Choc Grain

[ChristinaS1]

Well something in that brew ( Hop Gobbler) ' date=' has some [b']very[/b] strong ROASTED/TOASTED/SMOKY flavours and I figured (incorrectly) it was the choc malt.

 

Perhaps it was my method that caused this? IF you steep grain in hot water thats TOO hot, can it cause this sort of flavour ? I say that because when I steeped the grain in that brew i boiled the water first and it was only just off the boil when I added the grains, so probably 90 + degrees. It should be lower than that yeah ? Like 65-70 ?

 

 

Cheers'

Guzz

 

Yes, using water that is too hot can cause excessive tannin extraction. An excellent method developed by Mary Anne Gruber at Briess to get the goodies (melanoidins) out of roasted malts (such as chocolate, roasted barley, and black malt) and leave behind the badies (tannins) involves cold steeping roasted grains at room temp for 24 hours in 5X the amount of water.

 

Additionally, you might find this interview on Brewsmith Radio with Randy Mosher interesting:

 

http://beersmith.com/blog/2014/05/13/malted-grains-for-beer-brewing-with-randy-mosher-beersmith-podcast-81/

 

It is excellent, and I plan to buy his book when it comes out in February. He said several interesting things, especially about chocolate malt. To summarize, he said the reason there are few malts between 80-225L is because they tend to have an unpleasant, cigarette ashy flavour. Chocolate malt is the first malt above 225L and therefore it is also the most sharp/intense/roasted of the dark malts and quite acrid, more acrid than malts with a higher lovibond, such as black patent. The darker the roast, the mellower, as those elements are burned away. He said that people love the name "chocolate malt," but actually it does not taste like chocolate. He said if it was up to him he would call chocolate malt "Old Stale Diner malt." He said black patent tastes more like chocolate than chocolate malt. Right now I am sipping on an Old Slug Porter made with 230gm C120L and 300gm black patent. I cold steeped the black patent and it is great. I am becoming quite fond of black patent. I also really like roasted barley. FWIW I have not tried the cold steeping method with chocolate malt yet....

[PB2]

...involves cold steeping roasted grains at room temp for 24 hours... FWIW I have not tried the cold steeping method with chocolate malt yet....

We suggest various methods for handling spec grains and none of these techniques extract obvious tannin

Several of our recipes recommend cold steeping but we like to err on the side of caution and suggest to steep the grains in a fridge' date=' rather than room temperature - less chance of any organisms souring the steepings. [img']wink[/img]

[ChristinaS1]

...involves cold steeping roasted grains at room temp for 24 hours... FWIW I have not tried the cold steeping method with chocolate malt yet....

We suggest various methods for handling spec grains and none of these techniques extract obvious tannin

Several of our recipes recommend cold steeping but we like to err on the side of caution and suggest to steep the grains in a fridge' date=' rather than room temperature - less chance of any organisms souring the steepings. [img']wink[/img]

 

Okay, good point, I will cold steep in the fridge next time. Thanks PB2! Unfortunately I have not been able to find Mary Anne Gruber's actual research, only references too it.

[Otto Von Blotto]

My usual porter recipe combines chocolate and black patent, with roast barley as well. I use 350g black patent, plus 100g each of roasted barley and choc malt. There is also some medium crystal in there (200g). 5kg base malt makes up the rest. Somebody suggested once to swap the amounts of choc and black patent but the way the batch turned out turned me off that idea, it was a beautiful beer. I do AG so all the specialty malts just go in the mash with the base malt, but never noticed any acrid or horrible flavours from them.

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey