weggl Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 Thinking of doing the Blushing Blond, might be a good drink for the Ladies around Xmass. Recipe says packet yeast. What about Cultured of US-05 yeast. Any thoughts.[roll] Might add a little more Dex. Warren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muddy Waters Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 I made it once using blueberries - it is a nice colour but tastes horrible more to do with the other ingredients though. I still have 99% of the batch but the trick is finding someone to drink it. I'll try again at christmas. But to answer your question - US-05 would be perfect [cool] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weggl Posted October 12, 2011 Author Share Posted October 12, 2011 Other ingredients? Do you mean the Canadian Blond? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muddy Waters Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Nah, the BE1 [sick] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freestyler Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 Muddy would you then recommend the BE2 or do you steer clear from both of them? Tks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muddy Waters Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 I personally steer clear of both..but then again I am a fairly "top shelf" kind of guy [biggrin] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freestyler Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 Muddy, so do you then just make up your own combinations of malt, dex, malotdex etc? Excuse the ignorance from a beginner. I would also like to move away from the more generic kit recipes and begin experimenting more. It'll be easier to do this with hop additions and combinations of sugars/malts etc. And to confirm, aside from syrup,honey and those type of additions, you basically only have combinations of dex, maltodex and malts to play around with for the most part? Im talking about your regular style beers and nothing too out there to begin with Thanks again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muddy Waters Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 Maltodextrin plays no part in any of my beers...horrible, horrible stuff [pinched] I prefer to use to use malts with a bit of dextrose for balance (and alcohol [bandit] ). Of course hops are important for making great beers too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 You could also try steeping specialty grains to change the flavour profile or give it a bit more body. Pale Crystal malt or Caramalt go well in a lot of pale ales. If you want to give it more body, increase head retention but not change the flavour then you could use Carapils. Carapils grain would be a good substitute for Maltodextrin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freestyler Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 ok Carapils... got it! I suppose this is a good time to admit I have no idea what that/they are. haha[lol] Time to hit google again! So as a brief summary, avoid dex as much as possible, maltodex is rubbish so increase alc content by using malt and other additions like carpils etc. Hops for flavour and aroma. It seems my first three brews are coming in the 4 to 4,5% levels which is a bit on the light side (inc bottle fermenting). Any ideas how to add an extra 0.5% or so without too much work, still learning the ropes Thanks guys, Sorry for the thread hijack by the way[bandit] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 This may give you some idea about grains, the different types of specialty grains and how to steep them. Grains In the link, Carapils is refrred to as Dextrin Malt. It is difficult to give a definitive ingredient list for beer because there are different styles using different ingredients. Just a couple of points regarding your summary below: Dex - don't avoid it, just use in moderation. Dex is fermentable and will increase alcohol. It will also help give beer a slightly dry finish. Carapils - this is pretty much non-fermentable so it won't increase the alcohol content. But it will give the beer more body and assist with head retention. Adding around 100g of dex will increase the alcohol by 0.5% (give or take a bit). Perhaps for your next beer you could try the beer kit, 1kg of light dry malt, 300g Dex and steep some hops (ie. a hop tea). This will give you an idea of the taste using malt instead of BE1 and you can tailor it from there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasond4 Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 You could also try using Wheat Malt (in dried form)to help improve body,mouthfeel and head retention. As little as 300gms in a 23L brew goes a long way to improving your beer without it becoming a "wheatbeer".It's great in Pale Ales,Bitters' ect. A lot of the big breweries use it to improve the body of the beer when thay have used a lot of cane suger in their mash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewtownClown Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 CaraPils needs to be MASHED. Steeping will only extract the unconverted starch(causing haze). Mashing will convert those starches to fermentable sugars. It has 0 Diastatic power so should be MASHED with base malts (or with an enzyme additive). Malto-dextrine is an extract brewers alternative to CaraPils, it is nothing but enzymatically converted starch (from wheat, in Australia, I believe (maybe corn)). It is practically flavourless with only a very moderate sweetness, so it will add body and mouthfeel with little change to a beer's taste or aroma. Best to keep it no more than 5% of fermentables Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 Good pick up. You are right there, generally Carapils needs to be mashed. But I thought that Weyermann Carapils doesn't have to be mashed, just steeped. This brand: Weyermann Carapils Whereas others such as Briess Carapils need to be mashed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewtownClown Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 Good pick up. You are right there, generally Carapils needs to be mashed. But I thought that Weyermann Carapils doesn't have to be mashed, just steeped. This brand: Weyermann Carapils Whereas others such as Briess Carapils need to be mashed. Wow! Thank-you, Hairy. If Ross says it only needs steeping, if a brief search of other forums says it only needs steeping, then it's a duck! Checked their product specs but no enlightenment there. Shot off an email for clarification. I've been buying Weyermann for yonks and just assumed it was the same as the other Carapils and doing mini-mashes with pale malt. Time waster by the looks of it. When making extracts I do a mini-mash with 1/2kg base malt and the LME anyway (still unconverted starches in those tins), so not much time wasted. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 I just did a bit more research myself. It appears there is a lot of confusion and disagreement about it in internet land. I also noticed that Briess used to state that a mash was required but now state that steeping is fine. Refer to the link: Briess Carapils I guess its OK to steep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewtownClown Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 Interesting, all the extract and grail recipes, that include Carapils, on their site, call for a mini-mash. Just to add to the confusion...[unsure] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muddy Waters Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 I'll leave the research to you guys but I just steep my carapils and it has made a noticeable difference to my beers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.