Specialty Malt Trial

[evagilbert]

I have an APA recipe that I keep playing with (all grain) and I'd like to trial different specialty grains to see how they change the beer.

I want to keep the recipe as close to the original as possible (I've made this before and am familiar with it).

I also don't really want to do 4 consecutive mashes and boils- first for consistency and secondly for time.

SO, can I mash, boil, hop, and cool the base malts, divide it into four fermenters, and add a different steeped, boiled specialty grain "wort" to each one?

If so, how long do I need to boil the specialty grains? (I've never brewed with extract or partial mashed)

Thanks!

 

[william_shakes_beer]

Specialty grains can be steeped instead of mashed. Just be sure to boil each batch AFTER you pull the grain bag. There are bacteriae on the grain husks that will sour your beer if you do not boil after steeping. Just mash1 batch base, split into 4 smaller kettles and steep, then boil. If you only have 1 BK, you can do each boil successively in tbe same kettle, but you will need 4 fermenters and 4 boils.