Dry
Malting?
Have you ever spent time
and money preparing a brew with specialty malt only to be disappointed
with the end results? Dry malting ( for lack of another name) may be the
answer. |
For this years winter warmer
I wanted to brew the ultimate dessert beer. I started with a Nut Brown
Ale recipe and began my adjustments. I was inspired by the last Long Shot
Competition winner 'Hazelnut Brown'. If you remember, it was rich with
caramel character and had a hint of nut in the finish. I thought the finish
could also use a little chocolate.
Recipe: |
1/2# Dextrin 1/2# Biscuit
1/4# Special B 1/4# Aromatic
1/4# Wheat 1/2# Chocolate
Mash 45 min. in 1 gl. of 155oF
water. Sparge with 1/2 gl. boiling water.
6.6# John Bull Hopped Amber
Extract
2.5# Muntons Plain Light DME
1# Clover Honey
1/2# Malto Dextrine
1/2oz Crystal Hop Pellets 30
min.
1/2oz Liberty Hop Pellets 15
min.
1/2oz. Liberty Hop Pellets 5
min.
Ale Yeast
Total boil 60 minutes. |
| At the racking I was amazed
to find that the brew tasted like Harvey's Bristle Cream Sherry! The chocolate
was there but not strong enough to really identify. That's when the idea
of adding more malt flavor came to me. |
Dry Malting: I mashed
1/4 pound of English Chocolate Malt in one pint of 160 degree water for
30
minutes. Next I sparged
the sweat liquor then used 1 cup of boiling water. The collected run off
was then passed through a paper coffee filter. The fined liquor was then
boiled and reduced to 8 ounces. I cooled it and added it directly to the
secondary fermenter. |
One Noirot
Hazelnut Liqueur Essense kit was added at bottling time. Well, what
started out as a Hazelnut Chocolate Brown became Hazelnut Chocolate Fudge
Brownies! At 8%abv it is truly a winter warmer and the best serving suggestion
can only be described as no dessert required!
OG: 1.085 FG:1.024 8%abv |
