Specialty grains in a mash

Physics, chemistry and biology of brewing. The causes and the effects.

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Legman
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Specialty grains in a mash

Post by Legman »

When mashing grains, the rule of thumb is lower the temperature the more fermetables and higher the temperature the more unfermentables.
Does that go for the same when using specialty malts in with a mash? Or are those grains as is?
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brewmeisterintng
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I Think It Depends

Post by brewmeisterintng »

It depends on what the grain is however, it is usually not the case. With specality grains like Crystal, conversion is already done and you are just extracting the color and flavor. It is a educated guess on my part and I am sure that others will chime in if I am wrong.
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Legman
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Post by Legman »

Thats what I was kinda thinking. I knew those grains had already been converted, but I wasn't sure to what degree that was.
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Post by slothrob »

It would be true for grains like Munich and Vienne.
I would have thought that the unfermentables from Crystal malts would get broken down by enzymes in the mash, too, but if I use something like Carapils in a beer I'm mashing on the low side it seems to boost the body even though the beer ends dry from the low mashing temperature. So I guess the unfermentables are surviving the mash.
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