Lazy brewer sees the point on mini-mashing

[SleepySamSlim]

OK - I am lazy and I am stubborn ... but I do see the value of moving to this process - and that is primarily so I can use a much broader range of grains in my brews and achieve better enhanced flavors versus simply steeping. Did I mention I'm also not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

And I will use Jamils stove-top mini-mash as detailed in an earlier thread

http://www.beersmith.com/forum/index.php?topic=2281.msg9538#msg9538

But I do have a question, to derive the full benefits of mashing do I need to include a grain like 2 row pale malt ? Or just my specialty grains (some of course requiring mashing and some not) ?  Any thoughts on that ?  I can see that if I'm going to do a mini-mash I could easily add a pound or 2 of pale malt which would reduce my costs via less LME.

And I will at some time have to get a measure of efficiency by measuring the SG of the mash and comparing that to the PPG of the grain bill etc.

I'm already getting dizzy ---- I need a home brew

[MaltLicker]

Definitely on the base grain addition, for both the fresh malty flavor/aroma, and the enzymatic power.  And it allows you to add the malt character to fit the style of brew:  use Maris Otter in the British ales, American two-row in an APA, and Munich or Vienna when you need/want a toasted note.  And also mash it to fit the style.........you can't adjust the profile of the LME or DME, but if you're doing a kolsch, you could use 2# of German pils, partial mashed at 148/149F.   I think you'd be stunned at the difference in malty quality and "fit to style" you'd gain from doing that. 

[SleepySamSlim]

Thanks for the info on the base malt - will do on the next batch. Today I'm brewing "on the fly" which I don't like to do - but what the heck. I'm brewing a tweaked version of Jamils brown porter (Who's your Taddy). I switched the recipe from extract to partial mash - for a 2.8lb grain bill (1lb of brown malt) I had to reduce the LME by 1lb to have BSmith keep the same OG estimate.

I'll get some rough idea of my mini-mash process based on how close I get to the predicted OG. I'll post the results as I'm brewing now

[SleepySamSlim]

In the eternal question of is it better to be lucky or good .... lucky seemed to take the day today. I mashed to Jamil's process down the line - and when all was done and the wort was sitting at 72deg in the fermenting bucket ... my corrected SG reading was 1.049. One point off of the BSmith recipe. I have to bow to Jamils process and BSmith - time will tell how this progresses.

With luck I'll rack this by weeks end and brew another dark beer on my Fall schedule - a clone of TableRock Nut Brown Ale. On that batch I'll include a pound of 2 row pale malt.

Its 6PM here and time for tamales and home brew....