Q: Someone I spoke with at a prominent malting company told me that I shouldn’t add my specialty grains at the beginning of the mash as I’m accustomed to doing. He says that I should only mash these grains for half an hour. Bur I find I get much better flavors and extract efficiency when I do it my way. Any feedback?
A: I have experimented with the late addition of roasted grains to the mash tun a few times. It did seem to give a smoother flavor, but to get the same color and flavor intensity I had to increase the quantity of roasted grain. This somewhat offset the gain. If you want to try a side-by-side experiment, I suggest increasing the quantity of roasted grain by about 25–30% to compensate for the decrease in flavor and color extraction.
I think this trick is most useful with very astringent specialty grains. I have in the past used some dark roasted grains that seemed to impart a lot of tannins to the beer, even with proper attention to mash and sparge pH. If you run into a real mouth-puckering problem with some of your dark beers, you might want to try it; alternatively, you could try a different brand of malt. If you are happy with the beers you are brewing now, don’t change anything.
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