Gravity Points from Rice

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floyd336

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Sorry if this has an obvious answer, but I haven't found it yet. I have been experimenting with rice in my home brews. I most recently cooked it, then brought the temperature down to 150, then added some crushed belgian strong malt and held for 1/2 hour. I expect this to create fermentables from the rice.

The water got pretty cloudy. But after finishing the recipe, the gravity is not what I thought it would be. I've had similar disappointment with my other recipes.

1.5 # enriched long grain white rice
1/2 # belgian strong malt
1 # amber dme
1 # corn sugar
1.8 KG wheat LME

OG 1.038; Should this be higher?
 
I would think you are not using enough malt to convert the rice. Expecting a half pound of malt to convert 1 1/2 pounds of rice is not realistic. others may be able o give you exact conversion potential of the malted barley, but I would usually use no more than 30 -50% adjuncts.
 
What is "strong" malt? Does it have any diastatic enzymes? Even if it did, like wilserbrewer said, asking a half pound of even a high enzyme malt to convert three times its' own weight in adjunct is expecting a lot. If you used a known high enzyme malt like domestic pale you would want to allow a ratio at least equal to the weight of the adjunct to insure proper conversion.
 
No idea what kind of malt that is.

I brew some adjunct Lagers and even with 6 row it usually takes over 60 minutes to get full conversion.
 
I know I shouldn't take everything he says seriously, but Stephen Harrod Buhner talked about a small bit of malt being able to convert a lot of rice, so I thought it would work.

He says that "As little as 1 part diastase to 2,000 parts starch will result in complete conversion of the starch into sugar". Does this apply to rice, or is it true at all?
 
I know I shouldn't take everything he says seriously, but Stephen Harrod Buhner talked about a small bit of malt being able to convert a lot of rice, so I thought it would work.

He says that "As little as 1 part diastase to 2,000 parts starch will result in complete conversion of the starch into sugar". Does this apply to rice, or is it true at all?

If you're looking for quality information on brewing may I suggest reading books and articles by authors knowledgeable on the subject?

Distilleries use much smaller ratios of malt:starch than breweries do but they ferment the mash, not the runoff, and the conversion continues during the fermentation time. For what you are trying to do it will not work well. Several experienced homebrewers have tried to give you good advice and you bring up Stephen Harrod Buhner??? :confused:
 
Hey now, BigEd, no offense intended. I have read a good bit of his book. I didn't claim to believe everything in it, but I have found it to be thought provoking.
 
Without running the numbers, in my less than masterful eyes, it doesn't look like that recipe would yield a lot in the OG department.

One question that comes to mind is how much did you cook the rice? I haven't done a cereal mash yet, but from what I've read I think you've really gotta cook it - until it breaks down to pretty much goo
 
Just buy some iodine. I can pretty much guarantee you that you're nowhere close to conversion in a half an hour even using the correct ratio of base malt to adjunct.

I use 6-7 lbs. of 6 row to 2 lbs of corn in my lager and it shoots black at 60 minutes. Clears up at around 75, so I just mash for 90.

30 minutes isn't going to hack it.
 
Interesting. It sounds like I'm missing on several key points. First, I just cooked the rice, but did not let it turn to goo. Second, I apparently overestimated the conversion power of that amount of malt, and I guess I'm not letting it sit long enough either.

Thanks for all the advice.
 
The problem is that we don't know what Belgian Strong malt is. If you have a link to any info, we might be able to figure out the DP (diastatic power) of the malt. If you used something like American 2-row or 6-row malt, it would be able to convert unmalted adjuncts up to 75% of the total grist. The rule of thumb is that you need somewhere between 30-50 degree Lintner averaged across the entire grist to get conversion in normal mash durations.
 
I don't know what Belgian Strong Malt is either. That was the label on the bag. I threw the bag away after I made my notes, so I can't even look at it again now. It looked light in color, like some cara pils that I've used, if that means anything.
 
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