Adding flaked rice to ale kit....

[joelsbrew]

I was recently given a few brewing ingredients one of which is flaked rice,can i add that to an ale,and if so what can i expect from it and how would i add it..just don't want to see this stuff go to wate....thanks also im using extract kits

 

[birvine]

I got this from Palmer's online reference book:

Flaked Rice Rice is the other principal adjunct used in American and Japanese light lagers. Rice has very little flavor and makes for a drier tasting beer than corn. Use 0.5-2 lb. per 5 gal batch. It must be mashed with base malt.

 

[Yooper]

You can use flaked rice to lighten the body and flavor of beer. You must do it as a partial mash, with an equal amount of two-row, to use it.

What's your recipe? Maybe we can help your reformulate it to use the rice.

 

[Skyforger]

Flaked rice is an adjunct that can add more fermentable sugar to the beer, without adding much body or flavor. Basically it's a source of more starch for the malt enzymes to turn into sugar. Some megabreweries (such as Coor's, I think) use rice in their light lagers to lighten the body while still maintaining alcohol levels (though they convert it to sugar beforehand, rather than adding it to the mash).

So yes, you can use it. Homebrewers tend to stay away from it because of its association with cheap light lagers, but there's no reason it couldn't be used well. Some craft breweries use flavorful rice in their beers to give it a unique flavor; Great Divide and Kiuichi, for instance, each have a 'rice ale' that includes some rice in the mash.

If you use it, just make sure you have enough enzymes in the mash to convert it; it doesn't have any itself. Also, I've heard it recommended that you use somewhat lower temperatures, though I'm not sure why. Might just be because if you use rice you probably are looking for greater fermentability.

If used in a strongly-flavored beer, it likely won't add any discernible flavor. In more delicately flavored beers, you may taste a touch of rice.

 

[joelsbrew]

thanks for the respnces..i use ale extract kits from Midwest supplies,I'm not sure what extract kit ill pick next but it will be a light ale of some kind,maybe we can figure out a way of using the rice flakes with a light ale....with your help...lol

 

[Skyforger]

Remember, in order to use rice you need to do a mash. Not sure what sort of kits your'e looking at, but if it's just extract and steeping grains you won't be able to just add rice to it.

 

[joelsbrew]

yah thats the kits i use..extract kits with steeping grains

 

[Skyforger]

Okay. As Yooper mentioned, you have to mash the rice with an equal amount of two-row malt. If you want to use the rice, do a stovetop mash; put the steeping grains and the two-row and rice in a steeping bag, then dunk them in a pot of water heated to 155*F or so. Hold the temp at maybe 145*F for an hour or so, then increase to 170*F as quickly as possible (maybe add some boiling water). Then take the grains out, and proceed as normal.

This will get you more sugars, mind, leading to a stronger beer. Unless you cut out some of the extract. Just post the recipe of the kit you choose, and we can help you figure out what to do with it.

 

[joelsbrew]

ok thanks

 

[joelsbrew]

so does that mean i basically steep the rice and 2 row malt with my regular steeping grains, the directions say on the kits i get to steep grains at 155 deg for 30 minutes,or is the rice flake and 2 row going to be separate process from my regular steeping grains....by the way thanks allot

 

[Yooper]

so does that mean i basically steep the rice and 2 row malt with my regular steeping grains, the directions say on the kits i get to steep grains at 155 deg for 30 minutes,or is the rice flake and 2 row going to be separate process from my regular steeping grains....by the way thanks allot

Yes- you'll add the crushed two-row and the flaked rice to the same bag with the other grains. But we'll have you steep for 45-60 minutes in 1.25 quarts per pound of grain. Then pour 170 degree water over that grain bag (it's easiest if you lift out the grain bag and put it in a colander/strainer over the brewpot) to get to your boil volume. That's it! It's super easy.

A cream ale kit might be the perfect beer to try this in- cream ales are good with rice and/or corn in them and if you can ferment it in the very low 60s with nottingham dry yeast, you'll get something very much like Genessee Cream Ale.

 

[joelsbrew]

I looked at a kit called brewers best American light,how would that turn out with the flaked rice recipe...thank you

 

[Skyforger]

The mash we described pretty much matches that kit; it won't change it much except to make it stronger in alcohol, and a touch sweeter/richer. If you were to use 1 lb each of 2-row pale malt and flaked rice, it would probably raise your original gravity by about 1.010, and accordingly increase your alcohol content by about 1%.

 

[joelsbrew]

well that wolud be worth a try for sure