[yso191]

I'm trying to get my head around grains; the flavors and other characteristics they add.  I found myself wondering about a dynamic that I have not heard about.  For lack of a better name, I'm calling it flavor sequencing.  What I mean is, I am wondering about the manipulability or just predictability of what flavor one experiences on the attack, mid-palate, and finish.  For example: "Crystal 120 is big on the attack, and quickly fades, adding nothing to the finish.

There is a lot of info in this vein: "Crystal 120 gives a pronounced caramel flavor.". But I can't find anything about what flavor a grain provides time wise.

I'm sure the same could be said, or asked, about water salts, hops and yeast.  It just seems to me that a part of recipe design, like filling in which flavors one wants in a beer, it would be good to fill in what flavors one wants in each of these three times so that there isn't a hole or weakness.

Any thoughts or resources?

[erockrph]

If you manage to find some good info for this, please share. Personally, I'm not sure you're going to be able to nail down much detail like this, though. I think a lot of what you're looking for isn't necessarily determined simply by ingredient selection. There are so many nuances that can have just as much effect on the perception of flavor as the ingredient itself. Mash temp, water profile, yeast selection, hopping rate, cold steep vs capping mash vs adding at start of mash, gravity, quantity of the ingredient you use all come to mind immediately, and I'm sure there are a dozen or more other factors I haven't thought of.

I think the best you can hope to do is design some controlled experiments on your system to see how a few of these factors effect one particular ingredient. At that point you may be able to find some trends that will help you make some extrapolations.