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Date: 06 Jul 2006 01:51:31
From: Washu
Subject: Base grains in mini-mash
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I have been doing extract with speciality grain beers for a little
while now and though I still don't have the facilities to do all grain
I would like to add a little more depth to my beers. What I'm wondering
is would mini-mashing a couple of pounds of a base malt, ex. a couple
pounds of golden promise in a wee heavy, along with my speciality
grains improve the taste of my beer or is it more trouble than it's
worth in an extract brew? I would still be relying on the DME for my
gravity so I'm more intrested in the character of the malt than
anything else.
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Date: 06 Jul 2006 13:56:45
From: John 'Shaggy' Kolesar
Subject: Re: Base grains in mini-mash
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On 6 Jul 2006 01:51:31 -0700, <rgrantha@yahoo.com > wrote:
> I have been doing extract with speciality grain beers for a little
> while now and though I still don't have the facilities to do all grain
> I would like to add a little more depth to my beers. What I'm wondering
> is would mini-mashing a couple of pounds of a base malt, ex. a couple
> pounds of golden promise in a wee heavy, along with my speciality
> grains improve the taste of my beer or is it more trouble than it's
> worth in an extract brew? I would still be relying on the DME for my
> gravity so I'm more intrested in the character of the malt than
> anything else.
Mini-mashing something simple like 2-row in place of part of your extract
probably won't make a huge difference in the final beer. IMO, mini-mashing
makes more sense if you are mashing some of the more unique specialty grains
that cannot be steeped (Biscuit, Victory, Munich, Rye, Oats, etc) possibly in
addition to a base grain like 2-row for the enzymes. Other than that, it
would still make for a good learning experience.
John.
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Date: 06 Jul 2006 12:58:06
From: Joel
Subject: Re: Base grains in mini-mash
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Washu <rgrantha@yahoo.com > wrote:
>I have been doing extract with speciality grain beers for a little
>while now and though I still don't have the facilities to do all grain
>I would like to add a little more depth to my beers. What I'm wondering
>is would mini-mashing a couple of pounds of a base malt, ex. a couple
>pounds of golden promise in a wee heavy, along with my speciality
>grains improve the taste of my beer or is it more trouble than it's
>worth in an extract brew? I would still be relying on the DME for my
>gravity so I'm more intrested in the character of the malt than
>anything else.
I personally think it's a good idea. I did mini-mashing
starting with about my third batch. While I think better
quality extract is available these days as compared to when
I started brewing, I still think it does add some depth to
an extract beer that is difficult to achieve otherwise.
--
Joel Plutchak "Never argue with a fool; people watching might not
plutchak at [...] be able to tell the difference." (author unknown)
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Date: 06 Jul 2006 08:51:02
From: Thomas T. Veldhouse
Subject: Re: Base grains in mini-mash
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Joel <plutchak@see.headers > wrote:
> I personally think it's a good idea. I did mini-mashing
> starting with about my third batch. While I think better
> quality extract is available these days as compared to when
> I started brewing, I still think it does add some depth to
> an extract beer that is difficult to achieve otherwise.
Especially if your minimash includes malts like Vienna or Munich!
--
Thomas T. Veldhouse
Key Fingerprint: 2DB9 813F F510 82C2 E1AE 34D0 D69D 1EDC D5EC AED1
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Date: 06 Jul 2006 03:23:30
From:
Subject: Re: Base grains in mini-mash
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Yes. It's a good way of learning to mash.
I'm a relative newbie and did an "experimental" 1 gallon batch of Wee
Heavy earlier this year. Not economically viable but a good learning
process.
It turned out fantastically well. The key is to use the correct yeast.
Wish I had done a bigger batch.
Here are my recipe notes:
Wee Heavy
----------------------------
Mini-mash [1 gallon test]
2lb pale malt
3 oz chocolate malt
1 lb light DME
Irish moss
0.5 oz Northern Brewer (bittering)
WL028 Edinburgh Ale
Yeast took 48 hrs to go.
Primary 6 days.
Secondary 7 wks.
Bottle @ 13 wks -- Excellent. Good head, plenty of body. Taste is spot
on.
Washu wrote:
> I have been doing extract with speciality grain beers for a little
> while now and though I still don't have the facilities to do all grain
> I would like to add a little more depth to my beers. What I'm wondering
> is would mini-mashing a couple of pounds of a base malt, ex. a couple
> pounds of golden promise in a wee heavy, along with my speciality
> grains improve the taste of my beer or is it more trouble than it's
> worth in an extract brew? I would still be relying on the DME for my
> gravity so I'm more intrested in the character of the malt than
> anything else.
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Date: 06 Jul 2006 13:48:20
From: Homebrew Exchange
Subject: Re: Base grains in mini-mash
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I've just started partial mashing myself. While I haven't tasted the
brews yet--one is a dunkelweizen in the bottle and the other I just
brewed on Monday so is still in the primary--I enjoyed the process and
didn't mind the extra hour or so that it took me to brew.
I also think it's a good introduction to all-grain brewing, and the
mashing process in general.
Dave
www.homebrew-exchange.com
Washu wrote:
> I have been doing extract with speciality grain beers for a little
> while now and though I still don't have the facilities to do all grain
> I would like to add a little more depth to my beers. What I'm wondering
> is would mini-mashing a couple of pounds of a base malt, ex. a couple
> pounds of golden promise in a wee heavy, along with my speciality
> grains improve the taste of my beer or is it more trouble than it's
> worth in an extract brew? I would still be relying on the DME for my
> gravity so I'm more intrested in the character of the malt than
> anything else.
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Date: 07 Jul 2006 21:24:09
From: Washu
Subject: Re: Base grains in mini-mash
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> I also think it's a good introduction to all-grain brewing, and the
> mashing process in general.
Thanks for all the input, it's certainly inspired me to try something a
little more advanced than what I've been doing so far. Guess I'll pick
up a turkey fryer in the morning so I can do bigger boils and maybe go
to a cooler setup for all grain this fall (or after I've used up a good
chunk of the 25lbs of DME I've got in stock). On that note, is there
any sense in going with a 5 gal cooler setup? A 10 gal is only about
$50 more and I like brewing big beers. Think I just answered my own
question.
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Date: 10 Jul 2006 05:32:14
From: brian@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: Base grains in mini-mash
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Washu wrote:
> > I also think it's a good introduction to all-grain brewing, and the
> > mashing process in general.
>
> Thanks for all the input, it's certainly inspired me to try something a
> little more advanced than what I've been doing so far. Guess I'll pick
> up a turkey fryer in the morning so I can do bigger boils and maybe go
> to a cooler setup for all grain this fall (or after I've used up a good
> chunk of the 25lbs of DME I've got in stock). On that note, is there
> any sense in going with a 5 gal cooler setup? A 10 gal is only about
> $50 more and I like brewing big beers. Think I just answered my own
> question.
According to my understanding.. If you plan to fly sparge, then only go
as big as you feel you really need since grain bed depth is important.
If you plan to batch sparge, go bigger than you'll ever think you will
need (I used a 64 qt cooler!) since the grain bed depth is not nearly
as important.
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