Heritage Pilsner + Rice Malt

[RUM57L]

I dont know how many of you are doing K & K stuff these days but heres my most recent brew:

21st Feb 2011 - 1030am.
Ingrediants:
Thomas Coopers Heritage Pilsner 1.7kg.
Rice Malt 1kg.
200gms Dextrose.
Coles Spring Water.

Heated the extract in a sink of hot water.
Disolved the Rice Malt in the fermenter in 2 litres of hot water.
Added the Dextrose and stirred in the Extract with another litre of hot water.
Topped up the fermenter to 23 Litres and pitched the kit yeast at 26 degrees.

O.G was 1.100 (wtf) anyway i dont trust my hydro... never really have.e
3rd Mar 2011 - Hydro reading: 1062.
8th Mar 2011 - Hydro reading: 1060.
12th Mar 2011 - 1060 again so racked to 2nd fermenter with 5 grams coopers beer finings.
20th Mar 2011 - 1060 again.... bottled and stored in the fridge at 4 degrees.

9th April 2011 - Very dry beer, not much head retention big pilsner taste though. The rice malt is quite different and seeing as the weekends coming up I might re-taste some again as its over a month now.

[Lachy]

Interesting idea... Rice malt is something I've never tried in a brew before. Was your intention to create a dry Japanese-style lager in the same vein as Kirin, Asahi, etc?

You say the flavour profile you got from this was very dry... can you elaborate any further?

[warra48]

Looks like your hydro is really messed up!
Otherwise, bottling with a reading of 1.060, would give new meaning to the phrase "living dangerously".

Well, the original reading of 1.100 is also obviously totally out of whack with those ingredients in 23 litres. I guess a better measure is that you dropped 50 SG points, which tends to indicate you have fermented your brew right out. No wonder you perceive it as a very dry brew.

Hope you enjoy the beer.

[RUM57L]

G'day Lachy,

I didnt have a direct intention on matching any other beer, when i was in Nothern Brew I was convinced to try something different and this is what i ended up buying. As for the dry taste...Its more like raspy? if that makes sense.

Hi again Warra,

Yep the hydro is shocking, I bought a smaller one from Kmart back in the day and well.. i dunno had the same mis readings. so now i wing it and wait longer to make sure there is significant drops before bottling

[Lachy]

As for the dry taste...Its more like raspy? if that makes sense.

So is it sort of a "rough" flavour then? Could be that the lack of residual complex sugars is allowing more of the alcohol and other fermentation byproducts through in the taste...

[RUM57L]

There is a definate rice flavour that comes through, i call it dry... and because its dry I associate it with raspy for some reason. Although i havent tried it for a month so who knows if its mellowed, i do say the rice malt is very different than other fermentables.

[RUM57L]

So i finally tasted this last night after another month of further maturing.

The beer has mellowed out and is rather like a Hahn Super Dry or an TED.. but better because its HB.

[Lachy]

Well I can't say I'm a huge fan of Super Dry beers, but I do have a few mates who like all things Japanese and would gladly tuck in to a bottle of Japanese style lager. How much does rice malt cost relative to other malt products?

[warra48]

It's not only the Japanese who use rice in their recipes.

Some major US brewers use rice, others use corn, in their recipes to give them that ultra lawnmower very refreshing no flavour no hop style beer they are famous for.

I'm thinking of using rice in my next attempt at a lager. My past efforts at a Pils or Euro style lager have always turned out to be too malty and malty sweet. I think using some rice will help to attenuate them better and dry them out a little.

In the meantime, I have a Munich Dunkel in the fermenter, so there's no worry about too much malt in that one. It will be racked this Saturday, and be in the lagering fridge for 5 weeks while mrs warra and I enjoy a trip to Europe.

[RUM57L]

G'day Lachy,

Around the 10 buck mark for the Rice Malt.

Hi Warra,

I'm sure you'll have success with the rice malt .. It was suggested that I should of also included Tettanger hops although i didnt

[earle]

Where did you get your rice malt? Bribie accross on AHB gets his from asian shops which would be a lot cheaper than HBS.

[RUM57L]

G'Day Earle,

Got it from a HBS ... it was in 2 take away containers .. un labelled so i guess they could get their stock from an asian joint and mark up the price