First partial mash: belgian black ale Ingredients questions

[louisbrewg]

Hello folks.
I bought a batch of ingredients to do a partial mash Belgian black ale. I have been brewing kits for years...some of which involved a short boil, so thought I'd move to the next step. I had two cans of malt extract, and figured I'd start there. I found this recipe
https://beerrecipes.org/Recipe/13864/belgian-black-ale.html
and got what i had hoped were sufficient substitutions for the ingredients I couldn't source
this is the list of ingredients on the recipe
Ingredients:

6.6 lbs. (3 kg) Briess Amber malt extract
8 oz. (224 g) Muntons roasted barley
8 oz. (224 g) Briess crystal malt (60 °L)
5 AAU Willamette hops (60 mins) (1 oz./28 g of 5%alpha acids)
1 oz. (28 g) Cascade hops (finishing)
5 oz. (140 g) priming sugar
White Labs WLP550 (Belgian Ale) yeast
The instructions start with these steps for making the wort
1. Sanitize all equipment.

2. Pour 2 gallons (7.6 L) of clean water into a 4-gallon (15.2 L) or larger pot. Put all crushed grains into a steeping bag and tie the end into a knot to close it. Place the grain filled bag into the brew pot water and heat to approximately 160–170 °F (71–77 °C). Do not boil the grains. Carefully remove the grain bag and allow it to drain into the brew pot without squeezing. Discard the grain-filled bag.

3. Heat the brew pot water to boiling. Remove kettle from heat. Add malt extract syrup and dry malt extract. Stir well and return to heat. Stir constantly until it returns to a boil. Add bittering hops. Be careful not to let the pot boil over. Do not use the kettle lid. Boil for 55 minutes, stirring occasionally, and then add finishing hops. Boil for an additional 5 minutes (total boiling time is 60 minutes).



I've attached an image of what I have (minus the cans of extract) Is this sufficient to carry this recipe through? As you can see I have the barley and also whole crystal malt ( I can mill it in a coffee grinder )...but the list of ingredients is confusing me...

Can I even brew beer with what I have here? Is the dark spray malt suitable for what is referred to as dry malt extract?

I just need some clarification...any help appreciated. I really want to get this stuff in the boiler

 

[chickypad]

That looks like the exact recipe so I think we are missing the list of ingredients you have?

 

[louisbrewg]

I thought I'd attached an image of the ingredients... I'll list the ingredients when I get home as I'm out and about now

 

[louisbrewg]

This is what I have

any advice welcome

Caramel amber malt 500g bag
Funny hop pellets 100g
Chateau Belgian roasted barley 500g
Dark Spray malt 500g
Craft series Belgian yeast
2x 150g malt extract

 

[chickypad]

It looks like you need more extract. Are your 150g quantites light? Dry I assume? And the caramel malt is a grain, not extract?

The other problem you face is that it's hard to know the composition of dark and amber extracts. Briess posts most of their ingredients but not for the amber extract, so you're already guessing at your original recipe then trying to sub in what you have. It's probably base, munich, and c-60 or something like that though. Your dark extract on the other hand probably has a little black malt in it, though there is so little in your ingredeints you can probably ignore that. If you want to do that recipe as close as possible it would be something like this:

300g light DME (I think that's what you mean?)
500 g dark spray malt (dark DME)
2 kg amber LME, or 1.6 kg amber DME - going to need to get this
8 oz caramel malt
8 oz roasted barley

What do you mean by funny hop pellets? If you don't know what they are you're going to have to just wing it.

 

[louisbrewg]

Thanks Chickypad... Please forgive my ignorance. The last ingredient on the list of what I have should have read 2x 1500g cans of light malt extract (amber syrup).. So I guess I have the ingredients necessary after all. Thanks. If you think there are any recipes that would better suit the ingredients I have i'd love to hear about them

 

[louisbrewg]

And I meant fuggle not funny (predictive text...grrr)

 

[RM-MN]

Just for your information this is an extract with steeping grains not partial mash. I had trouble with that too when I started. Steeping grains will add flavor and color but since they have been kilned at a higher temperature they have no enzymes left to convert starches. Caramel malt will have some sugars that were converted in the process of making it.

To have a partial mash you need a "base malt". These would include brewers malt, pale malt, and Munich malt. With those malts (and a few others) the enzymes would convert the starches in the grain to sugars which would then replace some of the malt extract. To activate the enzymes the water plus grains would need to be within a certain temperature range, usually 145 to 160F. Once you have tried this partial mash technique with success, you can vary the amounts of base malts and extracts plus the "steeping grains" to create any beer you want. It's a short step from there to all grain too should you decide to try that.

 

[chickypad]

So the light malt extract is not the same as amber extract, the amber likely has munich and some caramel in it like c-60. I actually think it's better to go with light in most instances so you have control of what's going in. If you are using the light extract in this you'll probably want to up your caramel malt (steeping grain).