This easy and cool hot steep method is a practical and affordable wort preparation process for your malt sensory evaluation. The American Society of Brewing Chemists (ASBC) and the Brewers Association (BA) continue to collaborate on a series of videos that demonstrate fundamental methods related to beer quality analysis (earlier this week we featured pH measurement). Now. let’s hot steep ya’ll.
Above, Ali Shultz, sensory manager at New Belgium Brewing Co., teaches us the Hot Steep Sensory Evaluation Method for wort preparation and sensory evaluation of extractable malt flavors. This process is ASBC’s Sensory Analysis No. 14 method, and it is a rapid and affordable way to create wort for sensory or analytical analyses. Here’s what you’ll need to play along:
- Funnel
- Filter paper
- Water heater
- Stainless steel bottle
- Analytical balance
- Electric grinder
- Graduated cylinder
- Beaker
- Thermometer (if your water heater doesn’t display the temperature)
- Malt you’re analyzing
- Deionized water
In the video, Shultz hot steeps two 50-gram batches of malt — one pale and one specialty — and then details quite nicely ASBC’s Hot Steep Malt Sensory Evaluation Method. I won’t steal the fun by describing it here. Fun fact: Each 50-gram malt sample yields about 300 ml of wort per sample (a little less for specialty malts), serving about six to eight tasters. You can prepare malt samples up to four hours before sensory evaluation, which can be presented to an evaluation panel at room temperature. There’s so much more. Tune in above. Sidebar: Malt producer Briess has a great step-by-step post for the hot steep method right over here.
Brewing With Briess says
@newbelgium @BrewersAssoc @BrewingChemists Check out the Hot Steep Malt Sensory Evaluation Method!