Just read the latest issue of BYO magazine about brewing with ancient grains and would like to make a buckwheat porter in the 5% ABV range.
I would like to get a bit of the nutty flavor buckwheat is supposed to offer without it dominating.
My questions:
Malted or toasted or roasted?
And what percentage of the grain bill?
Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
I’ve gotten noticeable but not aggressive flavor at as little as 5%. That was in a saison. In a porter I might think about 10-15%.
This was unmalted, plain buckwheat.
If you have Indian/Asian/Latin grocery stores in your area you should find buckwheat hidden away somewhere for a good price. Usually at Asian or Latin stores you’ll find it among their Indian ingredients. They’ll only carry unmalted buckwheat though.
Do you grind it with the rest of your grains and then add to the mash or do you so something else with it?
Thanks
If you just care about flavor contribution you could throw it in the mash along with the other grains. If you also want conversion then you’ll want to do a cereal mash or at least give the buckwheat a good long boil.
Malted buckwheat is available.
I’ll probably use unmalted buckwheat as I can get it locally. If I order it, I’ll have to pay shipping. However, if someone could convince me that malted buckwheat would provide more flavor, I would use it.
I’ve never used it, but I have used millet malt with good success and just bought some rice malt to experiment with.