On Mon, Apr 26, 2004 at 07:36:36PM +0200, TAW?L Peter wrote: > Så vidt jeg forstår er valset hvede umaltet, hvilket skulle betyde at den > ikke bidrager med alkohol.
Err, it isn't quite that simple. The malting process does convert some starches to sugars, but most importantly, it creates those enzymes that can finish the conversion in your mash tun. Now those enzymes are not all that specific, they can convert other starches as well as their own. So, a reasonable amount of almost any grain (rice, corn (maizena!), rye, wheat, unmalted barley, you name it) will get converted to sugars, and from there to alcohol. Of course, the enzymes must be there, so attempting to brew a beer from maizena and unmalted rye will not produce much of anything fermentable. Modern malts are so well malted, that you can mix malted barley with extra starches almost 50-50! What adjuncts to use, and how much, depends on two main criteria: For the commercial mass-volume discount breweries it is mostly a matter of price. For us connoiserus of home brew, the crucial factor is what other flavours and nyances do those things add. Rice and corn give relatively little taste, and can be used to lighten up a beer that is getting overly heavy, whereas wheat produces a wheat beer, as we all know. Rye is said to add dry crispiness to the beer, and oats add some body, mouthfeel, and head retention (and stuck mashes). -H -- Heikki Levanto "In Murphy We Turst" heikki (at) lsd (dot) dk
