Cold Steeping Carafa only for color?

[phished880]

Has anyone cold steeped carafa or the like for color only? I have an itch to make a black wit with minimal roast/choc flavors. Any suggestions would be great
J

 

[AnonyBrew]

I forgot where I read it, but recently I read you can steep carafa at room temp overnight & just add the steeped liquid at the end of the mash for the color.

 

[passedpawn]

Can't answer your question, but you might consider Sinamar. It is just a concentrated malt product. Nothing special. But it will color your beer without adding any (much) flavor. Great for Schwarzbiers I hear.

Sinamar

Edit: For the first time, I looked at the cost. Screw that. $10 to add 16 SRM to 5 gallons?

 

[gonzo brewer]

I have made a clone of the Bruery's Black Orchard, which turned out great. Steep about 12 oz. of coarsh crushed carafa II with really cold water (50 - 60 degrees) for about 30 minutes. Add to boil in the last 15 minutes of boil. Or go buy sinamar.

 

[ghpeel]

...you might consider Sinamar...

I can attest that this stuff has very little actual flavor. A friend of mine poured a bit straight into a small glass of Mild that he was thinking about darkening. It turned incredibly dark brown / black and had only a slight increase in the 'roasty' flavor.

 

[Denny]

From George Fix on Cold Steeping
Question to Dr. Fix:
On the Brews & Views discussion board a couple months ago, someone mentioned a talk you gave regarding cold steeping of malts like Munich. I would very much appreciate it if you would elaborate on this technique. How do you do it, what does it do for the brew, what malts are good candidates for this technique.
Dr. Fix:
The talk was in the NCHF at Napa in October. Those folks on the left coast really know how to do a beer festival! The cold steeping procedure was designed to maximize the extraction of desirable melanoidins, and at the same time minimize the extraction of undesirable ones. The former are simple compounds which yield a fine malt taste. The undesirable ones come from more complicated structures. Polymers with sulfur compounds tend to have malt/vegetable tones. Others yield cloying tones, which to my palate have an under fermented character. The highest level melanoidins can even have burnt characteristics. The cold steeping procedure was developed by Mary Ann Gruber of Briess. My version goes as follows.

• (i) One gallon of water per 3-4 lbs. of grains to be steeped is brought to a boil and held there for 5 mins.
• (ii) The water is cooled down to ambient, and the cracked grains are added.
• (iii) This mixture is left for 12-16 hrs. at ambient temperatures, and then added to the brew kettle for the last 15-20 mins. of the boil.

Mary Ann has had good results by adding the steeped grains directly to the fermenter without boiling, however I have not tried that variation of the procedure.
The upside of cold steeping is that it works. The downside is that it is very inefficient both with respect to extract and color. In my setup I am using 2-3 times the malt that would normally be used. As a consequence I have been using it for "adjunct malts" such as black and crystal. I also am very happy with the use of Munich malts with this process when they are used as secondary malts.