Specialty Grain Question

[chad_]

I am new to all grain brewing and had a question about specialty grains. I have read that they don't produce fermentable sugars. Is this true?
I was wondering because when I put them into my recipe calculator on brweersfriend they increase the abv.
Thank you!

 

[daksin]

It's a little tricky. They definitely do contribute unfermentable sugar, which adds to your OG. A portion of the sugars they contribute are definitely fermentable, check out this thread:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/testing-fermentability-crystal-malt-208361/

It's one of my favorites. Anyway, a portion of the sugars contributed by crystal malts are fermentable. That portion increases if you mash them with a base malt, because the enzymes from the base malt can break the unfermentable sugars down into smaller more fermentable sugars.

 

[chad_]

Thank you. That helps a lot, I appreciate it!

 

[forstmeister]

Check out the Wiki for this site, specifically:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Category:Beer_ingredients