Getting the same grainy richness as the Pros?!?

[GlenF]

Hello,
Been brewing AG for 2 or so years now. I love beers from Green Flash, Lagunitas, and the like. They all have a "grainy richness" from the malt that I cannot seem to replicate, yet.

Is it an ingredients thing? Mash temps? Grist/ Water ratio? Sparging technique? Boil time? I just dont know!

Please help!

 

[IrregularPulse]

Water profile?

 

[beerkrump]

What are you doing?

For a richer ale, you can try Maris Otter or Golden Promise as your base malt. Add specialty grains to give it some depth. And, mash at a higher temperature.

I read somewhere that Lagunitas mashes their IPA really high. IIRC, 160° to 158° F.

IP brings up a good point. If your water is high in sulfates, or has a low chloride to sulfate ratio, your beers will tend to be hoppier, more bitter than malty. Or, is it the other way around.

 

[asterix404]

Hah, totally off topic but I had the Lagunitas summer wheat beer and it was a beer that I left on the table. It tasted like blue berry cough medicine. For more body, mash at slightly higher temps like, 155 or 156, for grainy richness? Add wheat? Wheat does interesting things to beer. Also I get plenty of grainy goodness when I use Munich Malt, it's most likely my favorite base malt but I like German styles more then many others. Possibly also the yeast... try a maltier producing yeast?

 

[smokinghole]

It's either a yeast thing, or a sparging/vourlaf technique. Sometimes the sparge method/length and temp can have an impact. I'm sure that Weihenstephan can give me their exact malt bill recipe/hops, temps, times and other specifics but with out their specific techniques you miss something.

 

[asterix404]

Oh how about this, they are decoction mashing. I just read the Bock book and the brewers interviewed said that you can not replicate the decoction method flavor, even with the longer boil.

 

[samc]

The simple answer is it isn't that simple. It could be a combination of all the things mentioned above and it could easily be just one of them. Without actually tasting your beer it is pretty tough to pinpoint.

A simple example is the clone of Mirror Pond beer that CYBI attempted but didn't nail until they got with the program and actually brewed it with the same base malt that Deschutes uses (Great Western Pale). btw - it is a very good base malt that might help you out in your quest.

Start changing things one by one in your process and take notes of the results of each change. Best would be to brew the same beer, maybe do small batches so you don't burn out on 100 gallons of xxx.

 

[IXVolt]

Have you tried to brew a clone of any beer?

 

[Vance71975]

What are you doing?

For a richer ale, you can try Maris Otter or Golden Promise as your base malt. Add specialty grains to give it some depth. And, mash at a higher temperature.

+1 you can also try adding a few lbs of Munich Malt(you can even do 100% Munich, it will self convert.)

 

[GlenF]

I can get maltiness. But I'm talking the flavor of a smuttynose IPA or Green Flash WC IPA. It's in Modus hoperandi, lagunitas IPA (and most lagunitas beers), and Moylan's IIPA, to name a few.

And no, I've never specifically cloned anything, but I have used similar grainbills as clone recipes that I've seen.

 

[BigEd]

Hello,
Been brewing AG for 2 or so years now. I love beers from Green Flash, Lagunitas, and the like. They all have a "grainy richness" from the malt that I cannot seem to replicate, yet.

Is it an ingredients thing? Mash temps? Grist/ Water ratio? Sparging technique? Boil time? I just dont know!

Please help!

I'm not sure about the others but I believe Lagunitas and Smuttynose use UK pale malt. You won't be able to replicate that malt body with the typical North American pale malts.