CEREAL MASH

The purpose of this post is to give anyone who is thinking about doing a cereal mash a good place to start.

This is basically my blonde ale recipe with unmalted raw red rice from Thailand in place of the usual flaked/instant rice and unmalted white wheat in place of malted white wheat.

I thought it would be interesting to try red rice and thought it might even impart a pinkish/redish hue but it didn't.

It seems like there is a bias against using adjuncts in craft brewing. Most likely due to the fact that Bud/Miller/Coors uses adjuncts and in a sense the craft beer movement is a response to these boring flavorless mass market beers and I get it.

However, contrary to popular belief these adjuncts weren't used in order to save money (at first), they were used to cut the protein/nitrogen content of the domestic 6-Row barley that is better suited for growing in the US than 2-Row barley.

For a much more in depth and much better written explanation, here is a link for you (here)

Since the red rice is raw, you have to gelatinize the starches before the enzymes can get to work converting them into sugar during the mash.

In this case since the overall % of adjuncts is on the low side (<20%), you could just boil the rice/unmalted wheat for 15-20 minutes to gelatinize the starches and throw it in the mash, but I decided to do a proper cereal mash for the fun of it. This is the original website I used as a guide (http://www.ingermann.com/cerealmash.html). There's also a BYO article from Mar/Apr 2005 issue but you'll have to find that yourself since it's not available free online.

(6 Gallons, ~70% Eff, Tinseth)
OG: 1.047
FG: 1.011
IBU: 29
ABV: 4.7%
SRM: 4

3.5 lbs - 2-Row
3.5 lbs - Pilsner (German)
2 lbs - Red Rice (Thailand)
1 lb - Unmalted White Wheat
.5 lb - Crystal 20
2 oz - Rice Hulls

1 oz German Perle (Pellets) 9.1% @ 60 min
.5 oz Crystal (Pellets) 2.8% @ 10 Min
.5 oz Crystal (Pellets) 2.8% @ 0 Min

Yeast: US-05 (re-pitched 100ml thick slurry)

Fermented at 62 for two weeks

Mashed 60 min @ 150, 1.25 qt/lb

Main Mash:
3.5 lbs Pilsner (German)
2.5 lbs 2-Row
.5 lbs Crystal 20

Doughed in with 4.5 gallons of strike water to raise temp up to 122 for a protein rest and mashed for 30 min.

Cereal Mash:
2 lbs - Red Rice (Thailand)
1 lb - Unmalted White Wheat
1 lb - 2-Row

Crushed the rice and wheat in my malt mill with the gap setting tighter than normal.

Note, grinding up unmalted adjuncts is tougher than malted barley, you should prob do it by hand. The rice/wheat was ground to the consistency of grits more or less.

Heated up the adjuncts on the kitchen stove in a separate 1.5 gallon pot and the 1 lb of malted barley with 7.5 quarts of water (a very thin 2.5 qts per lb).

Heated to 122 and held for 30 min then raised to 148 for 25 min. with direct heat (stir constantly).

After that I boiled it gently for 15 min while stirring often to avoid scorching.

Then I added it directly to the main mash (with the rice hulls) which was siting at 122 which brought the temp of the main mash up to my target of 152.

This was the part I was most worried about since I've never step mashed in my cooler before this point but it worked out well. I had some hot & cold water on hand though just in case I had to adjust the temperature.

I was shooting for 1.75 - 2 qts per pound for the final mash with the adjuncts added. I mashed thin because I was worried about effeciency. I also rested the mash for 90 min to ensure conversion.

Hope this helps anyone thinking about using unmalted adjuncts in their brew.

Cheers!