ParanoidAndroid
Well-Known Member
I recently brewed a Nut Brown (Lil Sparkys) and I think I have a little problem with bitterness/astringency/harshness. Its not overly bad and the beer is 9 days old, so it might fade. Its not a pH problem since I use RO water and additions to hit the correct pH (5.25 this time). I have a meter. My mash temp was 154 and stayed there. No mashout.
I was reading up on adding certain malts later in the mash and came across a podcast by Gordon Strong where he advocates adding any malt that doesn't require mashing to be added at mashout. Upon further reading, some people are cold steeping their specialty grains for 24 hours. They then add this extract to either the end of the mash, half way through boil, end of boil, directly to fermenter, etc. Strong compares it to fresh vs old coffee. I figure this could be a potential source of the flavor I described above.
Does anyone here do this? Ive seen it more commonly on the traditional system forums. If so, which way do you do it? How has it impacted the final product? How did you adjust your salts and pH for this?
I was reading up on adding certain malts later in the mash and came across a podcast by Gordon Strong where he advocates adding any malt that doesn't require mashing to be added at mashout. Upon further reading, some people are cold steeping their specialty grains for 24 hours. They then add this extract to either the end of the mash, half way through boil, end of boil, directly to fermenter, etc. Strong compares it to fresh vs old coffee. I figure this could be a potential source of the flavor I described above.
Does anyone here do this? Ive seen it more commonly on the traditional system forums. If so, which way do you do it? How has it impacted the final product? How did you adjust your salts and pH for this?