pluckthechicken
Spring chicken
So I've been chucking my crystal malt into the mash, as most (all?) the recipes I've seen have done. But I've been thinking about it, and does mashing crystal/caramel affect the sweetness that you get from it?
So crystal has been kilned damp to convert the starches into sugars, which then caramelize and form large complex sugars that our yeasties can't metabolise. Thus, they escape fermentation and lend themselves to a sweet taste in the final beer. But if we stick them in the mash, can't these complex sugars get broken down by amylase and end up as fermentables? Would they contribute a sweeter flavour if they were steeped separately and added after mashout? Or simply added to the mash in the last 10 minutes? Or are the sugars in crystal not accessible to amylase enzymes?
Thanks for the help, I feel like I've missed something.
So crystal has been kilned damp to convert the starches into sugars, which then caramelize and form large complex sugars that our yeasties can't metabolise. Thus, they escape fermentation and lend themselves to a sweet taste in the final beer. But if we stick them in the mash, can't these complex sugars get broken down by amylase and end up as fermentables? Would they contribute a sweeter flavour if they were steeped separately and added after mashout? Or simply added to the mash in the last 10 minutes? Or are the sugars in crystal not accessible to amylase enzymes?
Thanks for the help, I feel like I've missed something.
