Kasza Gryczana (roasted buckwheat) experiment

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Jalahu

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Hi!

I am planing to make a 5l experimental batch using roasted buckwheat (known as kasza in Poland) as an adjunct. I have been looking for information in the internet but did not find that much...
I would like to use around 30% of my grain bill of buckwheat; rest pilsen so the effect of the buckwheat wont be masked at all.
For the hops I guess I should use a relatively high IBU to match the dark color I expect but not sure about this yet. Anyway I have in stock the two polish trademark hops: marynka and lublin.

I dont really expect this to be an awesome beer, just a small experiment to check the effect of buckwheat in the beer ant maybe use it in smaller amounts in the future.

Any sugestions?
Thanks!
 
I have read about using buckwheat on Ryan Brews. He does a good job with tasting notes, so that might help. Plus he is very good at responding to comments and is also a regular contributor to this forum. So I'd ask him. It sounds like a very interesting beer and I was debating using some in a Saison, so please update with your results.
http://ryanbrews.blogspot.com/2009/03/buckwheat-braggot_08.html
 
I brewed 2 buckwheat beers - an ale and a lager, both with kasha (next one will be brewed with flaked buckwheat). The buckwheat aroma is very strong, nutty flavor, somewhat grassy. If you are looking for this flavor & aroma, go light with hops, perhaps not more than 25IBU. If i can suggest something, use hops that give softier bitterness than Marynka or Magnum, like Perle or Sybilla.

Other buckwheat-based adjunct is flakes, much easier to use (does not need long gelatinization). Nutty flavor from flakes is rather faint, no difference in aroma. My next buckwheat ale will be brewed with 25% of buckwheat flakes. The problem with kasha is that it has very high protein content and should be added to the mash at the beginning of protein rest (additional time to cool the kasha, as the gelatinization requires temperatures above 80*C).

All that is about roasted buckwheat (either as kasha or flaked). There's also white kasha buckwheat, which gives very soft, silky flavor similar to unmalted wheat. I can imagine it as a part of witbier or some other light, easy beer.

Anyway, i'm pretty sure you'd find more information on buckwheat use (and recipes, of course!) at our Polish HB forum. :)
 
Ok Ill check the Polish forum, although my polish is not good enough yet. Thank you all for the suggestions!
 

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