I am working on a Nut Brown ale recipe, and would like to adjust the color a little darker/more brown without changing the flavor or gravity. I seem to recall a grain that is made for this purpose, but my grain cheat sheet doesn’t list it.
What do you suggest?
tiny bit of caraffa? added late in the mash or cold steeped with the ‘tea’ added to the boil? or that caraffa extract stuff cinemar (?)
Sinamar
In my experience you are not going to find a grain that “just adds color”. There are ways to reduce the amount of flavor it will add, but you will still get some flavor. Sinmar is probably the best route to go to just add color.
denny and keith are correct, IMO, but Briess Midnight Wheat (?) has worked well for me in that I can add just a few ounces to a 12gal batch and I don’t get anything I can detect out of it. I think it might even be welcome in a NBA.
I love the midnight wheat but I still think it adds flavor. Granted, it’s mellow and if you handle it correctly you can minimize the amount.
A dark huskless malt (Midnight wheat, Carafa special) is probably the best choice. I just gave cold-steeping a try for my recent Alt and I’m impressed by how much smoother it is than even just capping the mash. I can barely detect any flavor from the Carafa in this Alt, but I got noticible roastiness in a recent amber from capping the mash with an ounce of Carafa III.
Thanks guys. I’m headed to the LHBS, I’ll see if they have some.
The dilemma is caused by me being, at this level of experience, a recipe brewer. So I hesitate to change a proven recipe. The recipe does have 1/4 lb. of chocolate malt, that I thought about bumping up in order to get the color that I think would be appropriate. Right now, according to BeerSmith it is at 14.3 SRM. That just seems too much on the light side IMO.
Is there an online resource that describes this process?
Near the bottom of the FAQ’s page is a brief explanation on how they make Carafa. It is a “huskless” roasted malt.
http://www.weyermann.de/cz/faq.asp?umenue=yes&idmenue=62&sprache=2
There are a lot of ways to do this. I just crushed a couple of ounces of Carafa III and steeped it in about a quart of water overnight at ambient temp. I then added it to the boil with my first late hop addition.
Here’s some more info -
Scroll down about a page or so:
http://www.cascade-brewers.com/faq/
Here’s a recent thread on the topic:
http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=14182.0
Thank you!
If you are only steeping a few ounces a coffee press would work if you have one. They work well for hop tea and bacon extract.
Yep, I need to buy one to infuse some coffee in a cream stout that is just finishing fermentation, so that is a great idea.