Flaked Barley

[PackerfaninSanDiego]

I see some of you are adding flaked Barley. Is this instead of roasted barley or in addition too? What does it do to the beer?

 

[stpug]

Totally different than roasted barley; it's not toasted, roasted, or malted. Flaked barley is typically used for head retention and some body but needs to be mashed. It also has a tendency to cause some haze so darker beers are better suited to its use. Contrary to this, I've used it in a california common that had fantastic clarity but the amount was kept small (0.5lb I think).

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

Flaked grain are generally used for mouthfeel. Add them, unmilled, into your recipe. Maybe ~5% of the grist. It gives a nice, smooth quality to the beer. I use flaked oats in some English pales and it's really nice. Flaked rye can really lend something nice to a rye beer.

 

[pfgonzo]

FYI, if you use more than about 8oz of flaked barley, rig up a blow off tube no matter how much headspace you have in your fermentor. It won't be enough...

The proteins in the flaked barley that aid in head retention produce some mondo foam during fermentation.

 

[PackerfaninSanDiego]

my next beer is going to be a Deception Cream Stout and one poster(sp) said he/she added flaked barley and was very happy with the results

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

Yeah, a milk stout would be a perfect candidate for flaked barley or oats. I'd say go for it if you've never used a flaked grain before. It won't suck.

 

[ArthurDigbySellers]

FYI, if you use more than about 8oz of flaked barley, rig up a blow off tube no matter how much headspace you have in your fermentor. It won't be enough...

The proteins in the flaked barley that aid in head retention produce some mondo foam during fermentation.

I recently brewed a Guinness clone recipe that had 3 lbs of flaked barley in it and didn't have any problems with foam. I did have severe problems with sparging however.

If I brew that recipe again, I will definitely use rice hulls.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

Oh yeah, definitely use some hulls when using flaked grain. Depending on the recipe, a protein rest in the 120ºs F could help with excessive proteins in the fermenter. I've never known them to cause blow off, but I've seen hydrophobic protein refuse to drop long after the krausen did.

 

[PackerfaninSanDiego]

thanks for the responses, I'm doing BIAB's so no rice hulls needed

 

[Malty_Dog]

Good info, I'll be using 0.5 lb for the first time in a rye IPA this weekend. Now I get why its in there!