Bavarian Helles: History, Brewing Techniques, Recipes (Classic Beer Style Series) by Horst D. Dornbusch

Author:Horst D. Dornbusch [Dornbusch, Horst D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Tags: CKB007000 Cooking / Beverages / Beer
ISBN: 9781938469305
Publisher: Brewers Publications
Published: 2000-04-28T03:00:00+00:00

Malt Extract Boiling

Extract helles brewers nowadays can purchase ready-made light Bavarian or Pils malt in a can. Boiling this extract with the correct amount of water for the proper gravity and using the hopping guidelines offered above is the easiest way to make an extract helles. If you wish to duplicate the all-grain characteristics of the beers listed in chapter 5, however, you can use your unhopped malt extract just to replace the Pils foundation grist of the all-grain formulation. In this case, you must imitate in the kettle the all-grain mashing of the specialty grains. Unfortunately, producers of canned malt tend to omit any quantitative information about the color value of their extract on the label. This necessitates a certain amount of guesswork in homebrewing an extract helles. The safest way to obtain the correct color and flavor of a helles, therefore, is to buy the palest malt available. Use the following quantitative rules to assemble your ingredients:

The average extract contains about 20% water and 80% sugar. Thus, for a 5-gallon batch, substitute the pale foundation grain with a corresponding amount of extract. For this conversion, assume that 1 pound of extract contains the rough sugar equivalent of 1.3 pounds of milled, two-row, malted grain or, conversely, that 1 pound of two-row grist can be substituted with 0.77 pounds of extract. One pound of liquid malt extract contributes about 8.75 °Plato (OG 1035) to 1 gallon of water, or 1.75 °Plato (OG 1007) to 5 gallons of water. One pound of dry malt extract, by comparison, contributes about 11.25 °Plato (OG 1045) to 1 gallon of water, or 2.25 °Plato (OG 1009) to 5 gallons of water. To store any leftover canned extract, transfer it into a sealable plastic container, pour a bit of vodka over the surface of the spare extract to prevent mold growth, and keep it in the refrigerator.

Always steep specialty grains in the brewing liquor before adding the canned extract. Because steeping produces fewer sugars than does mashing and sparging, it makes a smaller contribution to your wort’s gravity. As a good rule of thumb, assume that most specialty grains, when steeped, yield about half as much sugar as they would when mashed. But as a practical matter, especially for formulations such as the helles, with relatively small amounts of specialty grains, the gravity loss from steeping can safely be ignored. If you do wish to compensate for this small loss in gravity, you are better off not increasing the amount of specialty grains for steeping at all or increasing it only slightly. Otherwise, you might not only add sugars to the wort but also potentially alter the desired flavor balance of the finished beer. Instead you might wish to increase the amount of malt extract slightly over and above the mathematically determined canned-extract equivalent of the pale/Pils grains you are substituting.

To prepare the specialty grains for steeping in the brew liquor, place them first in a strong plastic bag and use a rolling pin or wine bottle to crack them.

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