is 1/4 pound of steeping grain worth it?

JBmadtown · Jul 13, 2010

I am going to be doing a 2.5 gallon batch of a belgian tripel. The original recipe called for 1/2 pound of caramel pils. If I half that it is 1/4 pound. Is it even worth it? I don't want to take the extra time and buy grain that is unnecessary.

Brewham · Jul 13, 2010

I would do it. I might even use the 1/2 pound. The grain will help with the head retention and keep the beer from seeming watery. I have found my beers are much better since I started using at least 1 pound of steeping grains in 5 gallons.

BillyBroas · Jul 13, 2010

It will help your beer. It's hardly going to cost anything so I would go ahead and do it. Make the best beer possible I always say.

homebrewer_99 · Jul 13, 2010

Every ingredient imparts some value to the end product. It may be subtle, it may be great, but it does.

944play · Jul 13, 2010

I'm going to go against the grain (pun not intended) and say that I would not. Carapils and simple sugar are at odds with each other in a recipe IMO, and besides the extract was probably mashed with a portion of dextrine malt, or with a schedule to provide adequate dextrins, anyway.

...or just follow the recipe the first time and see if it really needed it. :mug:

dotnetdotcom · Jul 13, 2010

Recently, I made a couple of 2.5 gallon test batches (same recipes except different hops). I steeped 0.125 lbs of Breiss dextrin malt in each. That would have been 0.25 lbs for a 5 gallon batch. I could really see a difference between these batches and previous ones where I did not use dextrin malt - much better head, retention and lacing. However, it was a really simple recipe used to compare some hops. The only specialty grains I used was the dextrin malt.
But like 944play said, some extracts, Briess pale LME for example, already have cara-pils in them. The extract I was using, United Canadian Pale LME, does not. Check the extract manufacturer's web page and look up what is used in the extract before you decide.