Carapils

[yog]

I am just about to try my first batch using carapils malt in an effort to add more body & improve head retention.

my grain bill includes the following

Maris Otter
Crystal 150
torrified wheat
munich

my question is this,

Do i substitute the carapils for a %age of the the M.O. or do i just increase the total grain bill by adding the carapils? I want to hit the same ABV.

[GOOSE]

Without knowing the %'s of each malt...You should have great head and body. You have the makings of a very classic any shade of pale you want ale, add enough crystal and a little black and its an Amber.
What is your mash temp? Can you step it up? Do you get it to 152f?
You can add Carapils, however I have seen it add undesirable 'nutty' flavors to pale ales.
My 2 cents
Cheers,
GOOSE

[Larry Horwitz]

don't even bother with the C-pils....add more malt and you'll get better results.

[beertje46]

don't even bother with the C-pils....add more malt and you'll get better results.

I concur. I gave up on C-pils years ago. Never lived up to the hype. Add a sack of wheat malt if you need more head.

[Moonlight]

Carapils seems to give me frothy burps. Hate the stuff. Maybe that is just me...

[wailingguitar]

I always go for a greater % of base malt for color, body and flavor rather than fooling with the specialties... Use Pale Ale malt (around 4L) and Munich (10L) as much as possible and reduce the amount of crystal used. Go for a higher mash temp, 158F, and let the base malt and enzymes do their job. I get better, smoother body that way and richer malt flavors that hold up better over time.

[yog]

c-pils

Ordered Cara-pils from my maltster only to find that they also sell it as caramalt, which i have been using since day 1.

grain bill
MO 83%
crystal 150 8%
torrified wheat 5%
Carapils 4%

I am getting grief from landord for lack of lacing on the glass, i'd rather not put too much more wheat in as I seem to have a problem with clearing times too ( however I have lengthened conditioning time and this seems to be doing the trick)

How should i adjust the grainbill whilst keeping flavour profile

I tend to mash at 149f for 1 hour. Single infusion.

thanks for your help thus far

[Buckley]

I would say definitely raise your mash temp. 152-155 is nice. Adding a bit more wheat shouldn't be too problematic. What temp are you conditioning at?? I have found with some of my beers the longer they sit at 33-35 the better they fall out. Are you getting a nice head that is falling out quickly, or poor head in general??

[Larry Horwitz]

the cpils will not do what you want it to do. It is NOT a magic head inducing agent (despite what your supplier will tell you). i would check other sources for head problem....Dirty glasses are your most likely candidate followed by other dispense related problems like dirty draft lines etc. If you are brewing all malt products of 10.5P or higher you shouldn't have a head issue related to malt.

[scott isham]

I second the glass as being a major issue of lack of lacing.

[rudge75]

I've seen situations where the bar uses a non foaming iodine sanitizer on the glassware as the last rinse step, then doesn't let them dry before refilling. It's pretty tough to get the lacing when you've got that sanitizer left in every glass.

[yog]

Guys, I think we can discount the glassware as the landlord's beef is that mine seems to be the only beer hat doesn't lace the glass.

Longer time in the CT seems to be an answer and I will raise mash temp by a few degrees.

Is there a formula for how much extra grain to add per extra degree of mash temp, or is it suck it and see?

[tariq khan]

lacing on the glass

Yog,

Just curious about something, I'm assuming your beer is cask-conditioned ?
How's the condition when dispensing at the pub ? In my opinion you won't get any lacing on the glass if it's under-conditioned which is something I found all too often. How fast is the beer going out after racking ? Any primings ? what's your cask storage temp like ?

T

[GOOSE]

going to a higher temp will not hurt your gravity

[yog]

tariq

Yes the beer is cask conditioned, generally sits around for minimum of one week prior to going out, and then at least three days in pub cellar. I only prime if it really needs it, sometimes beer is really lively. I don't have a chill room at present, so storage is at ambient temp, with no heating anywhere.


Goose

I was working on the theory that if I mash higher, then OG will be the same, but because of increased dextrins, the final gravity will be a couple of spots higher leading to lower ABV. Is this not correct?