Just picked up some Chevallier malt for bitters and London porters. Some articles mention step mashing with a 90 minute mash to maximize the malt’s yield and flavor; does anyone have some experiences? Thanks
You need the Sword of Gryffindor to stir it..@Miraculix, I did some research on the hochkurz mash. Does
look about right?
- Beta amylase rest: 144°F (62°C) for 30 to 45 minutes
- Alpha amylase rest: 160°F (71°C) for 30 to 45 minutes
- Mash out: 170°F (77°C) for 10 to 15 minutes
I’d not not heard of this Mash term, thanks for the suggestion!
It's spot on! I use 30 minutes steps for the first two and 72c for the second, 15-20 minutes mash out.@Miraculix, I did some research on the hochkurz mash. Does
look about right?
- Beta amylase rest: 144°F (62°C) for 30 to 45 minutes
- Alpha amylase rest: 160°F (71°C) for 30 to 45 minutes
- Mash out: 170°F (77°C) for 10 to 15 minutes
I’d not not heard of this Mash term, thanks for the suggestion!
With Chevallier, I brew only single-malt or malt-and-light-adjunct (like maize or inverted sugar) English historical recipes to showcase the unique flavour of the malt. So, I brew Bitters, Burton Ales and Barleywines with it. When a recipe includes Crystal, Amber or Roasted Malt I use simpler base malts (standard Pale Ale, Maris Otter, Golden Promise etc.), as I think adding strong additional flavours to Chevallier goes against the point of using this expensive and rare heritage malt which should be appreciated as it is, I believe.@Protos, what was the beer style and what were the steps, temperature/times ? Thanks
You want yeast expression in a bitter. Fermenting under pressure inhibits yeast expression. That does not makes sense to do.thanks for note on pH
For the first try with this malt,
Tinker’s Bunny Bitters
4g batch
Fermentables (lbs)
4.75 Chevallier
0.5. Torrified Wheat
0.5 invert #3
0.25. Crystal 55
Hops (oz)
1.75. Fuggles (60m)
0.5. Fuggles (10m)
Hochkurz mash; 144f @ 45m & 160f @ 45m
Ferment under pressure after 24hrs in 5g corny keg
But why on earth would you want to pressurise this fermentation? Just because you can, does not mean you should!@Miraculix, I was thinking about that issue this morning on Tinkers walk. I was going to go 48 hrs with no pressure so the initial yeast flavor is developed.
Yes a very good reminderBut why on earth would you want to pressurise this fermentation? Just because you can, does not mean you should!
Honestly, English ale and pressure fermentation do not go well together. In fact, the exact oposite is actually beneficial, if done correctly. Open fermentation. So maybe play around with that instead?
You overcomplicate things .Ok, got the message
I’d like to serve the bitters through my beer engine so the delayed pressure fermentation is an attempt to create real ale.
maybe better to ferment in carboy (no pressure), transfer the results to a corny keg with sugar and a bit of yeast?
I appreciate your thoughts, this brewing direction isn’t common at Foam on the Range, our Homebrew club.
How long did you let it mature? How high was your water alkalinity? How high was the sulfate level?I just had a pint of the bitter made a couple weeks ago with Chevallier. Same story with this one, it's very grainy and dry even with a bunch of crystal. Hmmm.
I'm an going to do a double batch bitter this week using Chevallier in one and Root Shoot English in the other to see if it's Chevallier that is my issue.
Oddly enough root shoot has higher protein content.
This one not long, I brewed it Jan 8th. The other batches I let sit for months that had the same flavor.How long did you let it mature? How high was your water alkalinity? How high was the sulfate level?
thanks for note on pH
For the first try with this malt,
Tinker’s Bunny Bitters
4g batch
70% efficiency, OG 1.035 with hypo abv 4.2%
Fermentables (lbs)
4.75 Chevallier
0.5. Torrified Wheat
0.5 invert #3
0.25. Crystal 55
Hops (oz)
1.75. Fuggles (60m)
0.5. Fuggles (10m)
Hochkurz mash; 144f @ 45m & 160f @ 45m
Ferment under pressure after 24hrs in 5g corny keg
Heritage malt looks like the malt that was used back in the day before brew masters knew how to test malt and before the IOB was founded. The malt spec sheet you provided is for a grain distillers use, there isn't enough info on it for an ale and lager brewer. Always obtain a malt spec sheet from the maltster instead of from a warehouse before buying malt. Notice the level of malt modification on the maltsters spec sheet. KI is 34 to 51 that means that in a bag of Heritage malt there is a mixture of high quality, under modified, malt 34 to 40 KI, and low quality, high modified, to over modified, malt 42 to 51 KI. A brewer will have no idea how much good malt is in a bag or how much low quality malt is in a bag. The protein content ranges from 10% and that is good, to 14% not so good. The more protein the less sugar. It looks like malt that was swept off the floor of the malthouse after malting a bunch of barley from different farms then it was bagged up with a nice story. Good malt is 40 KI and lower and contains 10% and less protein. The malt is rich in enzyme content and high in sugar content. The enzyme content in malt is important because when step mashing or when using the Hochkurz double decoction method there has to be enough enzymes to work throughout a longer brewing process.thanks for note on pH
For the first try with this malt,
Tinker’s Bunny Bitters
4g batch
70% efficiency, OG 1.035 with hypo abv 4.2%
Fermentables (lbs)
4.75 Chevallier
0.5. Torrified Wheat
0.5 invert #3
0.25. Crystal 55
Hops (oz)
1.75. Fuggles (60m)
0.5. Fuggles (10m)
Hochkurz mash; 144f @ 45m & 160f @ 45m
Ferment under pressure after 24hrs in 5g corny keg
Heritage malt looks like the malt that was used back in the day before brew masters knew how to test malt and before the IOB was founded. The malt spec sheet you provided is for a grain distillers use, there isn't enough info on it for an ale and lager brewer. Always obtain a malt spec sheet from the maltster instead of from a warehouse before buying malt. Notice the level of malt modification on the maltsters spec sheet. KI is 34 to 51 that means that in a bag of Heritage malt there is a mixture of high quality, under modified, malt 34 to 40 KI, and low quality, high modified, to over modified, malt 42 to 51 KI. A brewer will have no idea how much good malt is in a bag or how much low quality malt is in a bag. The protein content ranges from 10% and that is good, to 14% not so good. The more protein the less sugar. It looks like malt that was swept off the floor of the malthouse after malting a bunch of barley from different farms then it was bagged up with a nice story. Good malt is 40 KI and lower and contains 10% and less protein. The malt is rich in enzyme content and high in sugar content. The enzyme content in malt is important because when step mashing or when using the Hochkurz double decoction method there has to be enough enzymes to work throughout a longer brewing process.
At 160F Pasteurization occurs and on top of the high temperature the rest was 45 minutes long. Alpha rapidly denatured. When Alpha denatures too quickly, starch carry over occurs and the beer will be overly sweet and low in ABV.
It isn't a good idea to pressure ferment when the conversion rest is used. When conversion occurs, secondary fermentation takes place because of fermentable, complex sugar that forms during conversion, maltose and maltotriose. After primary fermentation ends the beer is racked off trub and autolyzed yeast and transferred into a secondary fermenter. After secondary fermentation ends the beer is transferred into a conditioning tank that has a relief valve attached and during conditioning the maltotriose that forms during conversion carbonates the beer. Beer made with the step mash method and the decoction method aren't carbonated during primary fermentation or artificially carbonated with sugar or with CO2 injection because over carbonation and bottle bombs can happen.
It is absolutely fantastic that you used the Hochkurz double decoction method from start to finish in 105 minutes! You boiled the mash two times and used two rest periods at 45 minutes each, then sparged and you finished in 105 minutes?
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