Chit Malt?

[RiverBrewer]

     Just looking for tips or experiences on using a malt I never heard of or used before Chit Malt. Sounds very beneficial to the mash from what I can find out. Some say it is the same as carapils others say it is similar, just wondering if it adds unfementables to the wort.

[Oginme]

I have never used it, but have done some reading on its uses.  My understanding is that it is barley which has been malted just long enough for the acrospire to form and then kilned to stop further degradation of the proteins.  This leaves it with a much higher level of longer chain proteins and Beta glucans than fully malted barley.  Chit malt will impart a more grassy, raw barley type of flavor. In use, it improves the body and head retention, similar to Carapils or Carafoam.  Nothing I read about it from manufacturer's web sites state anything about benefits to the mashing process, only the resultant impact on the flavor and properties of the ending beer.

[Kevin58]

If you haven't heard of Ron Pattinson he is among the most tenacious researchers of historic beer (mainly English beers). I took a guess that if anyone had dug up any information about chit malt it would be him. The only article I found that included the malt in question was this one. I don't know what it tells you but here it is for your perusal. https://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/search?q=chit+malt

[RiverBrewer]

 I added the product description, it isn't cara-pils, because it is up to 12 % protein, with diastatic power of 250 minimum,  up to 15% of grain bill to avoid the flavor.
Next IPA I will try it. Scott Janish mentioned it in his book The New IPA. The maltster states: The malt
has a particularly high level of inherent starter enzymes , which contribute
significantly to improving the conversion of starch, thus increasing the yield.

[Oginme]

I added the product description, it isn't cara-pils, because it is up to 12 % protein, with diastatic power of 250 minimum,  up to 15% of grain bill to avoid the flavor.
Next IPA I will try it. Scott Janish mentioned it in his book The New IPA

I stated that it was used to give the same properties as Carapils, not that it was the same.  They are made very much differently. 

I have Scott's book on my wish list and am interested in his take on it. 

Note that Ron Pattinson's writings talks about how they mashed using Chit malt, but not that there was any advantage to using it nor any benefit in the mash.  I can see where the high diastatic power would be useful in a very high adjunct mash, such as a NEIPA, if you were using flaked oats and/or wheat.  Mike Tonsmeire recommended using malted oats in place of the flaked oats to me a couple of years and as such, I have had no issues with conversion for that style.

[RiverBrewer]

You also have to realize that Ron's article was based on 100 year old data. Lab beer testing in 1920, reliable? I doubt it strongly. I would say the maltster has verified  the significant increased conversion with accurate 2020 lab testing. I give it a try in a couple of weeks after I finish my dry hopping and kegging of my current IPA.  I haven't been on this forum in a while, but I know a lot of us brewers here are obsessed number gurus always looking for better conversion. I give it a shot. Search chit malt and you will find a vender. For West Coast IPA I don't use over 6% caramel malts, so I will match that for the first brew. I have got 15 lbs. to  mash with.

[Oginme]

By all means, go for it!  I will be very interested in hearing of your results. 

[RiverBrewer]

Love the book. Lots of referenced data for the scientific endowed and those just seeking brewing knowledge. Format is superb with a list of conclusions at the end of the topic that will send you back to see how it was arrived at. The semi non-technical me likes to work backward from conclusion to data. I call it ass-backwards engineering. It makes the data more palatable. His last chapter is tips from pro breweries. Scott does use chit malt at Sapwood Cellars. Thanks Kevin58 and Oginme !

[RiverBrewer]

I did receive a response from BestMalz;
Chit malt is indeed less soluble than Pils or Caramel Pils, because the purpose of Chit malt is to give your beer a better foam stability with high molecular proteins. You can add Caramel Pils up to 50% whereas Chit Malt only up to 15%. And I personally haven?t seen anybody use Chit malt with more than 5% in a batch. Another difference between Caramel Pils and Chit malt is the caramelisation of the Caramel Pils, which make it harder for the enzymes to breakdown. All in all I think you won?t have difficulties while lautering or filtering the batch with Chit malt.

 

[Oginme]

Thanks for sharing. 

So reading this it would seem to indicate that if you want the full benefits of the longer MW proteins, you want to avoid any protease rests during the mash. 

[RiverBrewer]

Thanks for the tip on the protease enzyme rest!

I did not have any luck finding a converter or formula to go through the process of converting the 250 WK diastatic power to PPG to the PY that I could enter into the BeerSmith3+ software.
After a lengthy search I found the PPG on another brewing site to be 23 or 1.023 potential yield.
Not knowing its source, I don't know if a chemist could get there mathematically

[Oginme]

BestMalz gives the potential extract as 50% fine grind, dry basis.  This should get you close enough.  Enter this as the 'yield' and the program will calculate out the potential from that which should come out to 1.023.  Diastatic power (WK) does not translate to extract potential but is an indicator of enzymatic content of the malt.

[RiverBrewer]

Vielen Dank fur alles

[Oginme]

Du bist herzlich Willkommen.


I hope this came out right, I am very rusty on my German.

[RiverBrewer]

Finally got my brewing with chit malt batch kegged recently. An amber IPA. I was interested in what my FG would turn out with a high caramel grain bill (10 %) so I dug out an old recipe that finished 1.016 using carapils. To keep it short, the beer finished out with more caramel flavor than sweetness at 1.012. Using 5.3% chit malt the head on this beer is art worthy, and head sustainability is very good. Actually the best head I can remember other than a nitro draught Guinness The only thing I noticed different during the boil using chit was there was a cream/slight bluish color floating scum with trapped air bubbles that was easily skimmed with an extra fine sieve. Overall I am very happy with the results, and will be ordering more chit malt! Brewing a lager with kveik WLP520 next week w/chit 5%