will this convert?

[baphomite51]

Hi iv got this recipe here that has a lot of dark malts and a fair bit of wheat and oats and im worried will it convert the starches ok so i get enough fermentable sugars, my base malt % is pretty low only 52%, im also going to steep the chocolate after the mash due to my local water, do u think i should do the same with the crystal and brown aswell? open to any recommendations thanks

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Hanged, Drawn And Portered
Style: Baltic Porter
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 22.40 l
Post Boil Volume: 17.90 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 14.00 l   
Bottling Volume: 11.00 l
Estimated OG: 1.065 SG
Estimated FG: 1.016 SG
Estimated Color: 47.1 SRM
Estimated IBU: 30.6 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 83.1 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU         
2.40 kg               Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM)         Grain         1        52.3 %       
0.55 kg               Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (73.6 SRM)    Grain         2        12.1 %       
0.46 kg               Brown Malt (70.0 SRM)                    Grain         3        10.1 %       
0.46 kg               Chocolate Malt (538.1 SRM)               Grain         4        10.1 %       
0.46 kg               Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM)                   Grain         5        10.1 %       
0.25 kg               Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM)                Grain         6        5.5 %         
40.00 g               Fuggles [5.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min         Hop           7        30.6 IBUs     
0.42 Items            Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 10.0 mins)        Fining        8        -             
1.0 pkg               Nottingham (Danstar #-) [23.66 ml]       Yeast         9        -             


Mash Schedule: BIAB, Full Body
Total Grain Weight: 4.59 kg
----------------------------
Name              Description                             Step Temperat Step Time     
Saccharification  Add 25.20 l of water at 72.1 C          68.0 C        75 min       
Mash Out          Add 0.00 l of water and heat to 76.0 C  76.0 C        10 min       

Sparge: Remove grains, and prepare to boil wort
Notes:
------
add .125g of lactose at 10 min

[mr hoppy]

If you are definitely using Maris Otter, you are probably ok - it's got twice the diastatic power (120 L) of some other British pale malts, e.g. Pearl (65 L). I think you need 30 L average for your mash to convert so if you are using something other than MO as your base malt you could have a problem.

http://beersmith.com/blog/2010/01/04/diastatic-power-and-mashing-your-beer/

[baphomite51]

ok i just found a lil bit of munich aswell so i guess i can throw that in also to up the base malt %. any one any recommendations on which oats to use, im thinkin flahavans quick oats and just toss them into the mash with the rest of my grist? will this work?

also can anyone tell me if dublin south central water has chloromine in it, my last porter had a slight, weird plastic lilo/lighter fluid smell and taste, and it wasn due to high alcohol as it was only 3.1% so im just trying to rule some things out

[mr hoppy]

Munich has very low diastatic power - you'd probably be better of without it from a conversion perspective.

[baphomite51]

oh i thought since it was a base malt its diastic power was pretty good, iv also got some extra wheat should i throw that in aswell or leave it out?

[mr hoppy]

Were you brewing this today?

[baphomite51]

I had planned to but something came up so I left it, bit late to order from THBC now so I'll have to make do with wat iv got

[mr hoppy]

In that case I'd go with your original recipe - the Maris Otter has enough diastatic power to convert the rest on its own. It's got about 120 Lintners of DP. It's half of your grist, and apart from the wheat malt nothing else in your grist has any DP so overall your grain bill has about 60 L of DP - so way above the 30 L threshold.

Adding the wheat, and particularly the Munich is going to dilute that.

You're right to ask the question though, if you were using a different pale malt - say Pearl the overall DP of the grain bill would be pretty close to the threshold.