i'v heard these grains dont add much to the OG? they are only 30% roughly efficienct for sugar extraction? do you take this into account when trying to create and calculate your OG for your planned batch? I can't seem to get a straight answer...?
Yes, as long as they're mashed with the requisite base grain needed for conversion, they will affect the gravity and, in my opinion, should be taken into consideration when calculating OG.
Some specialty grains will contribute to OG, some will not.
Some specialty grains will contribute to OG, some will not. Many require a base malt to get the enzymes for the conversion. Crystal and Carmel malts will contribute without mashing because of the process of turning them into crystal or caramel. Other specialty malts have enough enzyme to convert themselves. And you have some that wont give anything except color or flavor with out mashing with base malts. I have seen a spread sheet that has all of this info but couldnt find it for you. Sorry I am not more specific. If you are in this forum though are you already mashing something? So just throw in a pound of base malt to any partial mash or throw everything in your regular mash and you are good.
this is an interesting topic. if you mash your base malt and then remove it and then steep your grains in the wort, will you extract the fermentable and non fermentable sugars from the specialty grains (crystal malts, chocolate malt)
OK, i'm getting a feel for this now. SO, the specialty malts definitely contribute to the gravity, but depending on the type of specialty malt. Some just require you to "rinse" the sugar out of them. Some require base grain enzymes to be with them in the water. Some give fermentable sugars and some give unfermentable sugars, or even a mix of BOTH.
Now the real question is which specific specialty grains give you what????
Check the wiki for a description and function of each grain. Specialty grains do not need to be mashed, but some seem to benefit from it (or, at least, change the effect they have on the mash slightly). Some do give other flavor and color compounds, which also adds to gravity. Anything at all that dissolved or is otherwise suspended in the beer/wort adds gravity.
It should be noted that base malts also give a mix of fermentable and unfermentable sugars and other compounds. Adjuncts do the same, and some need to be mashed, often in special ways, where others do not need this. Again, the wiki, or my link to Palmer's book above gives better detail for each grain or additive.
every grain gives a mix of both fermentable and unfermentable sugars.Some give fermentable sugars and some give unfermentable sugars, or even a mix of BOTH.
other grains, such as crystal malts, give mostly unfermentable sugars - but they still contribute some (small) amount of fermentables. someone did an interesting experiment here on HBT on the fermentability of crystals. it was low, but there was some fermentable sugar in there.
You're thinking of this thread. Actually, lighter crystal malts were roughly 50% fermentable, and darker crystal 40% or so. That number went up when mashed, versus steeped. So most crystal malts, when mashed, do not contain just a small amount of fermentable sugars - most of the sugars in them is fermentable.
one had all grain mashing, the other i only had specialty. so that is what drew my questions to this forum
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