Adding roasted grain to fermentation

[rIKESB1]

Just really trying to see what people think. I made a dark mild today og 1.058 using pale and brown malt and some fuggles. Looking at the colour as I dropped the liquor into the fermentation bin, it was brown in colour but not what I would describe as dark. I have added 0.5 oz per gallon of black to the ferment to darken the brew but hopefully not affecting the flavour too much as I used a smoked brown malt. What do people think on using black malt in this way and not adding it to the mash?

[sib67]

I would have thought you could have a potential sanitation problem there.

[WishboneBrewery]

If you were to steep the grains in a little water then add that to the FV when cooled you'd probably be OK.

[sib67]

If you were to steep the grains in a little water then add that to the FV when cooled you'd probably be OK.

I'm assuming that the grain is already in the fermentor.

[WishboneBrewery]

If you were to steep the grains in a little water then add that to the FV when cooled you'd probably be OK.

I'm assuming that the grain is already in the fermentor.

Then in that case, yeah, a good source of wild yeast!!!

[coatesg]

Then in that case, yeah, a good source of wild yeast!!!

Or a lactobacillus infection.... I think adding unmashed grain to a ferment is the traditional way of souring a beer.

I would have added gravy browning (E150 - same as brewers caramel) myself if I was that fussed about it. Modern dark milds vary between brown and black anyhow so having a brown mild really isn't that wrong, and this kind of recipe is more historic (sounds like a Durden Park style mild) where all the modern style rules go out of the window anyway.

Out of interest, did you use rauchmalt, or a true brown malt that was made the "old way" by smoking over a hot fire (and if so - where did you get it!).

[rIKESB1]

It is from a Durden Park recipe but I amended it a bit and is for a competition in March. The brown malt is smoked which I got through County Beermakers (I belong to them) early last year. Not sure where it came from, probably from a maltster in Suffolk, but I do know it's pot luck as to what type of brown malt we get, the colour ranges dramatically as does the degree of smokiness. It really does improve Porter which I make a lot of.