What to use flaked barley for?

[Hoochin'Fool]

Was taking inventory last night, and noticed I've got a 1-lb bag of flaked barley that drunk me must have ordered a few months ago.
Google tells me it "gives a dry, grainy flavor to beer, and improves head retention", and further suggests it goes well in stouts/porters. Anyone got a rule-of-thumb for using it? Like "don't use more than a pound in a 5 gal batch", or anything like that?

 

[balrog]

For flaked barley, I've used 1.75# in a dry irish stout; 8oz in an oatmeal stout, and 1.25# in a Spotted Cow clone (farmhouse/cream ale)

 

[mabrungard]

Flaked or raw barley is a great body builder, but it does have a very grainy flavor. That flavor is relatively unnotable in a porter or stout, but its very notable in pale beers. I tried using flaked barley in a number of pale beers and was consistently dissatisfied with the results, even at very low grist percentage.

Flaked wheat or other similar raw wheat products are almost as good in building body, but they have a much milder flavor. That's what to use in pale beers where you want a body and head building. I'd wait for a porter or stout brew to use the flaked barley.

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, in the 10 gallon batches of my 1.107 OG imperial chocolate stout, two of the 44 pounds of grains are flaked barley.
I brewed without it one time (on brew day morning I noticed the bag I had picked up from my lhbs the day before was lousy with weevils) and somewhat surprisingly I missed it. A lot...

Cheers!

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

fwiw, in the 10 gallon batches of my 1.107 OG imperial chocolate stout, two of the 44 pounds of grains are flaked barley.
I brewed without it one time (on brew day morning I noticed the bag I had picked up from my lhbs the day before was lousy with weevils) and somewhat surprisingly I missed it. A lot...

Aha, this refreshes my memory, it was seeing your recipe that had me thinking "I need to order some flaked barley" - LOL! Appreciate the comment about it being an important ingredient.


update: link to the recipe in question, I gotta make this soon!
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/cacao-nib-tincture-anybody-done-this.725938/post-10239285

 

[hottpeper13]

I brew a RIS every year and do the first runnings as that and the second runnings as either a CDA (last year) or an Irish stout. I steep 1 lb each flaked barley and Pils malt for the stout in the wort for 30-60 min before firing the burner. The CDA gets 1 lb each of Pils and oat malt.

 

[stealthfixr]

I noticed that the gold medal Am Pale Ale in 2022 used flaked barley, so I tried 12oz in a 5.5gal recent pale ale. The head/lacing is incredible, and the 'grainy' flavor is noticeable, but not detracting or negative for me. That said, I think I would try 8oz next time to be more in balance overall.

 

[cactusgarrett]

It's great for head retention/foam stability at lower amounts, and body/mouthfeel and higher levels.

 

[Brewsmith]

I use it in most of my stouts. About 20% in a dry Irish stout, around 8% in my American and Imperial stouts. I’ll add it to my Barleywines to keep a bit of body and chewiness while using the rest of the dials to dry it out

 

[Protos]

I often add Flaked Barley to my low-gravity English milds and bitters. Up to 10% of the grist it doesn't add any haze (at least, when the low-temp rests are employed) and nicely prevents the beers from getting watery below OG 1.040. It's what they actually were doing on British breweries during the WW2, when the gravities fell because of the austerity and grain shortages.

I often read of a certain "grainy bite" which Flaked Barley should impart to the brew, and have never tasted any. I guess it's the same old wives' tale as the "spicy Rye flavour".