Expert: Ed Westemeier - 1/19/2010

Question
Ed,

Happy belated brew year to you.  I have a few questions for you. I brew with extract and specialty grains.

1. Is there a loose rule of thumb on the amount of specialty grains one can add based on a percentage of the rest of the grain bill (in this case being extract).  I have gotten more answers to this question than you can imagine.  IE: in a 1.066 IPA is more than a pound of specialty grains too much?  What about an american amber ale at 1.046 (some recipes call for more than a lb)? I am really looking for the malt flavor to come through but I feel I need the Crystal to maintain body and head.

2. The Cold Break. I generally don't have a problem with chill haze, and I'm using muslin bags for hops and grains.  I really don't see that much sludge at the bottom of my pot when I pour into the primary.  I've gotten some advice that I would to better to toss the hops in with no bag for better utilization and use a fining agent, siphoning into the primary from the brewpot after the cold break.  Your thoughts?

3. I'm trying to formulate my own recipes.  In an amber ale with 6 lbs of light extract, my thought is to get the color and flavor I want by using a combination of  .5 120L Crystal and .5 80L Crystal.  Would I do better to reduce the Crystal and add a small amount of black patent or the like? I guess my fear is that I too much specialty grains equals too sweet beer. Your thoughts?

4. When steeping a grain that should be mashed, like Belgian Aromatic, is starch conversion important.  I used some in an IPA and it is a bit astringent and I'm looking for the cause.  

Thanks in advance (sorry for so many questions)

dac  

Answer
Specialty grains are used for specific reasons when you design a recipe. Use whatever you need to get the desired effect. Don't worry about too much or too little.

Cold break? Since you don't have chill haze problems, where's the problem? True, you can get better hop utilization by just dumping them in, but the difference is too small to worry about.

For learning to make recipes, you really should get a copy of Ray Daniels' book "Designing Great Beers" and go through it. You'll learn more than enough to make you a master at recipe formulation. Specialty grains are kind of irrelevant in terms of sweet beer -- that just means the beer is underhopped.

Starch conversion happens at conversion temperatures. As long as you steep the grain at around the right temp for long enough, you have no problem. Astringency is more likely to be from steeping at too high a temperature.

Cheers!
Ed