Do you need to mash named malts?

I'm about to do my first AGB and have been wondering about a few things in the process:

If you buy a grain such as crystal grain, where the sugars have already been crystalized, surely it must have already gone through a mash - in which case, do i just need to sparge it?

Also, as any named grain (such as munich malt, vienna, etc...) has already been kilned, surely they have already had their enzymes deactivated / killed? therefore, I'm assuming that they have also already been mashed. Do I need to mash these or just sparge them?

This leaves me wondering if I need to mash the light and dark wheat grain I've bought or do i just need to sparge those to get the sugars out too?

Please advise. I don't want to mash if it's already been done because I don't want to break down all the nice complex sugars in my crystal malt.

Thanks in advance!

 

I think I got my answer with research

so: specialty malts (munic, vienna, crystal, etc) don't need mashing, wheat malt DOES... but does dark wheat malt? is it dark because of the type of plant it comes from or because it's been roasted? If it has been roasted, does that mean it can only be mashed with another grain that has enzymes?!

 

More Research:
Munich/Vienna can be either, it has enough enzymes to convert itself.
Some of the specialty malts can be steeped, and won't benefit from a full
mash... Check out some of the common books.

-Mac

 

Here's a good link: http://www.howtobrew.com/section2/chapter12-1.html.

If you're going totally AG, just mash everything. It makes life easier!

 

WHOW!! to be in your head...! So many questions.

Reading this made me giggle and I have no idea where to start with your questions, sorry, but I will bump this thread and maybe someone can help fix you.

 

Crystal, caramel, chocolate, roasted and black can be steeped or sparged
Munic, vienna, rauchmalt, bisket and honey needs to be mashed

As for mash breaking down the sugar of crystal/caramel malt, I guess it is possible but i newer heard of it

 

+1000

 

Ya, just throw all that grain in the mash, no matter what it is

 

thanks all, and thanks for the reading resources

"Munic, vienna, rauchmalt, bisket and honey needs to be mashed" is interesting, so these must have been roasted and not mashed, whilst things like crystal have been mashed already to turn it to crystal?

I wonder if you can taste the sugars if you eat the grains to see if they've been mashed already? do standard grains taste sweeter after mashing, does anyone know?

 

I just mash it all. I have never heard of anyone not mashing certain grains and only adding them in the sparge.

As far as I know that is only an issue if you do extract or partial mash.

 

The point is to make the sugars soluble. We need to get everything into solution (wort) and drain to boil kettle. Then we sparge to rinse residual sugar from the mash. I definately overcomplicated my first few AG brews, now I can relax now that the process is no longer a mystery. Good luck and keep asking questions!

 

On most single batches I simply mash everything. However, occasionally I like to do some big batches that pull off a large amount of wort from a big grain bill of pale malt, split into two five gallon batches and steep crystal/caramel/etc. in each with different proportions to make very different beers. This gives me two different batches using only one mash.

I failed to notice the date on the op until after I had responded.

 

The only thing g I don't mash with everything else is my dark malts. If i add chocolate or roasted barley or something like that I always put it in for the last 15 minutes of the mash. It gives a cleaner flavor than even Carafa can.

 

Most of the fermentables in an AG batch come from the base malt. The specialty grains are added for color and flavor. I believe there is some conversion and crystalization of sugars during the roasting process, but their contribution to the OG is negligible. If you look at extract recipies that include steeping grains, you will see that base malt is never included. The base malt contribution comes from the extracts. Including the specialty grains in the mash just makes life simpler, since you dont need to deal with them separately. I have read some threads that promote steeping of roasted grains in AG, particularly very dark grains like black patent and roasted barley, contending that it gives a smnoother, less harsh taste. I have never tried it.

 

Really? Does this contribute enough of a roast character to stouts or porters? I can't imagine it would do much more than add color, but then it's not something I've ever tried...

 

I haven't had any trouble with it. My stouts and porters come out pretty roast. I am a fan of using brown malt for roast character and black malt for color.

 

Gordon Strong has explained some benefits of not mashing some specialty grains, and instead adding them at the sparge. If you're doing parti-gyle, it's a given that you're probably going this route. But even if you're brewing a "normal" batch, it makes sense that some grains, such as black, chocolate, special b, etc, can be added at the sparge to not get as much bitter, huskiness or harshness. I've just started to use this method, so I haven't had enough experience to tell the difference. But after doing a very successful no-sparge on a Bitter that yielded high quality rich malt character, I am fully open to the potential benefits.

 

Interesting... I wonder if you can extract different flavors from adding grains at sparging time.