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I'm having a go at a small scale experiment today and was wondering if anybody had thoughts on what I can expect in the final results.

Last week I made a German black beer;

Munich 2.9kg
Pilsner 1.65kg
Chocolate 0.2kg
Crystal (dark) 0.1kg
Carafa 1 0.1kg

Perle to 19.6IBU 80 minutes
Hersbrucker to 4.3 Ibu 20 minutes
Hersbrucker to 0.4 IBU 2 minutes

Salt 1 tsp

Final volume post boil = 27 litres

US-05 Ale yeast

Today I am making the exact same recipe, but I will be adding the specialty grains at mash out rather than in the mash.

I have read that doing this can aid clarity, but with this being a dark beer it wont be noticeable. So what other characteristics may change by doing it this way?

How long and what temp do you mash out at Gav?

Sorry Lloydie, I should have said in the OP.

Mash was 90 minutes @ 64c

Mashout 10 minutes @ 77c

Geez so you should be Gav.. Get with the program...
Do you reckon ten minutes would be enough to disolve the converted sugars? That's the only thing I can see as an issue...
What was the reason behind the hypothesis behind the experiment Gav?
Lloydie

A couple of reasons to give it a go Lloydie.

Firstly, I have read ( I think it was in Palmer's How to brew, I must try and find it!) that adding the spec. grains at mashout aids in the clarity of the finished beer.

Secondly, I have also read ( anecdotally ) that leaving the spec. grains out until mashout gives the base malt a better environment for all of the converting of sugars to take place. Especially in dark beers, as the dark spec malts lower the ph of the mash to, sometimes, lower than desired ph.


I will see if I can find the article for point 1 and post it up here.

Ah haa!
Yeah I'd like to give that a read mate..

Damn I reckon that cost me a couple of hours searching to find the article again.

That's what happens when you try and recall things from years ago without having them bookmarked!!!



The full text of the article can be read here.

Interesting idea there, with some fairly logical arguments to back it up. It would be interesting to see a side by side comparison to see if the effects were noticeable and if so, how noticeable.

I still stick with adding them to the mash, mostly for the sake of simplicity, but also to give more time for extraction from the specialty grains.

I occasionally get an issue with cloudy beer, but that could just as easily be an issue with yeast as with anything else.

Something like an APA with a good dose of crystal would make a good experiment on this, the taste difference should be noticeable if the bittering wasn't too high.

Matt

I have 2 identical beers conditioning at the moment, so I should be able do a taste comparison next week between the to different methods. Only trouble is they are Black beers, so I wont be able to see any difference in clarity.

Will keep you posted

My thought on this albeit a little late is that your mash pH might have been high as the specialty grains help bring the pH lower.

I noticed this past on only signed up a few weeks ago so a day late and a dollar short I suppose.

I check my mash pH on every brew, but its mostly pointless now as I know what my water adjustments are for my water on any given brew.

It's never to late to reply Joe.

I don't check my ph, I know, I'm not a real brewer unless I check ph, but there you go.

On the 2 brews I did, the first with the spec grains going in with the mash. The first brew hit 1042 while the second, with the spec grains going in at mash out hit 1044. This was with identical grain bills, water and mash schedule.

Most recently I did a Speckled Hen clone with the spec grains going in at mash out. This brew managed 80.35% efficiency. A big improvement on my normal 74-76%.

Is it because of the spec grains going in at mash out? I don't know, but if this trend continues and there are no ill effects to the beer, I will continue to do it.

I wonder if it also applies to light cara malts such as Caramalt, Carapils etc?

I can't see why it wouldn't.

The thing is, that all of the cara or specialty malts don't need to be mashed.
So why not just mash your base malts and then steep your other grains for 20 minutes at mashout?

So far (2 brews) it has worked for me. I'm just waiting for an empty keg so I can get the Speckled Hen clone out of the fermenter. I'll have to start drinking more

I was only asking of you checked pH, not judging. I'd say its a 50/50 split with most I know. No reason for me to check it at this point unless I try a new recipe. I have the strips so I use them. I was able to check them against a digital meter a friend brought to a club meeting and I have to say in the 4-6 pH range they work great.

I'm just curious. I might try it myself on a few batches just to observe the pH. If I remember... Shoot that's 2 things to remember... Not milling the grain together, then remembering to put it in at mash out...

The bad thing is with summer arriving here in the Northern hemisphere it seems we (my family) never make plans, but are always busy. I don't know the next time I'll be able to brew, but it will probably be hot and humid. Thankfully I have a few in feremters now and quite a few cases ready drink.

Sorry if I made you feel that way Joe. Websites really need a sarcasm emoticon or something.

I was just trying to add some humour, certainly not feeling like I was being judged.

Sorry for any misrepresentation.

UPDATE

I'm sitting here with 2 pints of Schwartzbier, 1 brewed with all the grains going in at mash and the other with the base malts mashed and the specialty malts added at mashout.

The first, most notable thing is that the beer done with the 2nd method has a much better head formation. The head is much tighter and longer lasting.

The beer brewed with the 1st method is best described (when drinking the 2 side by side) as single dimensional. That is, it has it's flavour (very tasty) but that's it.
While the second beer has multi dimensions. It tastes like beer, but then comes the chocolate and the carafa. I can actually taste the different malts, rather than them being an homogeneous flavour. It also has a creamier mouth feel.

So all in all, I'm very happy with the way beer #2 has turned out (not that there is anything wrong with #1). I'll definitely be doing this into the future.

I'll have to keep an eye out on my paler brews to see if there is improved clarity.

Gavin

Nice work brother!!
We have a big brewday tomorrow. Might try to intergrate that....
Lloydie

sounds like a good excuse for brewing 2 batches in a day soon, might do an APA with some crystal and see what happens.

Good stuff indeed.

Matt

No worries hashie...

Thanks hashie for the above. I like your, "single dimensional," description. I am definitely going to give that a crack next time I brew a schwartz. One of my favourite things about schwartzbier is the multi dimensions you can get. I have not been able to get this in a schwartz for a while now - maybe grain specs have changed. If doing this second method fixes this, I will owe you many a beer.

Donya,
PP

I was thinking about a schwartzbier next up PP I hear you have a nice recipe..