Specialty or Not specialty malt when to steep and when to mash?

Hey all,

I have a recipe calling for carapils (Cara-Pils ?!) and Aromatic.
Now I know both are specialty malts (or are they?)

In my recipe they may less than 10% of the grain bill (and it's an extract-based recipe); however the recipe does not indicate steeping or mashing... I found some recipes with almost the same grain bill, and it does not indicate steeping or mashing...

So how would I know when to steep and when to mash specialty grain? any thumb role on this one?

 

You mash to extract fermentable sugar from the grain. Specialty malts impart flavor and color, but not fermentable sugar, so you don't ever need to mash it. But if you're mashing anyway, you can add it to the mash and basically steep and mash at the same time.

If your sugar comes from extract, just steep the specialty grain.

 

They're both definitely specialty malts they have a DP below 35-40 Lintner which is the point where malts can self convert. So mashing them won't buy you anything.

 

Steep. Brewers malts need mashing. stuff like 2-row, 6-row, pilsner malt, Munich, Vienna, Maris Otter all are brewers malt.

The basic point that the above poster was making is that specialty malts like cara-pils, crystal, special B, and others have been malted in a way that there is almost all sugar (less fermentable form) in the grain. They do not need a mashing process to get sugars out of them.

Hope this helps.

 

Thank you very much

I am one step closer to my first beer !

 

Aromatic is like a dark Munich so you'd get more out of it mashing. That being said I see lots of recipes which call for steeping Munich,which I think is what your recipe intends.

As two_one_seven mentioned most of the sugars in crystal malts are already available without mashing. A good portion of these sugars are fermentable, though, like up to 50%. Brewer Nilo has a long thread with experiments on this. He confirmed that they also contain some unconverted starches, so if you mash with a base malt you can increase the yield of these malts too.

 

That's why I mash those kinds of grains with 2 row,etc. Get more milage out of them.

 

Agreed Union. All grain brewers should always mash the total grain bill. I think he is talking about an extract brew. It would be a pain in the arse to mash a half pound of aromatic/munich. Brewers malts are pretty useless in an extract brew anyway.