Utilization of specialty grains - All grain vs. Extract?

[apalke]

A few months ago I brewed up an extract English Pale Ale. Basic recipe was 5.5lb dry malt extract and 6oz of British Crystal 50-60L and 6oz of British Crystal 70-80L both of which were steeped in my water while heating slowly until 170C. I normally do all grain but I was short on time so I went with extract. The beer tasted great.

A couple weeks ago I tried to transfer this to an all grain recipe. So I simply switched the dry malt extract with enough base malt to get me to the same OG. I used the same amount of specialty grain but in the mash tun this time. I just kegged the beer up, but it has significantly less character from the crystal malts than the extract version did leaving the beer less flavorful than I'd like.

Any idea on why I'd be getting less out of my specialty grains with all grain vs extract? Both beers had almost the same OG and ended up at 1.012. My one thought is that I do a fly sparge and left maybe 1 or 2 quarts of wort behind in the mash tun... but it seems I should have got most of the flavor out anyway. Should I just adjust my process in the future and use more specialty grain for all grain recipes converted from extract recipes?

 

[RM-MN]

A few months ago I brewed up an extract English Pale Ale. Basic recipe was 5.5lb dry malt extract and 6oz of British Crystal 50-60L and 6oz of British Crystal 70-80L both of which were steeped in my water while heating slowly until 170C. I normally do all grain but I was short on time so I went with extract. The beer tasted great.

A couple weeks ago I tried to transfer this to an all grain recipe. So I simply switched the dry malt extract with enough base malt to get me to the same OG. I used the same amount of specialty grain but in the mash tun this time. I just kegged the beer up, but it has significantly less character from the crystal malts than the extract version did leaving the beer less flavorful than I'd like.

Any idea on why I'd be getting less out of my specialty grains with all grain vs extract? Both beers had almost the same OG and ended up at 1.012. My one thought is that I do a fly sparge and left maybe 1 or 2 quarts of wort behind in the mash tun... but it seems I should have got most of the flavor out anyway. Should I just adjust my process in the future and use more specialty grain for all grain recipes converted from extract recipes?

This is your answer. When the maltster makes malt extract it isn't just pale malt that is converted and then dried, they mix in other malts with it. Your dry extract probably had carapils in it since most dry malts do but it could have had some crystal malt too or any other malt depending on the color of the dry extract.

 

[apalke]

Well, it was from MoreBeer and they have their own packaging. But their website says their light extract is Briess CBW Golden Light which Briess' website, in turn, says is made with "base malt" and carapils (and water). Is "base malt" not supposed to be read here simply as simply 2-row?

 

[RM-MN]

Sure is. Did you add the carapils to your all grain recipe? Of course there are other base malts too. Maris Otter is a base malt as are some others. They could give a different flavor too.

 

[apalke]

No, I didn't add any carapils since I didn't know that was included in the dry malt extract Briess makes. But I thought carapils was more or less flavor neutral and so I wouldn't have thought that would make a difference in how much contribution I'm getting from the crystal malts.