How much crystal is TOO much crystal?

Most of my recipes use 1/2 ounces of crystal 40 or 80 or ect..., but I was thinking of using a full pound in my next Irish Red. Just curious what you all thought.

It depends on the beer style, and the goal.

It's common to have 10-15% crystal malt in an American amber, but 0% in a pilsner.

percentage of grain bill is more like the information we need rather than actual weight. Post that recipe!

Yooper your avatar is kind of frightening. He is looking into my soul!!!

Grain Bill: 5 Gallon batch

6 lbs. Maris otter malt extract
½ lb. Carapils
½ lb. Crystal 80
½ lb Victory
4 oz. Chocolate Malt

I was thinking of adding another 1/2 lb. of Crystal 40, but I've never brewed a Red before, and there's a lot I don't know about the style. I looked up several recipes, but there were many varieties of ingredients with all % levels of grains used.

mrphillips said:

Grain Bill: 5 Gallon batch

6 lbs. Maris otter malt extract
½ lb. Carapils
½ lb. Crystal 80
½ lb Victory
4 oz. Chocolate Malt

I was thinking of adding another 1/2 lb. of Crystal 40, but I've never brewed a Red before, and there's a lot I don't know about the style. I looked up several recipes, but there were many varieties of ingredients with all % levels of grains used.

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The bigger question is why? Why are you wanting to add it? What are you trying to achieve? If adding another 1/2 lb will get your where you want, then go for.

I can't imagine that an extra half pound would make a lot of difference, even though thats a light beer. Depends on how you plan on balancing that with your hops. I will add 2lbs of crystal to an IIPA sometimes, but hops cover up the extra sweetness. Plus I like certain style IPA's to have a deep redness to them. Brewing is a lot of experimenting, I've yet to make an AG batch that wasn't a decent beer. Not always great beer, but you gotta find what you like.

Crystal malts are roasted malts that add both color and malt flavor to your beer. The addition of a half pound of crystal 60 is to lend the beer a rich amber color and a small amount of caramel sweetness to help balance the beer against the hops. Adding more crystal 60 to your recipe is likely to add a little more amber color and unfermentable sweet malt sugar to your beer, making it slightly richer and sweeter. This may or may not be what you're trying to achieve.

jakenbacon said:

Yooper your avatar is kind of frightening. He is looking into my soul!!!

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Eddie veeder knows what you are thinking, and he doesnt approve.

. .#1.5 of crystal 150 was too much in my sweet stout . .

Generally 1/2 lb. of Crystal in my IPAs. I might go with a full lb. in something, but it's a balance between the body and sweetness and the hop bitterness. I want a nice amount of caramel flavor but not a lot of sweetness and body in an IPA.

An amber might get more than 1 lb of different crystals mixed together, when the body and sweetness is generally a bit more than an IPA.

I have a recipe for Bells Two Hearted that uses 12 lbs of base malt and 1/2 lb. of crystal.

I generally use 1/2lb of crystal in my beers. Like 1/2lb of crystal 20L in my light colored hybrid lager. gives it a Euro sort of sweet malt flavor that combines with the other malt & hop flavors to get that certain Euro kind of flavor quality. The WL029 yeast did a great job of balancing all of that. finish was a bit crisp as well. Kinda like an ice beer. But idk if I'd use more than 1/2lb in the average gravity beer.

Good advise all around! Thanks TheSmith for your advise on the stout. For some reason I thought that crystal only added color, not sweetness.

Totally depends on style (like yooper said).
15-20% in an American Amber/Red is common
5-10% in an (I)IPA is common
0% in saison, many belgians, lagers is common

Off the top of my head, an Irish Red is fairly dry, non-sweet, but malty. I would err on the side of less for this but then again I haven't research it well enough to give a great recommendation.