Dark grains separate mash

[jdonley]

Wondering if any flavor is lost iwhen you steep dark grains separate from mash?

 

[Dolomieu]

I'm not 100% on this, but I don't think so. Iirc in one of gordon Strong's books and in a zymurgy magazine there was talk of cold steeping dark grains and adding that to the boil.

I haven't done this myself as I haven't found anything wrong with just mashing it all together. Wish I could remember which book and which issue of the magazine to share with you, but I'm drawing blanks at the moment.

 

[HausBrauerei_Harvey]

I believe dark grains and crystal malts can be steeped separately. I've done a few 10G batches where I do a separate steep of some specialty grains to add to the boil for a few minutes once I've siphoned off 5 gallons of wort, it's a fun way to get two completely different beers from one brew day.

 

[kh54s10]

I have read that either steeping the dark malts or adding them later in the mash will reduce some harshness. I have not had any problems adding all the grains to the mash so I just don't feel the extra step(s) is necessary. YMMV.

If you get harshness in your dark beers it might be worth a try.

 

[FVillatoro]

This experiment with mashing roasted brains vs vorlauf may provide some insight:

http://brulosophy.com/2015/11/30/ro...h-vs-capped-at-vorlauf-exbeeriment-results-2/

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

There are a number of ways to separate dark grains. All of them reduce harshness while still extracting the color.

You can steep separately, which gives a little flavor and all the color. You can add them just before sparging, which gives a similar result. But my preferred method is adding them late in the mash. This method still gives you the color but also allows you to adjust how much flavor you extract. I had a coffee stout that I brewed this way to reduce the "bite" of the dark roast grains so they wouldn't conflict with the coffee flavor. I also did this with a porter.

For the porter, I tried one brew just adding the dark grains (black patent, roasted barley, chocolate malt) for the last 15 minutes of the mash. The color was fine but it actually reduced the roast flavor a little too much. My BMC-loving friends even liked it The next time, I mashed for the last 30 min and the result was spot on - roasty without ash/burnt/bite. Keep in mind that, depending on your water, you may need to add some lime with the dark grains to keep your pH in line.

 

[Jsbeckton]

I tried the cold steep before and then adding at end of boil. I felt that it significantly reduced the roast. Might need to steep more than you removed from the mash to balance out.

 

[oceanic_brew]

I just brewed a dark mild and steeped 1/4 # of chocolate in 160 degree water for 20 mins. Let it cool and dumped it right in the soon to be fermented beer.

It tastes friggin amazing and I can really notice a difference both with the slight toasted flavor and the smoothness subtlety that the style calls for

Isn't it a lot to do with improper mash ph that tends to get the harshness from the roasted and crystal malts?

I've read (can't recall where) that it's a combo of high/low ph, specifically malts, high temp, and fluid dynamics(mash ratio) that contribute to this harshness.

I've figured that a short speciality malt steep in temperatures low enough not to add to the harshness would decrease this, but then I'm wondering how much that chocolate malt would lower ph in a steep to avoid the astringency problem.

I'm just gonna keep brewing and dabbling I suppose.