how to use choc and wheat malt

[dye29]

hy all im wanting to make a coopers stout kit and people said to me add wheat malt to get creamy and i thought a choc taste would be nice hence where choc malt comes in but i dont have a clue about any of these , do i simply add when starting fermentation ??????????

[Goulders]

No! You will need to steep the malts if you use them. Have a search in the extract threads I am sure there will be some info in there. It's a great kit on its own though and, like others, I did Ditch's method

[dye29]

so by the sounds of that i cant just a these to a kit form can i

[Goulders]

Nope. You will need to steep in some water at say 65c for some time, and use this water to make up the volume for your kit. I would ask the question on the kit section, as others will know better there. Maybe the Mods could re-title and move to that forum? Otherwise wait for someone to pop up with an answer. Good luck!

[sunny_jimbob]

Earlier in the year I added some grains (including chocolate malt) to a Cooper's Dark kit. I heated a couple of litres of water to 65C and let the grains soak in it for half an hour, then added my sugars etc and boiled it for 15 minutes. It came out really tasty. The chocolate malt will add a lovely coffee/chocolate flavour to your beer.

Full run down of what I did for this one is on this blog post.

[Pinto]

Wheat malt is available as a liquid extract can - you could use it in place of most of the sugar the recipie calls for to make a two can kit ( although im partial to adding a little treacle too )

[dye29]

cheers guys for help i think im going to try wheat and chocolate malt grains as cheeper for now anyway other thing when you boil these what do i put them in a bag ??? and would it be over powering with 500g of each with tin

[sunny_jimbob]

It's up to you really. Previously I've used a muslin bag to hold them together, but for the one linked above I just threw them into the water and then used a sieve to strain them out as I poured into the FV.

[Seivad]

I'd say 500g would be way too much, particularly with the chocolate malt. Like sunny_jimbob, I added some chocolate malt to a Coopers Dark kit. I do think it made a real difference, a lovely pint, but I only used 100g. If I were you I'd try 100g of each, just MHO though. Good luck with it.

[Goulders]

anyway other thing when you boil these

Don't boil! It will release tannins and nasties. Steep at 65C as Sunny_Jimbob said. I'm sure you just made a typo

[dye29]

haha cheers ill do that thanks , oh one other little quest ive just fermented a muntons gold stout 2xtins malt no sugar needed in kit and i dont no wether iv made a boo boo , i left it for a good week but near back end of week temp dropped to ruffly 18degree bubbles slowed down so i did a hydrometer test and on mine it has bands red yellow and green , mine was in red at 1.010 so left for another 2 days checked again and same so i checked instructions on kit and it says ok below 1.014 so i barreled im guessing im ok but usually its way under into green band is it ok and what does this mean theres less alcohol , ( i thought maybe wont go any lower as there isnt any sugar added but im just guessing )

[Goulders]

Don't worry about the bands, they are confusing and a guide. If you get 3 days of constant reading then it is usually fermented out. If it is around 1.014 or below it will be fine. I ususally leave 2-3 weeks before bottling/barrelling anyway.

[Horatio]

You wont get a real chocolate flavour from chocolate malt. It is only called chocolate malt as that is the colour it is kilned to. It may give a slight vanilla or caramel flavour which is often confused for chocolate but I have never detected any chocolate flavour from using it? But as has been said it needs steeping. Good luck.

[dye29]

oh cheers guys it means alot all this help thankyou thankyou

[dye29]

hy all got my stuff today and ready to make im going to steep choc malt and wheat malt first can i do this in same pan also once strained ill bring solution to boil add my sugar then can i add my tin from kit to mix it up