Can't get American 2-row, what's a good alternative?

I'm about to make the step to AG brewing and in the process of gathering recipes and ingredients. I can't get my hands on American 2-row, which a lot of recipes call for, but I can get most UK malts (MO, Halcyon, Golden Promise, Pearl, Optic). Most of those seem a bit sweeter and/or darker than US 2-row, what do you think comes closest? And how close would that be? Is a 1:1 substition enough or do I need to adjust the amounts of caramel malts too to get close?

I'm slightly worried that when I'm trying out clone recipes they will all turn out a bit too sweet.

Also, most threads I found by using the search function were about using US 2-row when UK malts aren't available, my issue is the other way around. Please help!

In my opinion I wouldn't worry. I rarely buy American 2-row because marris otter has so much more flavor. Use what you have. It helps that it's a superior malt

I'd consider using Pilsner. I also love the Muntons Pearl.

What dannypo said. North American pale malt is for the most part quite bland in flavor compared to the European malts. If you are brewing a beer where malt flavor is a minor player like an American IPA you could try sourcing a British lager malt. It's not the same but would be a bit lighter in color and flavor than the pale ale malts. A German pale ale malt like Weyermann's might be another alternative. It's still richer than the North American stuff but would be more neutral than the typical UK pale malts.

AllHopAbandon said:

I'm about to make the step to AG brewing and in the process of gathering recipes and ingredients. I can't get my hands on American 2-row, which a lot of recipes call for, but I can get most UK malts (MO, Halcyon, Golden Promise, Pearl, Optic). Most of those seem a bit sweeter and/or darker than US 2-row, what do you think comes closest? And how close would that be? Is a 1:1 substition enough or do I need to adjust the amounts of caramel malts too to get close?

I'm slightly worried that when I'm trying out clone recipes they will all turn out a bit too sweet.

Also, most threads I found by using the search function were about using US 2-row when UK malts aren't available, my issue is the other way around. Please help!

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You can reduce slightly the amount of caramel/crystal if you want to get the same SRM. I would use something like BeerSmith to help me adjust to get the same SRM. Although I haven't used it yet, looking at the country malt catalog it appears that Halcyon is less sweet and closer to 2-row than MO (Nutty) or Golden Promise (sweeter), Pearl (bready), or Optic (aromatic). I actually have some Golden Promise and Optic from a just completed group buy that I can't wait to use.

dannypo said:

In my opinion I wouldn't worry. I rarely buy American 2-row because marris otter has so much more flavor. Use what you have. It helps that it's a superior malt

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+1. There are plenty of recipe's for USA craft beers that either already call for English malts or can be bettered by them. I think many breweries use 2-row because it is cheaper to get here vs. things like MO. To use MO costs about a 50% premium in terms of price here in the USA. To me, it is worth it!

Weyermann Pale is probably the closest substitute, followed by regular English Pale Ale malt. Assuming it's a good recipe and the author used 2-Row for a reason other than it being cheap, MO and GP are overkill - they provide a much more rich and bready flavor (plain 2-Row doesn't have much of a distinct taste. It's neither grainy like Pilsner nor bready like Pale malt).
That said, I often design my own recipes around English Pale Ale malts because I really like their flavor in most non-German/Belgian and non-Wheat beer styles. If I use 2-Row, I almost always pair it with a biscuit malt like Victory to replicate the character of a Pale malt. In reverse, if your recipe calls for 2-Row in combination with biscuit malts, you can safely substitute an English Pale Ale malt, including MO, by reducing or eliminating the biscuit malt altogether.

AllHopAbandon said:

I can't get my hands on American 2-row, which a lot of recipes call for, but I can get most UK malts (MO, Halcyon, Golden Promise, Pearl, Optic).

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Now that's what I call a "good problem."

dannypo said:

In my opinion I wouldn't worry. I rarely buy American 2-row because marris otter has so much more flavor. Use what you have. It helps that it's a superior malt

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Same here! Until I start buying in 50# sacks I will probably stick with MO as my base malt.

Use pilsener as your base or a blend of pilsener and a bit of one of the UK pale ale malts depending on your particular recipe. I can't get 2-row or a UK pale malt, so pils is my base. I intended to use Vienna and/or Munich to blend in if I found any problems. But 3 AG batches so far here in China and I don't feel I'm missing anything with pilsner in place of 2-row. I just adjust to 90 min boils for all my batches.

Thanks for the replies, I feel enlightened!

bullinachinashop said:

I'd consider using Pilsner. I also love the Muntons Pearl.

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+1 to pilsner malt! I don't anything else other than pilsner malt for all of my recipes!