Hegh
Well-Known Member
There've been a few threads along the lines of, "Should I squeeze the grain bag?". Here are a few:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/dont-squeeze-grain-bag-21712/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/should-i-squeeze-my-sack-46471/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f37/specialty-grain-question-96290/
In fact, I myself used to believe that squeezing the specialty grains to get more liquid out would extract tannins and lead to astringent beer.
But I've heard others say that it's not true (again, see the threads above).
So which is it? I've designed this experiment to find out:
Overview:
Brew a small, split-batch using malt extract and specialty grains. Split the batch so that the liquid from squeezing the specialty grains only ends up in one half of the split. Conduct a blind taste test at the end to determine the results.
Ingredients:
1 lb Gold DME
1 lb Caramel 40L
0.25 oz Fuggle 4.6% @ 60 min
1 pkt Nottingham Dry Ale Yeast
Procedure:
Steep the caramel malt in a grain bag for 1/2 hour in 3qt of 155* water. Sparge with 3qt 165* water. Tea-bag and drain as usual. Place in a colander in a bowl and squeeze by placing another, smaller bowl on top and pressing down on it.
Pour all squeezed liquid into a measuring cup and note the amount (if very small, may not be worth the trouble and unlikely to cause any flavor changes; if very large, flavor changes are more likely, but so is the temptation to squeeze).
Save the squeezed water for the moment. Add the DME to the pot and mix thoroughly. Dip out 1qt at a time, first topping off the squeezed dregs. Pour these quarts into alternating pots, keeping them even at all times. Top off any remaining wort with tap water and split that between the two pots. The pots should each have an equal volume of wort, totaling about 2 gal (assuming 1.5 gal total after boil-off). Split the hops and add to the two separate pots.
Boil as usual.
Chill with an ice water bath; these will be small pots, so it should go quickly.
Aerate, dump into gallon-sized jugs, add 1/2 pkt of rehydrated Nottingham yeast to each. The other 1/2 pkt will be discarded. Note that this is a minor over-pitch, but is unlikely to cause any off flavors.
The jugs will be covered with sanitized aluminum foil while they ferment for 1 month.
End of recipe
Does anyone have any suggestions? Should I modify the recipe a bit? The point with using such a large amount of steeping grains is to emphasize any flavors that they may impart. Oh, and lastly, has anyone done this experiment before?
#tag#scienceofbrewing
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/dont-squeeze-grain-bag-21712/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/should-i-squeeze-my-sack-46471/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f37/specialty-grain-question-96290/
In fact, I myself used to believe that squeezing the specialty grains to get more liquid out would extract tannins and lead to astringent beer.
But I've heard others say that it's not true (again, see the threads above).
So which is it? I've designed this experiment to find out:
Overview:
Brew a small, split-batch using malt extract and specialty grains. Split the batch so that the liquid from squeezing the specialty grains only ends up in one half of the split. Conduct a blind taste test at the end to determine the results.
Ingredients:
1 lb Gold DME
1 lb Caramel 40L
0.25 oz Fuggle 4.6% @ 60 min
1 pkt Nottingham Dry Ale Yeast
Procedure:
Steep the caramel malt in a grain bag for 1/2 hour in 3qt of 155* water. Sparge with 3qt 165* water. Tea-bag and drain as usual. Place in a colander in a bowl and squeeze by placing another, smaller bowl on top and pressing down on it.
Pour all squeezed liquid into a measuring cup and note the amount (if very small, may not be worth the trouble and unlikely to cause any flavor changes; if very large, flavor changes are more likely, but so is the temptation to squeeze).
Save the squeezed water for the moment. Add the DME to the pot and mix thoroughly. Dip out 1qt at a time, first topping off the squeezed dregs. Pour these quarts into alternating pots, keeping them even at all times. Top off any remaining wort with tap water and split that between the two pots. The pots should each have an equal volume of wort, totaling about 2 gal (assuming 1.5 gal total after boil-off). Split the hops and add to the two separate pots.
Boil as usual.
Chill with an ice water bath; these will be small pots, so it should go quickly.
Aerate, dump into gallon-sized jugs, add 1/2 pkt of rehydrated Nottingham yeast to each. The other 1/2 pkt will be discarded. Note that this is a minor over-pitch, but is unlikely to cause any off flavors.
The jugs will be covered with sanitized aluminum foil while they ferment for 1 month.
End of recipe
Does anyone have any suggestions? Should I modify the recipe a bit? The point with using such a large amount of steeping grains is to emphasize any flavors that they may impart. Oh, and lastly, has anyone done this experiment before?
#tag#scienceofbrewing
