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Lazy brewer sees the point on mini-mashing

SleepySamSlim

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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
 
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. 
 
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
 
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....
 
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