Blending Roast Barley for Stout

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Chris Walker

Chr15
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I hope this is OK to post under general and not recipes as it is more the technique I am interested in rather than the exact recipe.

For my first attempt at a stout (and I wanted a Guinness clone) I researched a number of recipes and had a hard time matching what they were aiming for Vs what I see in my glass at a pub. Mainly, I want to see a jet black, opaque beer but using beersmith the amount of roasted barely to achieve this seemed way too high.

Cutting to the main point I ended up doing a standard crush on the malted grains, but for the roasted barley (just under 10% of bill) I put in the blender (which is very powerful and made fine flour.) Immediately after adding this to the mash there was a very intense deep colour.
I am now about half way through the keg and extremely pleased with the results.

However, I have since read that blending grains can lead to astringency.
Whether it is just the style of beer, small % of total bill or simply luck I have not found this.

My question is does anyone use this technique on a bigger scale / higher % of total bill? - The blender sure makes quick work of it! Are there some beers/styles that are more forgiving of this?

I should note I always do BIAB, approx. 65% mash, 25% dunk sparge and a final 10% rinse so I don't have to worry about stuck sparges. My efficiency typically comes out around mid 80's
 
Don't know about astringency wrt pulverized dark grains, might be something there but I've always associated astringency with sparge liquor pH above 5.6.
fwiw, I use 1% each Black Patent and Black Barley (both 500 SRM) in my imperial stouts. Beersmith says it's a 56 SRM beer, and it's pretty darned black...

Cheers!
 
Don't know about astringency wrt pulverized dark grains, might be something there but I've always associated astringency with sparge liquor pH above 5.6.
fwiw, I use 1% each Black Patent and Black Barley (both 500 SRM) in my imperial stouts. Beersmith says it's a 56 SRM beer, and it's pretty darned black...

Cheers!
Thanks for the reply... do you put these in addition to roast barely or substitute some out. Also are they at a normal crush?
 
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