Stauffbier
Well-Known Member
What I plan on doing is using 1.5 qts per pound for cold steeping the dark grain. I'll cold steep for 24 hours. Then I'm going to dump the entire contents (grains and water) into my MLT when I sparge....
Stauffbier said:What I plan on doing is using 1.5 qts per pound for cold steeping the dark grain. I'll cold steep for 24 hours. Then I'm going to dump the entire contents (grains and water) into my MLT when I sparge....
That's interesting! Can't hurt. Post how it turns out.
Stauffbier said:I should also mention that I'm considering trying a cold sparge on this batch as well. I've heard interesting things about it, so I want to try it....
NopeA cold sparge? I have never even heard about that. Wouldn't that just leave most of the sugar behind?
A cold sparge? I have never even heard about that. Wouldn't that just leave most of the sugar behind?
I'm told it will rinse the sugars just fine. From what I understand the reason we use warm water is to stop conversion and to keep our wort closer to boiling temp, so it doesn't take as long to reach a boil. The only problem with this is, depending on pH, the higher temps can extract tannins. So, using room temp water has a lesser chance of extracting tannins, still rinses sugars just fine, and still stops conversion.
These two statements seem contradictory:
"the reason we use warm water is to stop conversion"
"using room temp water...still stops conversion."
These two statements seem contradictory:
"the reason we use warm water is to stop conversion"
"using room temp water...still stops conversion."
I have started adding any sugars and my steeping grain liquor to the boil with 5 minutes remaining. I essentially boil with only base grains and hops. The cold sparge sounds like a very interesting idea since I use a small HLT that really is just my heat exchanger for my HERMs...it solves the problem of heating my sparge water in the BK.
So I brewed a milk stout today. It was a last minute idea since work got canceled this morning, so I didn't have a chance to cold steep my dark grains as planned. I decided to add them late in the mash instead. I added them in the last 10 minutes of the mash and then I sparged. I sparged cold for the first time. Did a double batch sparge with room temp water. I managed 74% efficiency. I usually get 79% with a typical hot sparge, so I'm happy with that. The wort had a beautiful color, just like you would expect for a stout. It tasted magnificent! I can't wait to see how it turns out! Cheers!
Well time to report back....I used two pounds of Carafa II for 11 gallons of a Black IPA. The Carafa II was added during the last 5 minutes of the mash and during the vorlauf. It gave it a nice dark brown/black color going into the fermentor. Finally tasted it today after dry hopping. OUTSTANDING!!! Exactly what I wanted....a dark IPA with very, very little roastiness. I think if you drank this with your eyes closed you might think you are drinking a "traditional" IPA. No harsh roastiness at all!!
Phunhog said:Well time to report back....I used two pounds of Carafa II for 11 gallons of a Black IPA. The Carafa II was added during the last 5 minutes of the mash and during the vorlauf. It gave it a nice dark brown/black color going into the fermentor. Finally tasted it today after dry hopping. OUTSTANDING!!! Exactly what I wanted....a dark IPA with very, very little roastiness. I think if you drank this with your eyes closed you might think you are drinking a "traditional" IPA. No harsh roastiness at all!!
I did the dark grain at vorlauf brewing my most recent stout. I think it came out great. My once concern is that while there is some nice roast character, it appears to be a bit less than how the recipe is described in the linked thread. I suspect that bumping the dark grain amount by ~10% or so may be a good way to go.
So I assume the roasted malts will still have an affect on the pH. The grain will acidify the steeping water or the mash water if it is added at dough in or end of the mash during the vorlauf. Would we still adjust our brewing salts and water according to the spreadsheets, or is there a certain percentage of acidity or buffering that is gained or lost in the steeping process?
If it's added at the vorlauf, are we just assuming a half hour or so of sparging(diluting) isn't enough to extract tannins?
Is anyone adding brewing salts to their steeping water?
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