Stupid Question! (Grains, Crushed, Malted)

[WishboneBrewery]

I'm probably answering my own question....

For Extract brewing do the grains available ALL have to be Malted and Crushed?

If the above is true, whats the deal with Torrified Wheat, Roasted barley etc etc?

Cheers (Having read 2 good books so far, the recent Graham Wheeler and the old Dave Line book I seem to have missed a bit!)

[OldSpeckledBadger]

I think the ones don't need mashing are:

• Crystal Malt
• Black Malt
• Chocolate Malt
• Roasted Barley

I know Torrified Wheat, Flaked Maize and Flaked Barley all do need mashing. The quantities used are quite small however so you don't need a big mash like you would for AG.

[brewzone]

Malted grains contain the required enzymes to convert the starch to fermentable sugars.

Highly roasted or unmalted grains contain little to no enzymes and therefore cannot convert the starches to fermentable sugars.

Unmalted grains will probably cause a starch haze in the finished beer if not mashed alongside malted grains.

Roasted Barley,Crystal Malt,Chocolate Malt,Black Malt can be used for steeping to produce varying colours in a kit beer.

Crystal Malt is fermentable as it has undergone the enzymatic conversion in the husk during malting and kilning and so will add to the final ABV and will produce a certain amount of body.

BZ

[WishboneBrewery]

I think I'm nearly there with the info, but does the grain have to be crushed for the boil in the bag bit?

Brewzone:
I'm not sure the enzymes bit you mention is strictly correct (that is more to do with the mashing process), the Malting process already changes the starch into sugars by making the grain think its time to grow... then when its full of its own natural growing sugars they Kiln it at different levels for pale, chocolate, black and Crystal etc (as far as I'm aware)

Cheers guys

[WishboneBrewery]

*after a bit of Re-reading of books* I'll take a bit of that back Brewzone.

So do you use Whole or Crushed Grains in Extract Brewing?

[OldSpeckledBadger]

So do you use Whole or Crushed Grains in Extract Brewing?

I always used to subject them to a bit of bgh with a rolling pin. That's what I intend to do when I brew my Old Speckled Hen clone later this month.

[WishboneBrewery]

fair enough

I've gone and done it now, been a got some hops from Paul @ www.barleybottom.com + come back with Some Crystal Malt, Chocolate Malt, Black malt & Roasted barley.
Just need a Big pan now!