Question about American IPA

[Field]

I ran into a similar situation when attempting a version of the West Coast Blaster out of Jamil/John P book. For some reason I was under the impression that the Munich wouldn't self-convert and needed other grains to help it along. Also being an extract brewer I didn't have the ability to do an all-grain batch or even partial-mashing half of the grain bill. I did end up pm'ing some 2 row and adding some Amylase, which I guess none of that was necessary... Either way hopefully it turns out ok since it was my first attempt at PM.

As I plot the course for my upcoming brews, many of them coming from Brewing Classic Styles, I'm running into ingredients that aren't so easy to find like the Munich extract and pale chocolate malt, which I'm assuming is something relatively new. It is becoming an uber pain to track down some of these and I have a feeling that inadvertently this book will push me in to all-grain much sooner that I had planned.

Northern Brewer carries both

[Mylo]

don't worry about it, a partial or mini-mash isn't all that different from steeping grains, you just have to watch the volume of the water and the temp.

Yes, the major difference is the ratio of the water to grain. Most people steep a small amount of grains in several gallons of water. They are just dissolving the already converted sugars in crystal, or getting some color (no sugars) out of highly kilned malts. In order to partially mash - you need to have a thicker mash, like with all grain - 1 to 2 quarts of water per pound of grain. If you do it to thin it will take forever to convert.

I would go for that 154 mark, because you don't have a mash tun, whatever you're going to mash in (brew pot?) will lose a good amount of heat over the mash period .. by mashing in high you'll keep it in the conversion range throughout ... good advice from the LHBS .. the enzymes do not denature that quickly within the alpha and beta range .. thats why people do a mash out step bringing the mash to 170, even at 154 you won't kill off the stuff that you'll need when the temp drops to 152,150,148,146

I would suggest trying to keep it consistant, but that is just me. You can turn the burner on low and stir to negate any heat loss.


Mylo