How can I easily figure out the "grain type" (for input to "Mash Acidification" worksheet) for each item on the grain bill? I scoured data sheets, searched vendor descriptions and made some guesses but I'm not convinced I'm 100% on.
Is there a specific criteria we can follow to easily determine the correct Grain type? If there were some kind of table of malt characteristics or something that would be a whole lot easier than guessing...
As mentioned above, hovering the cursor over the Grain Type heading on the Mash Acidification page should pop up a comment box that helps explain how malts are typically classified.
The typical quandary in selecting grain type usually centers on Base or Crystal. Fortunately, there isn't a big difference in the acidity vs color for either of those classes of malt. In addition, most recipes don't include more than about 20% crystal malt content and the majority of most grists is base malt.
Remember, that Roast Malts will always have a color rating of greater than 180L. While there are toasty malts that might seem to be roasty, unless their color is over 180L, they have not been pyrolyzed to the degree necessary to move their acidity into the 'Roast' category.