Grain Chart/What grains are used for what purpose..

[JosephN]

I'm looking for a chart, or some literature that talks about what grains are used for in creating a recipe. I just brewed a Pale Ale that smells amazing, the IBU is perfect, the ABV is stronger than I wanted (Added bonus), but its lacking body and head retention. Its almost as light as water with an 8% abv. I know my yeast was ready to get to work from the start and the brew finished around 1.006-1.008, I don't really remember the exact number. Anyways I'm looking to learn more about what the purposes are for each grain, so if there is a good chart or page out there could someone shoot it my way?

Happy Brewing all..

 

[azfyb]

Read the book "Designing Great Beers" by Ray Daniels. Great section on ferementables.

 

[charliethebum]

https://oldrepublicbrewing.wordpress.com/malt-and-grain-guide/
I'll just leave that there...

 

[Raoul_Duke_PhD]

http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/

Listen to Jamil's podcasts. You'll find out everything you need to know. He goes through all the different styles and breaks the recipes down one by one.

 

[MichaelBD]

Add in about 5-10% wheat to your grain bill and you should have good head retention and in my opinion abit more body to your beer

 

[Singletrack]

https://oldrepublicbrewing.wordpress.com/malt-and-grain-guide/
I'll just leave that there...

Is Black Malt the same as Black Patent? Both are listed.

Or maybe Black Patent is just more shiny?

 

[ol-hazza]

Your mash can be just as important as the grains that go into your beer when it comes to body and head retention.

Sort of.

 

[Shawn_Brewin]

Your mash can be just as important as the grains that go into your beer when it comes to body and head retention.

Sort of.

I am guessing you are referring to Mash Temp? Its a great point, I always used Temp to help add body which for sure works, till i read "Mastering Hombrew" by Randy Mosher and he makes a great argument for letting your ingredients build your body for the fact of Repeat-ability and Reliability.

This is my Favorite resource for Grain Info and use.

https://byo.com/resources/grains

Also Subscribe to BYO!!! Best friggin' magazine out there that doesn't have ****ies in it! hahaha

 

[sudbuddy]

go to any maltster's website and see it straight from the horse's mouth. Briess and Weyermann both have very good websites, and the British ones are getting better (Simpson's, Bairds, Thomas Fawcett, etc.) or you can go to Country Malt's website for links to all of the maltsters that they carry.

That is good for specific malts, but you would be much better off learning your categories first:

1. Types of base malt
- 2 Row, Pale, Pilsner, Munich, Vienna, Wheat, Rye, etc.
- How and when to use them as specialty malts
2. Types of specialty malt
A) Caramel/Crystal Malts (self explanatory, 10-150L)
B) Dextrin Malts (carapils, carafoam, etc)
C) Roasted Malts (black patent, roasted barley, chocolate, etc.)
D) De-Bittered Black Malts (Midnight Wheat, Carafa, Perla Negra, etc.)
E) Intangibles (Golden Naked Oats, Special B, Smoked Malt, etc.)
3. Adjunct Grains
A) Anything Flaked, Torrified, Raw, or Rolled

Learn what these styles of grain do and you should be on much better footing for recipe formulation. Also, remember that the simplest recipes are often the best. There's no reason why your pale ale should have 7 grains in it, but there's also no reason why your imperial stout shouldn't.

Good luck!

 

[ol-hazza]

I am guessing you are referring to Mash Temp? Its a great point, I always used Temp to help add body which for sure works, till i read "Mastering Hombrew" by Randy Mosher and he makes a great argument for letting your ingredients build your body for the fact of Repeat-ability and Reliability.

This is my Favorite resource for Grain Info and use.

https://byo.com/resources/grains

Also Subscribe to BYO!!! Best friggin' magazine out there that doesn't have ****ies in it! hahaha

temperature, time, mash thickness will all affect the body, but agreed that modifying the grain bill will yield greater results.
Must get that book and have a read still though

 

[charliethebum]

Is Black Malt the same as Black Patent? Both are listed.

Or maybe Black Patent is just more shiny?

I don't personally have experience with either but it seems black malt is roasted to 500L and black patent runs from slightly lighter to slightly darker depending on the maltster? Otherwise the descriptions of both are nearly identical

 

[sudbuddy]

Ingredients definitely help with body. Vinny always used to mash Pliny at 151 to keep it light til he got his new system. Now he does it at 156 cuz his efficiency is too high. He uses 2 row, a dash of C45 and some carapils, therefore the inverse must be true. A higher percentage of dextrins at a lower temperature will yield more body and lots of fermentability if you have a high mash efficiency

 

[sudbuddy]

Is Black Malt the same as Black Patent? Both are listed.

Or maybe Black Patent is just more shiny?

Yes, black patent and black malt are the same. They are both malted barley at or around 500* lovibond. It's called black patent because the guy that invented the drum roaster in England during the Industrial Revolution patented the machinery and made bank off of the breweries making that crazy new stout beer style

 

[JosephN]

Without having time to read a book yet, and just going off of the websites linked in here it appears that cara style grain, barley and oats help to give a beer head retention and more body. I don't know yet if any others help but if not then it look like I'm gonna have some really light bodied beer with my 1st 3 all grain batches. Most of the grain used was base malts, caramel/crystal, or roasted Malts. Some of these recipes came from popular kits, so hopefully they turn out better after being in the bottle for a while.

My pale ale, and pumpkin ale both came out of the fermenter rather thin, and watery. Great flavor an smell, just super light. Is there a chance that it will progress to have slightly more body as it conditions in the bottles?

 

[sudbuddy]

Without having time to read a book yet, and just going off of the websites linked in here it appears that cara style grain, barley and oats help to give a beer head retention and more body. I don't know yet if any others help but if not then it look like I'm gonna have some really light bodied beer with my 1st 3 all grain batches. Most of the grain used was base malts, caramel/crystal, or roasted Malts. Some of these recipes came from popular kits, so hopefully they turn out better after being in the bottle for a while.

My pale ale, and pumpkin ale both came out of the fermenter rather thin, and watery. Great flavor an smell, just super light. Is there a chance that it will progress to have slightly more body as it conditions in the bottles?

Doubtful. But now you know, so it's all good. Next time add some carapils

 

[Shawn_Brewin]

yeah SudBuddy nailed it. Carapils is a great grain you can add to almost any grain bill without having to effect your flavour/color of the bill like some of the other grains / adjuncts out there. you can add anywhere from 5-20% I believe. I use this in all my lighter coloured beers were i dont want that cloudyness associated with wheat / oats, flaked barley. But anything that is darker like browns, porters, or stouts always go with some Oats IMO gives great body and adds a real nice mouthfeel and flavour to the darker beers.
Also just for reference Carapils/Carafoam is pretty much do the same thing, just different maltsters names for a Dextrine Malt.

 

[JosephN]

yeah SudBuddy nailed it. Carapils is a great grain you can add to almost any grain bill without having to effect your flavour/color of the bill like some of the other grains / adjuncts out there. you can add anywhere from 5-20% I believe. I use this in all my lighter coloured beers were i dont want that cloudyness associated with wheat / oats, flaked barley. But anything that is darker like browns, porters, or stouts always go with some Oats IMO gives great body and adds a real nice mouthfeel and flavour to the darker beers.
Also just for reference Carapils/Carafoam is pretty much do the same thing, just different maltsters names for a Dextrine Malt.

Thank you for the info. I see that this is what I need to be doing now. I'm gonna start making smaller test batches before I make larger ones. This way I can get the recipe right before jumping into 5-6 gallons of okay beer.