Late Mash Additions

Wait a minute did I mean late hop additions?  Nope, some grains can put off a bit of a sharp flavor when going through a mash that can really show up in the finished beer.  My tastes in particular pick something up I can only describe as acrid when using black patent malt to ad a bit of roast/color.  Looking for ways to counteract this I thought about steeping the black patent separately but thought that my be a bit of a hassle to execute on brew day.  Wait, how about adding it right before the end of the mash so it's just in for the sparge?  It works out pretty well although I'm not 100% committed to doing this all the time (sometimes roast with a little bite is just what you need) it can help you get the flavor/color you want without going overboard.

This is during the brew process for the  Cascadian Dark Ale that was posted the other day.

Process:

1.  Mill the Black Patent Separately, Obviously you Can't Add Later if You Don't

2.  Sprinkle on the Top of the Mash Before the Vorlauf

All 2 Pounds Sprinkled on Top

Color of the First Running's

Step 3 Do the Batch Sparges Normally

Closer View of the Color During the First Batch Sparge

Runoff Coloring After First Batch Sparge

As you can see it gets plenty of color from the late addition and doesn't get nearly as much of the other flavors which was the goal for this recipe.  Give it a try and see if you like it. I'll leave you with one caveat though it's quite a bit harder to predict final color using this method.