Some confusion between different types of grain

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fat x nub

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Ok so i know there are a couple diferent names for some malts but just tell me if these malts are the same but just called different names by different people.

British Pale Malt is the same as Marris Otter?

American 2-row is the same as Pale 2-row?

Thanks for the help
 
Kinda and Kinda

Maris Otter is a cultivar of barley, one of many different types grown and used for "British Pale Malt" or "British 2-Row." If you find grain labeled as Maris Otter you can be pretty confident that it's "British." More importantly in all of this is the Maltster. There are several well established British malt companies, Crisp, Thomas Fawcett, and Simpson's are a few. They may each have a Maris Otter malt, but they may also have Optic, Halcion, or Golden Promise. All of this is genericlly labeled "British Pale Malt."

A similar situation is also true with American malt, but to a lesser extent. Most of the American base malt that you will find will be labeled as American 2-Row or American Pale Malt and can be used for just about any American style. Just know that again there may be some differences between malt companies, and they may also make several different products. My LHBS has an example:

As far as base malts go, my LHBS carries 2 different American ones. One labeled as "American 2-Row" and another as "Pale Ale Malt" Both are from Northwest Malting, but they are slightly different in their kilning. I buy the Pale Ale malt because it is a little darker and fuller in flavor (3-4ºL) than the regular 2-row (2ºL), and it works great in my Pale Ales and everything darker. I buy it by the sack. If I was making a Blonde Ale, however, I'd probably use the 2-Row, because it's a little lighter and has the flavor I'm looking for.

If anything, just look at the Lovibond rating of the malt. Most "American 2-Row" will be between 1.5-3ºL and the "British" malts are usually darker, closer to 3-4ºL.
 
+1 to the info Brewsmith just gave. My LHBS carries both MArris Otter AND UK 2 -Row, and I know the Lovibond are very slightly different, have not tried both so I cannot say anything about taste...
 
I've heard Golden Promise is the best there is when looking for an ale base malt. Anyone agree? Disagree? In what types of ales does it shine?
 
I've heard Golden Promise is the best there is when looking for an ale base malt. Anyone agree? Disagree? In what types of ales does it shine?
This question is too broad. I'm sure it's well suited to some British styles, but to say that it's the best for all ales is far too broad a statement.
 
This is killing me. I am so confused...this is when i wish i had a jamil's number.

EDIT: i am not even going to get into how i posted on this thread instead of my other one. Mods you can pick a thread to delete. Jamil emailed me back so i got my answer
 
The Jamil answer puhlees.

I feel like BrewSmith was the only one that knew hwat he was talking about but unfortunatly I did not know what he was talking about :(. So i emailed Jamil since the recipe i am brewing is influenced by the one from brewing classic styles...sorry for kind of putting down this site in the email but i just didnt understand what BrewSmith was trying to say....i love these forums (lifetime supporter) but i just felt like nothing was making sense



Maris Otter is almost always kilned as pale ale malt. I’ve never seen it offered otherwise. If you can get Crisp, that is what I use.



JZ



From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Monday, September 22, 2008 8:53 PM
To: Jamil Zainasheff
Subject: one more question



So after falling in love with Newcastle I have been messing around with recipes. Of course i looked at brewing classic styles first and I got the dreaded British pale ale malt. I have seen this question 100x times and I have seen you answer it before but I am just still a little confused. It is easier for me to get Marris Otter but not a hassle to get Pale Malt UK 2-row. Which one should I go with to make a great Nothern English Brown Ale? More importantly....which one do YOU use? I don't mind ordering it if it will make a better beer. I asked this question on the forums at homebrewtalk.com and everybody is getting into this techinal **** I can't understand. Please help



John Anderson
 
If you are making a british style ale Maris Otter, Golden Promise, Pale Ale Malt or British Pale Malt (2-row) all are good choices. However they all are different malts.
Maris Otter and Golden Promise refer to 2 different barley varieties that are grown in Britain. Pale Ale Malt and Pale Malt are refering different kilnings of the malt. If a bag of malt is labeled Maris Otter it is usually kilned a Pale Ale malt. If it is labeled Pale Ale malt then it is probably some other variety of barley kilned as a Pale Ale malt. Pale Malt is kilned to a slightly paler color and has a lighter flavor than Pale Ale malt.

My LHBS usually has Munton's Maris Otter for a reasonable price so that is what I use. A couple times he has been out of that variety and I have used Munton's Pale malt with only very subtle changes in the result.
Based on online prices I would probably use Briess Pale Ale malt for my english ales if I could not get my base malt at the LHBS.

I hope this helps and doesn't confuse even more.

Craig
 
Guys, it's like this:

You have barley. There are two main types of barley used in brewing, two-row and six-row. Two-row barley has larger, fatter kernels that grow in two rows on the stalk. Six-row barley has smaller, tougher kernels that grown in six rows on the stalk. Of the two, two-row is much more popular because it's more efficient. We'll put six-row aside for now.

There are many cultivars of two-row barley, and many of those have been mentioned in the thread. Cultivars are like dogs, onions, people, or yeast strains. They are all of the same species, but they vary for one reason or another. Marris Otter is a cultivar of two-row barley, and a very popular one in the U.K.

Now, you get to malting. There are many types of malt, labelled according to what the maltster did to the grain. Among those malts out there is "Munich malt," "crystal malt," chocolate malt," and of course, "pale malt." U.S. and U.K. maltsters have different malting techniques. U.S. maltsters tend to use U.S. cultivars and kiln their pale malt to around 2-2.5L, while U.K. maltsters tend to use U.K. cultivars and kiln to around 3-3.5L. In any case, "pale malt" always is two-row malt.

For some reason, many brewers starting referring to U.S. two-row pale malt as just "U.S. 2-row" or "domestinc two-row" or something like it. Since Marris Otter is so popular for U.K. pale malt, many brewers (through laziness or ignorance) refer to any U.K. pale malt as "Marris Otter." When I mention "Marris Otter," I mean that cultivar.

There ya go, I think. :)


TL
 
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