Need Advice on Caramels in Stout

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jrhammonds

jrhammonds

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I'm going to be brewing a foreign stout soon--more of the tropical style. My question is this: how much will it matter if I add malt across the lovibond continuum versus adding two lump sums. For example, I want have about 3/4 pound of the 10-20L range and 3/4 pound of the high range (120L). Would it benefit me at all to do 1/4# each of 80L, 120L, 155L--or just 3/4# of 120L?

I'm sure there are valid arguments for both sides, but for a while I've been wondering: Is there benefit in spreading the lovibond love?
 
every crystal # will have a different taste and will leave differing amounts of residual sugars. i say go for it spread them malts out:rockin:
 
You'll get a more complex blending of flavors if you use the 1/4 lb of each approach, but you'll end up missing the one flavor fruity plum/raisin that a lump of C120 would give.

I'd do the C80, C120, C155 approach that you're thinking about just to see what it does.

(C155 = Special B? I've not seen just C155 anywhere...)
 
I thought there was a British maltster who did a Crystal 155, though I might be mistaken.

At any rate, I agree with the others about drowning out the 120. There's no reason to use it if it won't be noticed. I'd go with 60 and 120; that's what I think I'm going to use in my next round of Stout Kick in the Ass.
 
Just to make sure we're on the same page, are you all arguing that 120L is the MOST raisiny of the malts? I ask this because on the recent Jamil Foreign Stout Podcast, he says 3/4lb. of 80L will bring out the raisiny plums. Also, special B (135-ish L) is what I used in my belgian quad to bring the plums/raisins forth. (my original post of 155L was supposed to be 135, i.e., Special B--apologies) So, my thinking was, why not add a mix of all three to get from light raisin to dark fig, and everywhere in between. Thoughts?
 
Teacher said:
I thought there was a British maltster who did a Crystal 155, though I might be mistaken.
Click to expand...

Simpsons Extra Dark is about 155. I just used a bunch (1 lb in 3.5 gallons) of it in a wheat tripelbock (based on the Livery’s version), the flavor was fantastic after primary. The Extra Dark is like a combination of Crystal 120 and pale chocolate, more roasty and less dark fruit than Special B or CaraAroma.
 
jrhammonds said:
Just to make sure we're on the same page, are you all arguing that 120L is the MOST raisiny of the malts? I ask this because on the recent Jamil Foreign Stout Podcast, he says 3/4lb. of 80L will bring out the raisiny plums. Also, special B (135-ish L) is what I used in my belgian quad to bring the plums/raisins forth. (my original post of 155L was supposed to be 135, i.e., Special B--apologies) So, my thinking was, why not add a mix of all three to get from light raisin to dark fig, and everywhere in between. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

You'll get a nice blend but any one flavor you could be shooting for won't stand out as if it were just that crystal.

I'm not arguing anything. Just used 120L as an example.
 
Oldsock said:
Simpsons Extra Dark is about 155. I just used a bunch (1 lb in 3.5 gallons) of it in a wheat tripelbock (based on the Livery’s version), the flavor was fantastic after primary. The Extra Dark is like a combination of Crystal 120 and pale chocolate, more roasty and less dark fruit than Special B or CaraAroma.
Click to expand...

Sounds really good. So it is a crystal malt?
 
Teacher said:
Sounds really good. So it is a crystal malt?
Click to expand...

Yeah, per NB:
Simpsons Extra Dark Crystal. 155-165° L. One of the darkest crystal malts available.

That said, it is roasted to the point that it is a pretty different malt than the other dark crystals. I was worried about adding so much of such a dark crystal, so I munched on a few grains next to a few other crystal malts. The other crystal malts, including special B, had a hard (caramelized/crystallized) center, but the Extra Dark Crystal had the texture of a roasted malt with no hard crunch.
 
The Crystal 150 will leave a lot of unfermentables in the beer and like Special B the flavor is strong. I wouldn't use more than 0.5 lb of it. Make up the difference with lower crystals, maybe 40 and 80.
 

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