I'm having trouble determining how much roasted malt to use

[urg8rb8]

I've looked at a few RIS recipes and I'm having trouble determining how roasty the flavor will be based on the amount of roasted grains it has (roasted barley, black malt, etc). Is there some guideline to follow to determine this (like roasted grains should be a certain percent of grain bill)? Something to read? I like RISs that are on the sweeter side.

 

[ArkotRamathorn]

I'm gonna sound like a broken record exclaiming the heights of midnight wheat but I'll say so anyway.

Midnight wheat gives a ton of color without any major ashy-roast character.

For a 5 gallon batch a RIS recipe could soak up a full 16oz of midnight wheat for the base line roast character. It tends toward a dark chocolate character vs. roasted barley and black patent is more like an espresso and bitter sweet chocolate dark roast character.

I personally like the combination of 16oz of midnight wheat with 8-12oz of an Englsh chocolate malt in the 300-400l range. Then to top it off 6-8oz of a pale-medium chocolate malt in the 200-300 range. Since it's supposed to be a big complex beer it can't handle a slightly complex grain bill.

 

[urg8rb8]

For example, I found this Bell's Expedition clone:

23 lb. pale 2-row
1.0 lb. flaked barley
1.5 lb. roasted barley
1.0 lb. black patent
1.0 lb crystal 80
0.5 lb. chocolate malt

I'm imagining that this recipe will produce a very roasty taste. But I don't remember Expedition being overly roasty. Have you ever had Dragon's Milk? That's a very dark beer but has a light sweet taste to it. I'm just worried that if I do the recipe above as is, it will be too roasty for me. Should I dial back the roasted barley and black malt? I read a suggestion where adding the roast malt in the last 15 mins of the mash would tone down the espresso like flavors.

 

[Calder]

23 lb. pale 2-row
1.0 lb. flaked barley
1.5 lb. roasted barley
1.0 lb. black patent
1.0 lb crystal 80
0.5 lb. chocolate malt

Waaaayyyyyy too much IMHO. I like Stouts and RIS's, but I really don't like too much Black Patent pr Roasted Barley in beers that I make.

28 lbs, I assume this is for 10 gallons. Maybe it isn't tooooo over the top, but it is still too much for my pallet. I think I'd cut the black and roast in half, and replace it with Chocolate.

 

[urg8rb8]

Waaaayyyyyy too much IMHO. I like Stouts and RIS's, but I really don't like too much Black Patent pr Roasted Barley in beers that I make.

28 lbs, I assume this is for 10 gallons. Maybe it isn't tooooo over the top, but it is still too much for my pallet. I think I'd cut the black and roast in half, and replace it with Chocolate.

This is for 5 gallons. What do you think about adding these malts as late addition to the mash?

 

[dwhite60]

You could always break it down and make just a gallon or two test batch. Beats blowing a whole batch.

All the Best,
D. White

 

[andrewf1985]

Brewing porters and stouts by Terry Foster is a good read, goes pretty in depth about the different roast grains and what they contribute plus theres a ton of recipes in the back.