Does Crystal Malt add to the final gravity?

I brewed a William's Tripple Hop Ale today with my son to introduce him to home brewing. The kit had 8 lbs. of blended liquid malt extract and said had an average original gravity of around 1.053. I added 2 lbs. of crushed crystal malt 40L to the recipe to add some "freshness" to the brew. I was under the impression that crystal malt only adds flavor and color. I steeped it at 155 degrees for 30 minutes, then added the extract and continued with the instructions. The only other thing I changed was I added 5 lbs. of LME at the beginning of the boil, then the last 3 lbs. the last 15 minutes as I only have a 3 gallon pot and I wanted to keep the color close to correct.

After putting everything into the 5 gallon carboy and topping off with spring water - I shook the bajeebers out of it then took my gravity reading. 1.071 at 68 degrees! Wow - this was a kit - any ideas on what raised the OG so much over the target? Was it the crystal malt, or the late extract addition?

A steeping will typically get about 30% of the available point out of it. Two pounds would give you about 20 gravity points or raise your 5 gallons by 1.004. It's more likely your finished volume was just a bit low.

I've actually been wondering the same thing about my steeping grains. If you hold them around 155, this is mashing temperature, so you would in effect be mashing those grains, but 30 minutes isn't really long enough for a full mash. If you left them at that temp for longer you would convert more starches to sugars I think. Can someone more knowledgeable chime in?

Well - I ordered the crystal malt through Williams as well, and had them crush it as I don't have a mill. When I opened the packages I discovered their version of "crushed" is "pulverized"! I am sure that added to the efficiency, but I would not expect almost .020!

Bobby - my finished volume was right at 5 gallons as the kit states it is for. I usually fill-er-up to get as much as possible

Kungpaodog said:

I've actually been wondering the same thing about my steeping grains. If you hold them around 155, this is mashing temperature, so you would in effect be mashing those grains, but 30 minutes isn't really long enough for a full mash. If you left them at that temp for longer you would convert more starches to sugars I think. Can someone more knowledgeable chime in?

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30 min actually is enough time for most of the starch conversion to take place. However, crystal malt has no diastatic power and cannot convert itself. In order for starch conversion to occour you would have to add some base malt and that would be considered a partial mash.

Brilliant! Thanks Tonedef, I was wondering about that for a while now!

DD2000GT said:

......with my son to introduce him to home brewing........any ideas on what raised the OG so much over the target? Was it the crystal malt, or the late extract addition?

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Are you sure that your new brew assistant didn't sneak a couple pounds of table sugar in when your back was turned to bump ABV?

bull8042 said:

Are you sure that your new brew assistant didn't sneak a couple pounds of table sugar in when your back was turned to bump ABV?

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I allow no such shinanigans in my brewery. I take brewing very seriously (now I can't say anything about ME bumping up the ABV ratios...)

Tonedef131 said:

30 min actually is enough time for most of the starch conversion to take place. However, crystal malt has no diastatic power and cannot convert itself. In order for starch conversion to occour you would have to add some base malt and that would be considered a partial mash.

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Not the mention that with crystal malt the starches have already been converted in the kiling process.

However steeping a pulverized crystal malt may actually get quite a bit better than the 30% efficiency. Still you might be able to get 60 points or about .0013 increase in OG as a theoretical maximum.

Craig

CBBaron said:

Not the mention that with crystal malt the starches have already been converted in the kiling process.

However steeping a pulverized crystal malt may actually get quite a bit better than the 30% efficiency. Still you might be able to get 60 points or about .0013 increase in OG as a theoretical maximum.

Craig

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but the lack of a base malt.....

im very curious to hear more opinions.

Tonedef131 said:

However, crystal malt has no diastatic power and cannot convert itself.

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Crystal does not need to be mashed period. Crystal/Caramel was converted well before it ever left the malster as a result of the malting process for the grain style.

nosmatt said:

but the lack of a base malt.....

im very curious to hear more opinions.

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No opinion. Crystal malt contains "crystal"ized sugar, not unconverted starch. The conversion has already occurred before it ever left the maltster. A simple soak in very warm water will dissolve all of the sugar into solution and you will get nearly 100% efficiency if soaking in sufficient water. Therefore you get about 32-34 gravity points per pound = approx 65 points for 2 pounds = .013 higher OG on a five gallon batch.

What you have heard about crystal only adding color and flavor is not really true. Go to any recipe calculator and you can watch the difference on OG and FG.

GilaMinumBeer said:

Crystal does not need to be mashed period. Crystal/Caramel was converted well before it ever left the malster as a result of the malting process for the grain style.

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This is correct. Crystal malts and dark roasted malt can be steeped because they don't need to be converted. What I said about base malt only applies to unconverted malts and flaked grains.

dontman said:

No opinion. Crystal malt contains "crystal"ized sugar, not unconverted starch. The conversion has already occurred before it ever left the maltster. A simple soak in very warm water will dissolve all of the sugar into solution and you will get nearly 100% efficiency if soaking in sufficient water. Therefore you get about 32-34 gravity points per pound = approx 65 points for 2 pounds = .013 higher OG on a five gallon batch.

What you have heard about crystal only adding color and flavor is not really true. Go to any recipe calculator and you can watch the difference on OG and FG.

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Well there you have it! Looks like I will need to keep an eye on my hop balance now, as I like to use crystal malt with just about every recipe.