Steeping Marris Otter Grains for kit addititon

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twentyfootwilf

Steeping Marris Otter Grains for kit addititon

Post by twentyfootwilf » Sat Sep 09, 2017 2:01 pm

I've ordered some crushed pale malt (marris otter) which I intend to steep for an hour and a half to add to a kit. I've got a large bag (intended for use in straining honey) which fits nicely inside a large stainless steel stock pot. The bag is large enough to overhang the rim of the pot and the lid can then be fitted on. What I need to know is if I steep 1kg of crushed malt how much dme (if any) would I need to add to a Coopers IPA to make it equivalent to a kit and kilo 23 litre brew. I've watched a Craig Tube video of him doing something similar where he steeps 1kg pale malt and also some crystal. and doesn't add any dme to his brew but uses something he calls high malt glucose. I don't intend using any crystal as I don't want to sweeten the beer at all. I've not trid this before so any advice would be welcome.

Fil
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Location: Cowley, Oxford

Re: Steeping Marris Otter Grains for kit addititon

Post by Fil » Sat Sep 09, 2017 5:04 pm

forgive the pedant in me for suggesting its a 'mini mash' rather than a steep your proposing if you hope to get a sweet liquor to ferment from the process, steeping is a term generally applied to the soaking of specialty and extra roasted grains and malts with little or no enzymes which impart more colour and flavour than starch for sugar conversion.

grab some of the free brewing recipe software out there, most will allow you to test a recipe and derive expected results on the fly so you can get an estmation of the sugar output from your mini mash. i use brewmate myself for such exercises in recipe tweeking its basically intuitive and dosent require pouring over manual pdfs.

glucose, dextrin,'brewing sugar' is simply a dirt cheap monosacheride that when sold to homebrewers gets sold at ridiculous hiked up prices, it will ferment out a tad quicker and when brewing commercially 8-12hours less in the FV is £££££ but as sucrose (white sugar) is way cheaper and chemically is a chain of 2 x monosacherides with an extra 02 which the yeast can easily digest with the same basic result it just takes a upto a day or 2 longer for the yeast to break down the simple chain before munching the simple sugars.

hope thats useful and not confusing ;)
ist update for months n months..
Fermnting: not a lot..
Conditioning: nowt
Maturing: Challenger smash, and a kit lager
Drinking: dry one minikeg left in the store
Coming Soon Lots planned for the near future nowt for the immediate :(

twentyfootwilf

Re: Steeping Marris Otter Grains for kit addititon

Post by twentyfootwilf » Sat Sep 09, 2017 6:43 pm

Yes sorry, mashing is the correct term. I have just downloaded Graham Wheeler's Beer Engine, I'd forgotten about that, just had a look and it gives me a very good idea of what to expect from different combinations of fermentables. Thanks.

sandimas
Steady Drinker
Posts: 52
Joined: Sat Oct 15, 2016 11:29 am
Location: Near Malvern

Re: Steeping Marris Otter Grains for kit addititon

Post by sandimas » Sun Sep 10, 2017 2:18 pm

This will work great.

As Fil points out, this is a mini-mash, as grains like Maris Otter require mashing rather than steeping. Worth doing a bit of homework to work out which ones do and which ones don't. But irrespective of this, grain (and hop) additions to kits really improve them. And using the kit as a base, your mash/steep can usually be done with equipment you already have in the kitchen.

Here's what I did with Wilko's Hoppy Copper Bitter. Came out amazing, one of the best beers I've made (and that includes AG!). 20L brew, OG 1048.

Grain Bill
----------------
1.500 kg Liquid Malt Extract - Wilko Hoppy Copper
1.000 kg Brew Enhancer (Dextrose & Dry Malt Extract)
0.500 kg Maris Otter Malt
0.150 kg Crystal 60 standard

Hop Bill
----------------
20.0 g Brewers Gold Leaf (5% Alpha) @ 20 Minutes (Boil)
20.0 g Brewers Gold Leaf (5% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil)
30.0 g Brewers Gold Leaf (5% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Aroma)
30.0 g Brewers Gold Leaf (5% Alpha) @ 0 Days (Dry Hop)

twentyfootwilf

Re: Steeping Marris Otter Grains for kit addititon

Post by twentyfootwilf » Mon Sep 11, 2017 7:01 pm

I've used speciality malts before, my preferred method is a cold steep overnight in the fridge, I find that the cold steep give better results. I did do a mini mash years ago that turned out very good, but it was so long ago I've lost my notes and mislaid the book by Graham Wheeler that I derived the recipe from, hence my not knowing how much fermentables 1kg of pale marris otter will give me. But thanks to Fil's reminder about the beer engine I have pretty much what I need at my fingertips. I intend doing a session beer using the Coopers Brew A IPA kit, I'm not after a full bodied beer just an easy drinking hoppy beer of about 4% abv so I reckon the kit plus 1kg marris otter mashed 90mins and 250g malto dextrin (definitely think it helps with head retention) brewed to 21 litres with addition of priming sugar should give me what I'm after. I've got 50g Cascade hop pellets which I will boil in the wort for 10 to 15 mins for hop flavour. What do you think? I've got plenty of stronger beers to go at but I need something I can drink a few of when I'm helping cook Sunday lunch without getting legless, getting fed up with getting up on Monday and not knowing whether I enjoyed me Sunday dinner ;)

Fil
Telling imaginary friend stories
Posts: 5229
Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: Cowley, Oxford

Re: Steeping Marris Otter Grains for kit addititon

Post by Fil » Mon Sep 11, 2017 10:36 pm

I would suggest a longer boil than 10 minutes if you hope to achieve hot and cold breaks with your mashed liquor, a 60 minute boil should be sufficient.

And if the kit is bitter enough as is i wouldnt boil the hops, but add then as a post boil addition once its circa 80C and let them steep for 20-30 minutes before popping the pan in a sink or bowl of cold water to help chill. that way you should benefit from the aroma oils that would normally be cooked off at boiling temps.

a simple check of the recipe you have generated and brewing s/w would be to substitute your grain n sugar additions for the original kit recipe sucrose mass and confirm the brew s/w generates the same target abv as the kit instructions..
ist update for months n months..
Fermnting: not a lot..
Conditioning: nowt
Maturing: Challenger smash, and a kit lager
Drinking: dry one minikeg left in the store
Coming Soon Lots planned for the near future nowt for the immediate :(

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