Know Your Specialty Grains For Use In Home Brewing

Are you in the business of producing home-made beer for many years now? Would you like to take this hobby to the next level? If that is the case then you may want to level-up in terms of the grains used. Perhaps it's now due time for you to dabble in specialty grains.

These grains aren't traditionally used by your average home brewing practitioners; the use of these grains is reserved to those advanced home brewers. Now if you are ready for these kinds of grains, then consider knowing your specialty grains.

These grains are the choice of advanced brewers if they feel the need to add some color, spice and taste to the alcoholic drink. Now there are five major types of these grains. Know them before using them.

• The black malt. As the name implies, the grains border on the dark color. The color can be linked to the high roasting temperature used in processing these specialty grains. When added to the home brew, then expect that the beer that you are preparing will have a darker color and that a bitter taste can be observed. Now use this with caution since the bitter or burnt flavor can be quite strong if used with liberty. As a rule, make use of these grains with caution.

• The chocolate malt. This grain is similar malt and the only difference lies in the fact that this grain isn't processed that long. And as such, this doesn't carry the usual burnt flavor associated with the black malt. Use this grain if the intent is to home brew a beer that has a nutty kick to it.

• Roasted barley. Here's how the roasted barley is processed. The grains are roasted in the oven and these grains are subjected to high temperature until the right color is achieved. If the other grains are used in order to add color to the brew, these grains on the other hand are used simply for flavoring.

• Crystal malt. Now these types of grains undergo a special process of malting. When malting, the starches are converted into sugars. And these sugars in turn are fermentable. Now if you are just new in home brewing and would like to play with specialty grains, then start with the crystal malt. You can never go wrong with these grains since these are known for mild flavor.

• Cara-Pils. Now these types of specialty grains can be quite tricky. The effect of these grains to the final home brew will depend on the kind of preparation and processes extended to these grains. Also take note that these don't carry their own enzymes and as such these should be used in conjunction with the other grains.

No matter what kinds of specialty grains you choose for your home brew, do remember one important rule in brewing. You need to crack these grains- lightly crack them so that the all the best flavors can be used. You may want to use the grain mill in doing this part of home brewing or you can also make use of the rolling pins.