By Mike Retzlaff
Some time back, I wrote an article entitled “A Bit More On Mashing”. In this hodge-podge of odds and ends, I noted that highly roasted grains and malts such as roast barley, chocolate malt, and black patent malt offer no convertible starches and therefore don’t require mashing. I stated that in darker brews I usually add enough of these dark grains to the mash to adjust the pH and add the rest of the roasted grains to the mash just before the mash-out. The entire mash is then lautered into the kettle. The dark grain mash additions are included only to set the pH of the mash so I don’t need to fiddle with various acids or alkalis to get the job done.
In the recent past, a fad began and has managed to stick around. That fad is cold brewed coffee. The reasoning behind this technique seems plausible and from all accounts, including my own limited experience, it works. I’ve read several write-ups about various methods used to extract the color, flavor, and aroma of roast grain beer ingredients through a technique called “cold steeping.” A friend has been using cold steeping in his brewing of darker beers for a number of years and it all seems to be working quite well for him. I’ve tried several variations on this theme and have come to my own conclusions.
In cold steeping, the crushed, roasted malt / grain is mixed with at least 1.5 quarts per pound of brewing water. It should be covered and left to stand on a bench, table, or countertop between overnight and a full day. After that, it can be strained and rinsed into a container for later use.
There is also the technique of hot steeping which is claimed to have a shorter processing time. Steeping the grains in 165 oF water for 5 to 10 minutes is relatively pointless as it offers virtually no advantage over simply adding the crushed grains to the mash in the first place.
Another alternative is using dehusked malts such as the Weyermann Carafa Special series, “debittered” black malts, and other specialty malts such as Blackprinz® from Briess Malting. These malts avoid the problems with tannins (polyphenols) from the husks, but they can work well when cold steeped also.
For a long time, I thought of cold steeping as a gimmick. After playing with the concept and ironing out a few techniques, I believe it definitely serves a purpose. What are the advantages to cold steeping?
- Cleaner flavor and enhanced aroma from the roasted malts and grains.
- Bitter and acrid compounds aren’t extracted (as much) without the heat of the mash.
- Additions to the mash to adjust pH may not be needed to compensate for the dark mash ingredients.
Some beer styles, such as Schwarzbier, can be brewed better by the extraction of color without an overabundance of the roast flavor. Schwarzbier is often referred to as a black pilsner and should have only a subtle aroma and flavor of roasted malt. There is also the novelty of brewing subtle beers such as Kolsch, Gose, or even Wit with dark malts when adding mostly color.
In certain styles, such as Porter and Stout, the roastiness can be gotten without the acrid and burnt flavors often associated with many interpretations. Stouts generally have a little bite and the formulation should take this into account. Cold steeping might not make such an impression when used in a Porter or Stout, but this can really make a noticeable difference in fairly delicate beers.
Some methods call for the steeped liquor to be added at the beginning of the boil, some wait until the end of the boil, and other methods add the steeped liquor to the fermenter. I can’t tell any major difference between a full boil with the extract and waiting until about 10 minutes before knock-out before adding the steeped extract to the boiling wort. That minimal boil dispels my fears of introducing infectious beasties to my precious wort, especially when the steeping took place at room temperature on a countertop in my kitchen. The burnt and acrid components were not extracted into the steep liquor so it shouldn’t make much difference as to when it goes into the boil; I can’t tell that it does.
Something else to ponder is that Guinness brews a light-colored beer, adds a concentrated, steeped malt colorant after aging, and finishes as normal. They also adjust the pH with calcium carbonate, so the final product doesn’t have excessive malt sourness. Guinness has contract brewers in other parts of the world in addition to St. James Gate in Dublin. They ship this concentrated syrup to their contract brewers who brew the lighter beer locally and add a measured amount of the concentrate to the brew before packaging.
It’s not only roasted malts and grains that can be steeped. Crystal and caramel malts have already been converted and don’t require mashing. To really get a reasonable extract from this type of grain, I add these crushed malts to the mash just before the mash out. The heat is what is needed to dissolve the sugars to get them out of the mash tun and into the kettle.
Cold steeping is another technique which can extend your brew-day by only a few minutes but is something that can indeed refine the qualities of the finished beer in your glass.
Remember, the application of enough subtle differences can make your brew noticeably better.
Crescent City Brew Talk 