English Bitter experiment

MrDave · Post by **MrDave** » Wednesday Oct 25, 2006 11:04 pm

Got a can of Cooper's Amber Malt extract.
Was thinking about doing this one in my 15L fermenter:

1.5kg/3lb Amber malt extract
450g/1lb Torrified Wheat (steeped)
450g/1lb Rolled Oats (steeped)
30g/1oz Willamette for 60 mins
30g/1oz East Kent Goldings for 5 mins.

Hops and colour should be right.
With that list and 15L I should end up at about 3.7% which should be spot on for a Bitter.
For yeast I was thinking about the Safale S33 starter that I have in the fridge.
I'm curious about the adjunct grains though.
Wheat and Oats likely to make it too fluffy of head, or just right ?
(I've not used either before, but it sounds like a quick and easy way to get some more fermentables in there along with some glucans for body and foaminess)
I'm hoping that I can get away with that lot without mashing. Am I wasting my time steeping them instead?

Aussie Claret · Post by **Aussie Claret** » Thursday Oct 26, 2006 7:53 am

Mr Dave,
Why the rolled oats? Completely out of style for an English bitter, they will also cause cloudiness or haze, they are usually only used in very dark beers such as stouts.

You will have to mash them with other grains which will help convert the startches, Im not sure if torified wheat will lend a hand in the conversion. Also the torrified wheat will also cause haze problems, if you are going to add any grain I'd suggest using a good pale malt such as Marris Otter or Bairds Galaxy.

Lastly not sure about your choice of yeast either for an English bitter, I'd be more inclind to use SO4 or Windsor yeast.

Cheers
AC

rwh · Post by **rwh** » Thursday Oct 26, 2006 10:24 am

Barley's the only grain that has saccarification enzymes, isn't it?

MrDave · Post by **MrDave** » Thursday Oct 26, 2006 10:59 am

Aussie Claret wrote:Mr Dave,
Why the rolled oats? Completely out of style for an English bitter, they will also cause cloudiness or haze, they are usually only used in very dark beers such as stouts.

OK, gotchya.
I'm kinda bored with recent brews having dull heads so I thought I'd give it a big shove and see what happened.

Aussie Claret wrote: You will have to mash them with other grains which will help convert the startches, Im not sure if torified wheat will lend a hand in the conversion. Also the torrified wheat will also cause haze problems, if you are going to add any grain I'd suggest using a good pale malt such as Marris Otter or Bairds Galaxy.

Great - that's the bit I guess I was most curious about.
I was trying to be lazy - don't really want to be mashing without the right kit to do it. Perhaps a small shopping trip is in order.
I have seen recipes that mention boiling oats in a grain bag, but that was for a stout, so there's every chance its going to be too opaque.
rwh raises a good point, in that the wheat won't have enough useful enzymes associated with it so if I wanted to play with the either of those adjuncts, as you've suggested, I'll need some barley malt.

Aussie Claret wrote: Lastly not sure about your choice of yeast either for an English bitter, I'd be more inclind to use SO4 or Windsor yeast.

*nod* The stores within cooee stock Fermentis(Safale/Saflager), Muntons, Morgans and Wyeast.
The blurb on the S04 suggests that it'd be a good choice. Which one's the Windsor - got a Wyeast # for it ?

Thanks for the clues so far.

rwh · Post by **rwh** » Thursday Oct 26, 2006 12:21 pm

Some recipes ask for unmashed torrefied wheat or oats. I believe that's because you'll end up with long chain starches in your beer which aid body and head retention.

Aussie Claret · Post by **Aussie Claret** » Thursday Oct 26, 2006 12:35 pm

Wheat malt does have the enzymes necessary for starch conversion, but I'm not sure about torrified wheat. Certain grains such as Bairds Galaxy have higher levels of distatic enzymes can lend a hand in conversion of other grains that have poor or no distatic powers.

If you are after some windsor yeast check out craftbrewer.com.au
Ross sells it and I believe it's pretty good in a bitter.

Cheers
AC

MrDave · Post by **MrDave** » Thursday Oct 26, 2006 12:51 pm

Aussie Claret wrote:Wheat malt does have the enzymes necessary for starch conversion, but I'm not sure about torrified wheat. Certain grains such as Bairds Galaxy have higher levels of distatic enzymes can lend a hand in conversion of other grains that have poor or no distatic powers.

OK. Interesting.
I'll have to try mashing wheat some time and see how it works.
I thought it was lacking the amylases required hence the rule of thumb about not using more than 50% wheat in your mash.

Ta,
d