Floor malted pilsner

[kbindera]

Through a local grain subscription service, I am getting a 10lb. share of floor malted pilsner. This malt comes from 6 row barley and has the following specs:
Barley Specs
Variety - Tradition 6 Row
Date Planted - March 29, 2012
Date Harvested - July 2012
Storage Moisture (%) - 11.4%
Bushel Weight, lb - 50.8
DON - 0.8 ppm
DM Protein - 10.8

Malt Specs
Date Malted - 4-27-14
Hot Water Extract Fine (%) - 71.56%
Hot Water Extract Course (%) - 68.68%
Fine/Course Extract Difference - 3.98%
Conversion Time - <5min
Moisture (%) - 4.8%
Color (Lovibond) - 2.93
pH - 5.5
Wort Taste - Sweet with a slight malty backbone. A small amount of acidic flavor.
Wort Aroma - Malty and Sweet

Some additional notes from the Maltster:
"You will find this malt to be sweeter than our normal pilsner and with a touch of acidity. This is due to the higher than optimal germination temperature on the floor."

This isn't the kind of malt I will get a lot of, so I want to prepare my beer as best I can. Specifically, the mash. I am considering a Bohemian or German Pilsner beer for this malt, as I want to show case it. I have the setup to properly temp control a lager fermentation, but I have not ever done one.

Anyway, I a looking for tips on constructing my recipe and handling my mash:
-Is a decoction mash advisable, given that this is 6 Row barley?
-Given the maltster's comments on the sweetness and acidity levels, is touch a carapils unadvisable?
-Do the specs on this grain point to an "under modified" malt? I am not really clear on what the definition of "modified" really means in malting and how to look at a spec sheet to determine if something is highly "modified" or not.

Any feedback is appreciated.

 

[thegreatmaibockaddict]

I am guessing this is a domestic malt. The mention of acidity makes me realize why I do not like Briess malts (6 row) as I can pick out the acidity of the malt in the beer (I never thought of this before-thanks!). Try Blue Point toasted lager and you will see what is meant by acidic flavor. And I had made a Doppelbock with half German Malt and half Briess (Munich) and i could taste the acidic twang that malt has (2 decoctions for the mash as well).

I would keep it very simple with the test batch and see what you come up with. Do not add any other malts, and do an infusion mash. Adjust from there after you see what you have.

Decoction mashing may or may not help, but it should extend the malt flavor.

 

[kbindera]

Thanks for the reply and the tip on the Blue Point beer. I should be able to get ahold of that.
This is domestic, grown in Canastota, NY. Getting through Valley Malt's malt of the month club.

I found the acidity comments interesting too. I like to adjust my mash pH with acid malt, so I may back off of that and see where the pH lands.

 

[thegreatmaibockaddict]

I use the acid or sauered malt myself, but that is not something that adds acid flavor to the beer. There may be something about 6-row that adds an acidic flavor, but I am not sure. More research needed!

 

[thegreatmaibockaddict]

This may tell you something. Found this as part of a BYO article (nothing to do with acidity) Seems like your malt is a bit low

xtract Potential:

Malt analysis sheets usually list several indicators of extract potential, including FG, CG and the F/C ratio. Fine-grind (FG) extract percentage indicates the maximum soluble yield possible from the malted barley. The higher the FG extract, the more soluble the malt will be. Typical FG is approximately 80%. These numbers are usually given on an as-is basis. This means the malt includes moisture as opposed to a dry-basis analysis. This is more useful since brewers weigh out the malt with its moisture intact.

Coarse-grind (CG) extract will give you a good indication of what the grain underwent during malting and it will typically more closely approximate actual brewhouse results. CG Extract should be around 78%.

The fine/course (F/C) difference indicates the modification of the malt, how far the sugars in the barley have been modified during malting. “Steely” malt destined for a step-mash should have a targeted fine-coarse difference of 1.8–2.2% while “mealy,” well-
modified malt is best suited for an infusion mash and will have a targeted difference of 0.5–1.0%. Steely and mealy are used to describe the appearance of the endosperm (the very tip of the malt kernel). As a brewer, you will want to know how well the malt will crush and how accessible the endosperm will be to mash enzymes. The better and more extensive the malting, the higher percentage of mealy kernels.

 

[TheCanisDirus]

Acid malt, in my experience and from what all i've heard, will most definitely add a "sour acidic" taste to the beer depending on how much is used. It will also be a more "complex" sour than simply using lactic acid (this i havent experienced but heard). There was a good Brewing Network podcast that had a segment on sauermalz where they went over some of the details of effect on mash pH as well as the flavor components. I'll see if i can find it.