Malto Question

[ozale]

Hi all, I've been wondering if anybody has experimented with malto dextrin levels as the most I can recall reading about being added to a recipe was 250g, any thought's?

[Muddy Waters]

I try to limit my Maltodextrin to about 0% of the total ingredients and my beer is much better for it [innocent]

 

But to answer your question, no I haven't experimented other than determining that I didn't really like what it did to my overall beer and on eradicating it determined it gave me no benefits. It is basically just used for some head retention benefits and is only partially fermentable therefore is only used in small amounts. Steeping some grain and adding the liquid (carapils especially will give you a better head...matched with clean glasses you can't go wrong.).

[ozale]

Thank's muddy,allways good info from you. unfortunately we have no local supplier of grains or anything else for that matter than whats carried in the supermarkets or hardware stores here which means freighting it in[crying] thats why I was wondering if it added head/body

[Muddy Waters]

I order mine from craftbrewer in QLD. It isn't expensive - I think you can get up to 5kg of stuff for around $10 postage. For extract or kits and bits brewing you only need a small amount of grain to take your beer to the next level.

[ozale]

Thanks again muddy, I've found some SA suppliers as well, can you give me a bit more info on storage, shelf life, amounts to use, etc for carapils as an initial starting point.

[Muddy Waters]

I'm still in my grain steeping apprenticeship but firstly I'd recommend getting the grains uncracked as they will store better. I don't really know the shelf life but if you get 1-2kgs uncracked and keep them in a cool and dry environment you shouldn't have an issue with them going off. You will need to crack them yourself before steeping - I use a pestle and mortar but others use rolling pins to crack. Some give them a quick blitz with a coffee/spice grinder. Hopefully someone else will chime in with some extra ideas that we can all use..

 

I've only recently added carapils to my regime and I tend to use about 150g (along with about 200-250g of light crystal malt) steeped for about 1/2hr at around 65C and then I add the resulting liquid to my hops boil.