Mashing Rice

[mew]

Would adding a pound of steamed rice kick up the abv without adding or subtracting flavor? If so, are there any precautions to mashing with rice? I was thinking a protein rest might be needed, but I'm not sure. Thanks.

 

[Orfy]

I don't know about the rice but there's easier ways to kick up the ABV.

Are you after a BMC style beer?

 

[mew]

I don't want thin, BMC-like beer. I have some recipes that my friends say are really tasty but they're only 3.5 percent abv. I want to keep the taste and kick up the alcohol to around 5 percent abv. What are these easier ways?

 

[Orfy]

More Malt.

Either from Grain or DME/LME a little sugar or honey if the style allows for it.
The downside is kicking up the ABV will change the character of the beer. You'll need to up the Maltiness and Bitterness to counter act the increase in ABV. If the beer tastes good at 3.5% then why not leave it be and brew a beer that will suit and higher ABV.

 

[mew]

So I should add more base malt and balance the extra maltiness with hops? That makes sense. I guess I was trying to do it without otherwise changing the recipe, and that may not be possible.

 

[Bugeaterbrewing]

You need to go back to your recipe and adjust your base grain or extract. Leave the specialy grains as is. My guess is that your OG on the current recipe is around 1.040. You will need to adjust the recipe to about 1.050-1.055.

A second step would be to adjust the hops. Just as an example of how to do it let's assume your planned OG on the current recipe is 1.040 and bitterness is 20 IBU. That gives you a BU:GU ratio of 0.5. (Bitterness Units to Gravity units) We get that by dividing the IBU's (20) by the gravity units (40).

We plan to change the gravity to 1.050. So we multiply 50 by the BU:GU ratio of 0.5. This gives us 25 IBU for the new recipe. Simply adjust your bittering hops to reflect this change. Don't change the flavor or aroma additions.

I hope this makes sense to you. My assumptions on the gravity and alcohol % are based on a rule of thumb that every 10 points of OG will give you about 1% alcohol. It's not exact, but will get you in the right neighborhood.

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company

 

[Dr Malt]

mew:

Everyone here has done a heroic effort in giving some good advise, but it would be most helpful if we knew what the recipe is so we can see the style of beer and the specifics. That way everyone could give a little better advise, myself included. There are several ways to increase the ABV of a beer but some ways are better than others depending on the beer style and recipe.

Thanks. Just trying to help.

Dr Malt

 

[Trappist Artist]

Just a question, isn't the easiest way to up the alcohol with out changing the flavor much to add a highly fermentable sugar? It seems that when BMC want alcohol and little flavor they add rice sugars.

 

[mew]

mew:

Everyone here has done a heroic effort in giving some good advise, but it would be most helpful if we knew what the recipe is so we can see the style of beer and the specifics. That way everyone could give a little better advise, myself included. There are several ways to increase the ABV of a beer but some ways are better than others depending on the beer style and recipe.

Thanks. Just trying to help.

Dr Malt

This is one of 'em:
Recipe (for 5 gallons final volume)
5.5 pounds (70%) Crisp Maris Otter Pale Malt
1.0 pound (13%) American Crystal 60L
12.0 ounces (9%) Flaked Maize
4.0 ounces (3%) American Crystal 80L
4.0 ounces (3%) Briess Roast Barley (300L)
3.0 ounces (2%) Flaked Wheat
1.0 ounce U.S. Cascade whole hops, 5.8% AA (first wort hop)
0.75 ounces U.S. Cascade whole hops, 5.8% AA (60 minutes)
White Labs WLP022 Essex Ale Yeast, pitched at 68°F
Starter: 3 quart starter built up from a slant (20 ml -> 300 ml -> 3 quarts), cooled, decanted, warmed
Aeration: Drill aerator for two minutes after pitching, again three hours later

Water
Fairbanks city water
35.5 quarts water treated with:
1 Campden tablet.
12.0 quarts mash water treated with:
3.0 grams Gypsum.

Mash
12.0 quarts water @ 159°F, grist ratio of 1.5 quartsound @ 150°F (Held 110 minutes), 145 at the end of the mash

Sparge
23.5 quarts water @ 185°F, drain

Boil
Boiled 7.5 gallons for 90 minutes to yield 5.5 gallons wort

Fermentation
Primary: bucket, 7 days, 68°F, 1.013 at transfer to secondary
Secondary: glass, 7 days, 66°F

Packaging
Kegged at 8 psi, 50°F (1.8 volumes CO2)
Conditioned for 6 weeks
Ready to drink on 9-Jan-2005

Properties
Starting Gravity: 1.040 Final Gravity: 1.012
Original Extract: 10.0°plato Apparent Extract: 3.07°plato
Real Extract: 4.37°plato
Alcohol: 3.7% by volume (2.9% by weight)
Apparent Attenuation: 69.3% Mash Efficiency: 75%
Bitterness: 26 IBU Color: 16 SRM
BU:SG: 0.65 BV: 1.22

 

[RichBrewer]

Nothing wrong with adding rice. As stated be sure to cook it before adding it to the mash. I'ts been awhile since I've used rice but I don't remember having any problems with stuck sparges. 1 pound should be no problem at all.

 

[mew]

Nothing wrong with adding rice. As stated be sure to cook it before adding it to the mash. I'ts been awhile since I've used rice but I don't remember having any problems with stuck sparges. 1 pound should be no problem at all.

Does it make a BMC taste?

 

[Orfy]

Does it make a BMC taste?

You'll get a good answer from the guys who use it but I think it makes for a light tasting light bodied brew. (Not bad if that's what you want) Used in Budpisser.

 

[Dr Malt]

To do this according to the book (Designing Great Beers, Ray Daniels) and keeping all malt characteristics the same but with higher alcohol, you need to determine the new OG you want for the ABV desired and then recalculate the grain inclusion based on the percent of each grain's contribution to the total extract needed in terms of total gravity units (GU). Otherwise if you start adding an adjunct such as rice starch, you will dilute and change the malt flavor of the beer. Are you familiar with recipe formulation and calculating the malt bill as described in Ray's book? If not, I can run through an example. Let me know.

Dr Malt

 

[Jim Karr]

OK, if I wanted to add rice (cooked of course) to a recipe, is it advisable to use polished white rice, or whole grain brown (which still has the hull), or maybe something exotic like Basmati or Black Japonica?

Would these work? What would they add?

 

[Dr Malt]

I made an american pilsner lager recently and used the precooked minute rice you buy at the grocery store. I used the store brand (Safeway) but Uncle Bens will work too. The minute rice is precooked to only partially gelatinize the starch. I cooked it prior to adding to my mash. I put a pound of minute rice in about 4 -5 quarts of water and cooked for about 15 -20 minutes. The temperature needs to get to about 190 F for 10 minute or so for rice starch to fully gel. I then allowed it to cool to about 175 F added to my mash that had just completed protein rest at 120 F and it brought my mash up to saccarification temperature of about 150 F.

The rice inclusion in my total grain bill was about 10 - 15% of the total grain. The minute rice is a milled or polished rice. I used rice flakes last year when I made this beer and the flaked whole rice contains the germ which has the oil in it. The rice oil can easily oxidize and cause numerous off flavors. I don't recommend whole rice for that reason. My beer was Ok, but I detected a slight oxidized flavor. Thus, I would recommend the polished rice.

Dr Malt

 

[TimpanogosSlim]

I used rice flakes last year when I made this beer and the flaked whole rice contains the germ which has the oil in it. The rice oil can easily oxidize and cause numerous off flavors. I don't recommend whole rice for that reason. My beer was Ok, but I detected a slight oxidized flavor. Thus, I would recommend the polished rice.

I know this is an old thread but i feel compelled to interject.

As long as the germ and hull are intact, such as on brown rice and black/purple/"forbidden" rice, and the rice is not excessively old or has been improperly stored, the oils SHOULD be in a good-tasting state.

With flaked whole rice, the germ has been crushed and exposed to the air, so it begins to oxidize as soon as it is manufactured.

Basically i would advise that if you cook the rice (properly, like for dinner) and it tastes good to you, it won't do bad things to your beer.

If all you wanted was the starch, I agree that a polished white rice is what you want. "Converted" rice if you want to just toss it into the mash, and I'd say calrose if you intend to cook it first, though there's no reason that pearl rice, arborio, or american long-grain wouldn't work -- but calrose is starchier.

But the aroma and flavor of brown basmati rice does come though a little bit if you use that. White basmati, texmati, and thai jasmine rice should add some flavor and aroma as well, but slightly less. Many indian restaurants use thai jasmine rice because it's much cheaper than basmati and most westerners can't tell the difference anyway.

I imagine that beer made with american brown rice will taste a little like american brown rice.

 

[tre9er]

I was going to make the cream of 3 cops this weekend and it was mentioned that minute-rice was fine for the recipe...I have a big bag of basmati in the pantry though (it's the only rice we eat). Would it make better sense to use the basmati instead? If I do, would I use the prescribed weight in UNcooked basmati, then cook it, or cook some and use the prescribed weight in COOKED rice?

 

[TimpanogosSlim]

I was going to make the cream of 3 cops this weekend and it was mentioned that minute-rice was fine for the recipe...I have a big bag of basmati in the pantry though (it's the only rice we eat). Would it make better sense to use the basmati instead? If I do, would I use the prescribed weight in UNcooked basmati, then cook it, or cook some and use the prescribed weight in COOKED rice?

Prescribed weight uncooked.

Basmati will add a light basmati-like flavor and aroma depending on how much you use. I like it.

 

[tre9er]

Prescribed weight uncooked.

Basmati will add a light basmati-like flavor and aroma depending on how much you use. I like it.

it's only 0.5lbs. for a 5.25g. recipe

 

[TimpanogosSlim]

it's only 0.5lbs. for a 5.25g. recipe

Well it certainly won't hurt. Plus you don't have to buy minute rice.

 

[TimpanogosSlim]

You'll get a good answer from the guys who use it but I think it makes for a light tasting light bodied brew. (Not bad if that's what you want) Used in Budpisser.

The batch where 30% of the bill was brown basmati was my lawnmower kolsch.

Based on the hydro samples i think it should be a very refreshing brew on a hot day.

 

[tre9er]

Well it certainly won't hurt. Plus you don't have to buy minute rice.

Thanks for the help! Now to get grits or flaked corn...hmmm