Not mashing dark grains

[etrain666]

My last batch I decided to take Gordon Strong's advice and not include my dark grains in the mash for a porter. Instead I added them in at first running vorlauf.

My process:
1. Mashed my pale and munich malts for an hour
2. Dumped: 1# Chocolate, 1# Brown and #.5 of C120 on top of the grain bed
3. Vorlauf

I did a lot of circulation as the first runnings were pretty light (as expected). After recirculating about 10 times, the wort finally began to get darker, but not the expected opaque black color I would get with the same recipe and mashing all the grains together.

I then batch sparged. That liquid was much darker, but in the end, the overall wort was not as black as I hoped for.

So, any thoughts on this process? Perhaps, I should have mixed all the grains after mash and let then sit for a few minutes before first runnings?

 

[Hammy71]

Why does he recommend this? It makes sense if you just want the color, like in a Black IPA. But for a porter, I want the roasty goodness of the dark malts. Just wondering? Curious to see how this turns out for you.

 

[etrain666]

The idea is that by reducing the amount of time the dark grains are exposed to heat, you reduce astringency. I would guess that the roasted character of the dark grains should still come through. But, this is my first time trying, so I guess we'll find out

 

[BBL_Brewer]

I don't add them to the mash at all. I steep them in the wort after I collect both runnings. I get good color and flavor and a lot less atringency. Maybe next time you should stir them in and let it sit for 10-15 minutes before you vorlauf. Grains don't just instantly give up their payload.