Late Mash Dark Grain Addition

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thisjrp4

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I read in Papazian's The Homebrewer's Companion that adding 1 oz of finely crushed black malt toward the end of the mash will reduce chill haze and astringent harshness in pale beers. He says that large commercial breweries in the US do this trick to their beers, which might explain why Anheuser Bush had a pile of dark grains along with other Budweiser ingredients on a beer documentary I saw on TV recently.

Has anyone done this? Does it improve the character of the beer? How fine do you crush the black malt, and when is it added?
 
CP says it wont add much in the way of color and to add the dark malt "late" in the mash. I don't know if that means half way through or with just 10 minutes left.
 
aside from adding color, I don't see what else it's going to do. How would it prevent chill haze? Does it break down those proteins? I highly doubt it.
 
From the book:

"Here's a little gem that will help reduce chill haze and reduce some harshness: Add about 1 oz of finely crushed black malt to your light beers at the end of the mash. The addition will not affect color significantly but will absorb some of the polyphenols, tannins and long-chained proteins that cause chill haze and astringent character in beers. Some of the largest brewing companies in the US use this method for some of the lightest of their beers. You may have already noticed that chill haze is less of a problem - even nonexistent - in dark beers. Aha."
 
From the book:

"Here's a little gem that will help reduce chill haze and reduce some harshness: Add about 1 oz of finely crushed black malt to your light beers at the end of the mash. The addition will not affect color significantly but will absorb some of the polyphenols, tannins and long-chained proteins that cause chill haze and astringent character in beers. Some of the largest brewing companies in the US use this method for some of the lightest of their beers. You may have already noticed that chill haze is less of a problem - even nonexistent - in dark beers. Aha."

Whoda thunk it......
 
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