Partial mash with specialty grains, all okay?

[brewit2it]

Are there any grains, barley or otherwise that can inhibit conversion of your base malt during the mash? In all the partial mash instructions I've seen it looks like everything is thrown in the bag together, but I just wanted to make sure there weren't any rules I missed like don't add x or y during you mash because it will denature your enzymes.

Thanks

 

[a10t2]

Enzymes are denatured by temperature or pH extremes, so no worries there. You do need to make sure that the weighted average of the diastatic potentials for the mash doesn't drop below roughly 40 degrees Lintner.

 

[brewit2it]

Enzymes are denatured by temperature or pH extremes, so no worries there. You do need to make sure that the weighted average of the diastatic potentials for the mash doesn't drop below roughly 40 degrees Lintner.

I will have to do some search on that but is it safe to assume that you could drop the diastatic potential below 40 by having too high H2O to malted grain ratio?

Thanks again.

 

[joety]

<<<You do need to make sure that the weighted average of the diastatic potentials for the mash doesn't drop below roughly 40 degrees Lintner.>>>

Wow, I have no idea what that means. Brewit2it, I have a hard time believing you'll have any issues. Any grains that needs extra enzymes from your base malts to convert would be even worse if you mashed them alone, so if the recipe works as a whole, I don't see why there is any advantage to separate mashing of different grains.

 

[Yooper]

I will have to do some search on that but is it safe to assume that you could drop the diastatic potential below 40 by having too high H2O to malted grain ratio?

Thanks again.

Well, not if you stay in the 1-2 quarts of water per pound of grain ratio.

To make it simple, you want one pound of base malt (two-row, for example) for each pound of "others". That will ensure enough diastatic power without math- the easy way for brewers like me.

If you have a ton of adjuncts (corn, rice, oats), sub in some 6-row for two row to make sure you have enough diastatic power.