Second Brew Help

[ajr1]

I'm planning my second brew ever and I wanted to experiment a little so I can see what ingredients add to the beer. After reading about different grains, I would like to try a beer with a toasty/bready feel with subtle hint of honey.
I'm guessing a Biscuit malt and Honey malt would do it, but I'm doing Extract so can I just steep them or would a partial mash be better? Would these work in a Porter or Stout style (assuming the use of darker grains)?

 

[MVKTR2]

The answer to most all your questions is yes. For the record getting a honey flavor in beer is tricky as our brain associates honey, the sweetest natural substance in nature, with you guessed it sweetness. Honey malt adds sweetness, not so much honey flavor, though like most things that view is debatable.

No, I wouldn't go with a porter or stout if I was looking for a toasty beer. A non assertive brown would be okay though.

I'd suggest maris otter malt extract or Munich malt extract if you can't find the maris otter. I'll suggest the foundation of a recipe below that should give a very bready toasty brown ale with a bit of honey.

1 can maris otter extract
1 lb Pilsen dme
1.25 lbs maris otter
.75 lb victory or biscuit malt
5 oz chocolate malt (American)
5 oz honey malt
1 lb honey added at the end of boil

Adjust the amount of dme to adjust the gravity up-down. I'd target a 1.055 og and 25-30 IBUs from a 60 min hop addition of the hop of your choosing. I'd probably go with magnum or warrior perhaps something more assertive if you'd like some hop flavor. Brewers friend recipe calculator will do all this for you.

Do a mini mash of the grain at 150-155 for 30-40 minutes. You could do it stovetop in a lg grain sock with 2 qts water per lb of grain. The better method is to set your oven on its lowest temp, usually 175-185. Heat 1.5 qts distilled water per lb of grain and the grain to 149 degrees. Then place the covered pan in the oven for 35 minutes. Remove, strain grain from wort, proceed with brewing as any extract batch.

Lallemand Nottingham yeast or us-05 for yeast though I really suggest the notty.

Good luck!

 

[ajr1]

Thanks!
In my first brew, which was a recipe included with my starter kit, I put the grains (in the bag) in water around 150 degrees for 30 minutes, the recipe said that was steeping. Unfortunately the grains were unlisted so I'm not sure what they were
How is your suggestion of a mini mash different? I guess I'm just confused if I need to do it differently

 

[MVKTR2]

Steeping grains differs from minimash only in steeping grains aren't converted to sugar and mini mash contains some base malt with enzymes that catalyze carbohydrates into sugar. In this case the 1.25 lb maris otter is the base grain providing some conversion. Think of it however you want, it's the same process.

 

[brandonlovesbeer]

Just make a basic pale ale with base malts.

Steep any specialty grains in separate pots.

After sparking, Split the batch into multiple brew pots.

Then add the different steeps (that you want to experiment with) to each brew pot.

Then boil, chill, and ferment.

Note:
Make sure everything you do to each sample is the exactly the same except for the variable (the different steeped grains).

 

[Lefou]

I've always gotten a "toasty cracker" smell from Vienna, Munich 10L, Victory, Biscuit, and Maris Otter grains. Others may perceive those grains differently.
If you like that perception, try using a neutral yeast with a good temperature tolerance. Don't go too hot during fermentation - keep your wort in the low to mid-range of the yeast's advertised temp range and you should be OK.

 

[Lefou]

Thanks!
In my first brew, which was a recipe included with my starter kit, I put the grains (in the bag) in water around 150 degrees for 30 minutes, the recipe said that was steeping. Unfortunately the grains were unlisted so I'm not sure what they were
How is your suggestion of a mini mash different? I guess I'm just confused if I need to do it differently

If you recall where your kit was purchased and the beer style it could be researched. A lot of commercially available kits can be searched online for current price, ingredients, and recipe steps.
I've brainstormed my own recipes by going to online retailers who are gracious enough to post their grain bills, yeast selections, and beer styles. You can learn a lot about grain selection that way.