Flaked barley

[cowboy7307]

Doing a Dark ale kit and want to add some flavor from Flaked barley to it,
do i do a mini mash for 60min then boil the mash, or is there a quicker way

 

[GFHomebrew]

Doing a Dark ale kit and want to add some flavor from Flaked barley to it,
do i do a mini mash for 60min then boil the mash, or is there a quicker way

Flaked barley won't have the enzymes available to convert their starches into sugar.

You will need to add some base two row malt to your mini mash for conversion.

I'd spit ball it and go 50:50 Flaked barley /2 row base malt.

Mash them 30mins 67c / 152F ish in a bag to convert the starches - Drain liquid into pot add to your dark ale malt extract and continue brewing.

 

[Megary]

What do you expect to get from Flaked Barley? I‘ve never noticed an appreciable flavor from it, though I’ve convinced myself it helps with foam and head retention.

 

[Sandy Feet]

Is the dark ale a Porter/Stout kind of thing? If so, and if using English Maris Otter, a pound of flaked oats in five gallons is yummy.

 

[GFHomebrew]

Flaked Barley I understand is for added body and head retention.

It definitely suits the Dark ale/stout category.

This recipe I copied from Nosybear years ago which actually kicked off the brewersfriend Quarterly brew used it

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/860094/nautical-squirrel-stout

I remember it being a killer Stout.

My tasting notes

 

[cowboy7307]

I have heard it will help head retention and give the beer a grainy flavor which i like ,so want to try and see if it does
i heard that on one of David Heath you tube videos

 

[Megary]

I have heard it will help head retention and give the beer a grainy flavor which i like ,so want to try and see if it does
i heard that on one of David Heath you tube videos

Interesting. Hard to argue with David Heath, but I use Flaked Barley a lot and never noticed any "grainy" flavor. Maybe I'm not using as high a percentage as he does. I usually max out around 20% in my Stout.

 

[Minbari]

Interesting. Hard to argue with David Heath, but I use Flaked Barley a lot and never noticed any "grainy" flavor. Maybe I'm not using as high a percentage as he does. I usually max out around 20% in my Stout.

Kinda agree with you on this one. If I wanted to add a flavor to a beer. Flaked is not where I would add it.

 

[cowboy7307]

Then if not Flaked ,what would you use for the grainy flavor ?

 

[Megary]

Can you describe what you mean by "grainy"? I mean, beer is made from barley, wheat, rye...all grains. Chewing on some of these malted grains is what I would call "grainy". But "grainy" in a finished beer might be considered a flaw, so maybe we are talking about two different things.

 

[Over The Cliff Brewing]

I'm brewing a DME stout with my father in law tomorrow and I'm throwing in 6 oz of flaked barley for mouthfeel and some head retention. I cant say it will provide much flavor. Perhaps @cowboy7307 may want to add some biscuit malt to his beer.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

I'm brewing a DME stout with my father in law tomorrow and I'm throwing in 6 oz of flaked barley for mouthfeel and some head retention. I cant say it will provide much flavor. Perhaps @cowboy7307 may want to add some biscuit malt to his beer.

I just did the same thing, it softens the taste and adds head

 

[cowboy7307]

The Oxford Companion to Beer definition of

flaked barley​

Flaked Barley is unmalted, cooked, and dried barley that has been rolled into flat flakes. It imparts a rich, grainy flavor to beer and is used in many stouts, particularly Irish stouts, enhancing head formation and foam stability. Flaked barley, which is used directly in the mash mixer along with malt, belongs to a group of pre-cooked gelatinized adjuncts that includes micronized and torrefied whole grains and comprises flaked barley, wheat, flaked maize grits, flaked rice grits, and flaked pearl barley. See adjuncts. These materials are easily handled and yield enhanced extracts compared to untreated raw materials. Because it has been soaked and pre-cooked, flaked barley is relatively soft and is easily broken up in malt mills. To produce flaked barley, whole barley (graded to remove thin grains) is cooked in hot air at 428°F–500°F (220°C–260°C). During cooking the softened material becomes firm with a moisture content of approximately 4%. Flaked barley has an extract value of 72% on a dry weight basis.
Flaked barley and, to an even greater extent, flaked pearl barley (grains from which the husk and surface layers have been removed) can present brewing problems because they contain comparatively large amounts of β-glucan. See beta-glucans. In order to overcome this problem, flaked barley is often sprayed during preparation with a solution of bacterial enzymes containing α-amylase, β-glucanase, and possibly proteinase. The resulting product has an appreciable cold water extract and does not give rise to highly viscous worts or any other problems associated with β-glucans.
Graham G. Stewart

 

[Megary]

Well, I would agree (or couldn't argue) with all of that except "imparts a rich, grainy flavor to beer". It certainly can enhance (soften) mouthfeel, like @Ozarks Mountain Brewery notes.

Maybe run a pre brew day experiment and hot-steep some 2-row with and without flaked barley to see what you think.

Cheers!