolate). Now it's my understanding that these specialty grains lack the enzymes necessary for converting the starches in the grains to sugars. What happens in partial mashes? Are there enough residual enzymes left after the kilning process to complete the reaction or are we pretty much just adding starch water to our boil pot? I'm actually a chemist so I'm probably overthinking this but I'd be interested in hearing what's actually happening. Thanks!