Grain Question

[tooblue02]

Hey all,

First brew is going into bottles tomorrow, a nice IPA and really excited based on the gravity readings and the taste so far!

Now I am getting ready to start my second brew before I head out on vacation (figured it can sit and ferment while I am out of town). I was looking at a smashing pumpkin ale for my second round and to get it ready in time for October. The recipe calls for 0.5lbs Briess Caramel 40, but I can't seem to find this particular grain, is this the same as the 40L Crystal Malt Briess? Can I change this out with something similar and not worry too much about it? I was assuming I could but wasn't sure what a good substitue is for it. Thanks!

 

[freisste]

If I am not mistaken, crystal and caramel are used interchangeably. The malt is cooked to a certain darkness (that is the number followed by an L). Higher number, darker color. Flavor changes as the numbers change as well, but obviously that isn't linear.

 

[twistr25]

+1 ^^^

 

[tooblue02]

Awesome!

Another question to ask then...

When adding Hops, what is the purpose of adding the hops at different times? I think I saw this somewhere else but I am failing at searching for it. I thought it would do different things to the brew based on the time the hops were boiling, like for bittering, or falvors or what not. For this last batch, I added hops at 60, 20, and 5 minutes, so why did I do that? Thanks again!

 

[twistr25]

Typically, 60 minute additions are for bittering, it removes the most of the hop oils and its strength is dependent on the AA values. 20 minute addition are the flavoring addition, it pulls out the flavors from the hops without adding much to the bitterness and the 5 minute additions are aroma, that release the oils for smell, but again, not long enough to add additional bittering.

There are some +\- to the times, but those are general reasons how they work.

 

[freisste]

Aroma boils off fast leaving flavor. When flavor boils off (20 minutes or more), only bittering is left. This increases to about 60 minutes. After 60, it increases a little, but not really worth it for most people.

So 60 minute additions are to make the beer bitter, 15-20 is for flavor, and 0-5 (also dry hopping) is for aroma.

 

[tooblue02]

Thanks for the responses, this helps quite a bit, now for some tinkering with the recipe. I will post once I get it all worked out.