Steeping Grains

[CScotland]

I'm looking to brew my first GF beer and I'm quite a novice homebrewer as well. I plan to use sorghum extract and steep some grains as well to add flavour. Can flaked buckwheat and millet be steeped? Or is it best to use the whole grains for steeping?

Thanks

 

[Osedax]

I don't see why not. You will lend a lot of starch to the wort but, I wouldn't worry about haze on your first try.

I would also recommend toasting the grains a bit.

Hope this helps.

 

[CScotland]

Thanks. Ideally I want to minimise the starch from the steeped grains, and just have them impart flavour. Will the whole grains lend less starch than the flakes?

Also what sort of quantities would you recommend adding for a 25L batch?

Cheers

 

[MiddleButtCheek]

I'm going to attempt the same thing and am looking for advice

 

[Osedax]

I would do a relatively course crush. 3-4 pounds wouldn't be out of the question. Honestly, it depends on the recipe.

 

[AGGF_Brewing]

Your best bet would be to use malted millet instead of flaked or just whole grains. If you don't know about Grouse malts yet, definitely check them out.
http://grouseco.com/

 

[CScotland]

The problem is I'm in Scotland and there is no GF malted grains available at all, only sorghum extract hence the steeping of the unmalted grains. I would need to import which is quite expensive. I have been in touch with Grouse malts a few weeks ago and they were helpful, I may drop them another email asking if they have any information in steeping grains in this way.

Does anyone have a recipe where unmalted unroasted GF grains are steeped so I can get an idea of quantities?

MiddleButtCheek - let me know how you get on and what quantities you go for please.

Thanks

 

[Legume]

You can achieve readonable results with unmalted grains, but you should definately roast them.
just roast 1 kg of grain (to start with) in your oven (flaked or whole grain will be fine) (crush the grain if it was whole) then steep prior to the boil to add some flavor and color to your wort. If you can steep with the addition of amylase enzyme...that will be even better.

 

[billl]

Have you tasted non-roasted millet? It's pretty subtle (or bland if you are feeling less generous).

You can roast them in the oven. It isn't hard at all and will bring out substantially more flavor and aroma.

 

[Osedax]

I wouldn't say it's bland but, it definitely doesn't have an explosion of flavor. It has a very grassy taste. (I think it is a type of grass) It's slightly asparagus and brocoli. It also has a slight sour and bitter edge to it. Not unpleasant but, roasting helps reduce the off flavors it has.

 

[CScotland]

I've never tasted unroasted millet no. So my plan is to roast millet and buckwheat.

How long do you recommend? Couple of hours??

 

[Ash_Mathew]

Cs, I use buckwheat from Healthy Supplies website. Quite cheap, and come in 1kg for a couple of quid. They also offer discounts on more you buy. I malt and roast it myself, and it turns out pretty good. Only need to roast it for an hour or so on about gas mark six. If you want crystal malt, a little lower and longer. I prefer using more crystal malt buckwheat as you seem to get more fermentable sugars, and a better taste. More chocolaty/caramel like. I have also malted corn, too. I always have bad luck with millet and it never malts. Maybe it is just the Holland and Barrett version that is bad? Always on the look out for more wheatard brewers in GB, so let me know if I can be of any more help to you.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[Legume]

I just racked an IIPA to the secondary. This was a partial mash beer, and it was my first using truly malted grains, rather than just roasted unmalted grains...I will not go back.
This beer after primary fermentation was clearly superior to my previous batches. It had the "malty" flavors and full morthfeel that have been lacking in my previous batches. Many of my previous batches have been quite good, but none have been truly great.
I used 1.5 lbs malted buckwheat, and 1.5 lbs malted quinoa. I malted the grains myself in my kitchen, it really was not all that dificult at this small scale.
I think I will be moving from toasted grains to malted grains in the future. I plan to experiment with the comercially malted millet, rice and buckwheat that is now available in partial mash batches.

In short, if you cant get GF malt...You might try making a little of your own (just 1 or 2 kg to steep prior to the boil) It was not too much work, and the outcome was totally worth the effort.

 

[mergs]

I just racked an IIPA to the secondary. This was a partial mash beer, and it was my first using truly malted grains, rather than just roasted unmalted grains...I will not go back.
This beer after primary fermentation was clearly superior to my previous batches. It had the "malty" flavors and full morthfeel that have been lacking in my previous batches. Many of my previous batches have been quite good, but none have been truly great.
I used 1.5 lbs malted buckwheat, and 1.5 lbs malted quinoa. I malted the grains myself in my kitchen, it really was not all that dificult at this small scale.
I think I will be moving from toasted grains to malted grains in the future. I plan to experiment with the comercially malted millet, rice and buckwheat that is now available in partial mash batches.

In short, if you cant get GF malt...You might try making a little of your own (just 1 or 2 kg to steep prior to the boil) It was not too much work, and the outcome was totally worth the effort.

I'm intersted in doing much the same thing. In fact I just posted up a thread on this topic and then found your reply here.

Could you share any successes or stumbles you've had? I'm looking to get some malted millet from grouseco and then maybe do an IPA with it and was looking for recipe specifics (e.g. adding 1 lb of millet steeped x mins at y deg F, this in turn gave me x gravity points and i was able to reduce my sorghum extract amount from a ounces to b ounces, .... that sort of thing)

 

[Legume]

I can not tell you how many gravity points came from my partial mash...I dont really worry about improving my brewhouse efficiency, just improving my beer...I always assume that my mash efficiency sucks, and that most of my fermentable sugars come from the extract.
with that said the IIPA recipe is below...I tasted a finished bottle yesterday...it is quite good.

Mini mash: steep at 150 for 30 min, then raise temp to 170 and "sparge"
1 tsp gypsum
3 tsp amylase powder
3 lb psudo malted buckwheat and rolled oats (long painfull protocol to make this, in the future I will substitute malted grain).
12 oz home malted quinoa(oven toasted)
1.5 lb malted buckwheat (oven toasted)

boil:
6lb brown rice syrup...60min
1 oz magnum hops...60min
3 lb brown rice syrup...15min
.5oz chinook hops...15min
.5 oz simcoe hops...15min
1 whirlfloc tab...15min
.5oz chinook hops...5min
1oz simcoe hops...1min
3 tsp DAP...1min

1lb D45 candi syrup...added directly to primary

2 packets of US-05 yeast rehydrated prior to pitch

2oz chinook hops...dry hop
1oz simcoe hop...dry hop

 

[CScotland]

Just a quick update. I've brewed 4 beers using sorghum extract as the base, with each beer having the same hop and extraneous additions (orange peel and spice). 1 beer was solely brewed using sorghum extract as the fermentable, one had rice flakes steeped in it pre-boil, one had roasted millet and the other had roasted buckwheat. The differences between beers were significant, both in terms of flavour and aroma.

Unfortunately the buckwheat beer got infected and turned into a sour! I was most looking forward to the buckwheat beer as well as the aroma during the steep was amazing.

The sorghum and millet beer was my favourite but all were very drinkable. I think the next step is malting my own GF grains. Really want to try a darker beer with buckwheat due to the toasty nutty/biscuity aromas it was giving off.