Sweet beers. Malty beers. Dark beers?

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Halbrust

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Except for fruit beers... it seems like every beer I find that is/should be sweet or malty is a dark beer (usaully a stout). I don't like the roasty, toffee, coffee (I taste burnt instead of these flavors) taste in the porters and stouts I've tried.

Do milk stouts have the same "roasty" flavor? Oatmeal porters?

Is there a low hop, high malt, beer on the lower end of the SRM scale?
 
Do you mean commercially? Dead guy is a little lighter than porters and stouts. And it's pretty malty. Or are you looking for something even lighter? Like a pale ale or something? What about a hefeweizen?
 
You can definitley make a malty pale ale, just have to keep in mind how light you want to go and design accordingly. Not many do it but it is very possible.
 
I was thinking of using a large proportion of munich malt. I have a pale ale that is 50% 2-row/munich with 45 IBU in the fermenter right now. Can't wait to see how it turns out.
 
Yes commercial.
I just had a Dead Guy and hated it!!! It didn't have that burnt taste, but the hops were up front and it had an astringency I didn't like (like orange pith).

I like hefes, and loved the one dunkelweisse I had.

I just read these descriptions of milk stouts (and such) and drool, except fot the roasted part. A slight roasted flavor is nice, but most the time it says slight it ends up tasting like someone scraped their burnt toast into my glass of beer.
 
What kind of malty flavors are you looking for? You can make a very malt forward amber ale with judicious amounts of Munich, Aromatic, and Crystal malts.
 
Yea, bocks and doppelbocks are malty german lagers. Dead guy is a Maibock, which is a little different, but same idea. German altbiers can also be malty and sweet, particularly Sticke Alts. None of those are known for any dark or roasted malts (use for anything but color).
 
I'm like you. I like malty beers with little hop bitterness. I'm ok with some dark beers (I like a Wee Heavy, because even though it's dark, it doesn't have that burned grain taste).
I recommend a Maibock. Golden like a pilsner, no dark roasted flavor (just Munich) but very malty and little hops.
 
I agree with the OP on the burnt taste of some darker ales. I make dark ales, no particular style I guess, that are heavy on the Vienna, most are one to one with 2-row and some with even more weight on the Vienna. Vienna gives a nice color and delicate toasty flavor without the, hit you in gullet, roasted component. I also go a little heavier on the crystals, 40L and 60Ls, than most would recommend. A dollop of Bisquit can contribute to a warmer taste too. I make most of my serious hops additions during the last 10 minutes of so of the boil. I love the taste and aroma of hops, but I can't tolerate a whole lot of bitterness. That makes me a wimp I guess, but I can live with that.

Ya, I treat brewing as more of an art than a science, it's the same way I cook, too.
 
So you want a sweet beer, possibly malty, without a dark burnt toffee taste? That's easy:

Hefeweizen's, Belgian Wit's, Amber Ale's, Belgian Blond's, English Ale's (the maltier Fuller's types), Belgian Tripple's... heck there are plenty of malty sweet beers you can choose from that are not super dark and roasted tasting. Plenty of Cream Ale's, Marzen's, Belgian Ale's, American Pale Ale's, etc have a strong malty base taste. Just got to look around ;)


Rev.
 
Try Paulaner Salvator. Best doppel bock there is IMHO. I like the malty stuff too. I just racked a Potlatch Doppel Bock into a keg from secondary. Got recipe from Papazian's book, I'll let you know how it turned out in about 2 months!
 
Is there a low hop, high malt, beer on the lower end of the SRM scale?

Scottish ales (particularly 80+/- or Strong Scotch Ale), bocks and dopplebocks (although dopplebocks are dark in color so you may prefer a maibock), Vienna lager, Oktoberfests, altbier, a tripel (if you like Belgian flavors), and barleywines are high malt, low IBU beers that are light in color.

A beer like kolsch isn't particularly "high in malt" but it's light in color and without hops flavor.
 
Ambers (fat tire) and browns (new castle, tommyknockers maple nut) will work. The range of both vary widely but you should be able to find something there without too much "burnt" flavors.
 
Here's a few commercial beers that I would recommend to you for being malty and not roasty:

Avery's Hog Heaven (barleywine)

Spaten Optimator (doppelbock, rather sweet, rather dark, and CHEAP as far as good beer goes. Basically, think import prices, not craft-beer prices. A 12-pack for maybe $14 or so? Factor in the extra ABV (7.2%) and it's not really even all that expensive relative to your run-of-the-mill Heineken or whatever. When I'm not brewing, it could easily become my house beer.

Aventinus. They have a dunkelweizen, an eisbock, and a few others. Check 'em out.

Any Oktoberfest.

Even many craft-brewed stouts and porters are more sweet than roasty.

Dark beer doesn't mean roasty/burnt taste. It's all about the malts you choose. Basically, you just want to avoid Roasted Barley, and any black/roasted malts. Malts that will give you a more malty flavor without bitterness/roastiness include: Crystal malts, Munich malts, Caramunich, Special B, Pale Ale malts (as opposed to generic "2 row"), and several others, I'm sure. You can make a very, very dark beer with just those listed malts. And they will tend to be rather sweet.

Of course, Belgians are another option. Candi sugar isn't going to be burnt or roasty either and almost all belgian beers tend towards the malty end of the spectrum. And Scottish Ales too.
 
Yes commercial.
I just had a Dead Guy and hated it!!! It didn't have that burnt taste, but the hops were up front and it had an astringency I didn't like (like orange pith).

I like hefes, and loved the one dunkelweisse I had.

I just read these descriptions of milk stouts (and such) and drool, except fot the roasted part. A slight roasted flavor is nice, but most the time it says slight it ends up tasting like someone scraped their burnt toast into my glass of beer.

Hello, Try a Fat Tire, malty, low hop taste, not sweet but good for a cheap store bought beer, or Go for a walk on the wild side with Dogfish Head's "Raison D'Etre, A mahogany color brew, strong at 8% Alc. but nice and malty, very flavorful, low hop taste. or Nimbus Red Ale, malty, flavorful, and once again low hop flavor.

EDIT just had a nimbus again today and its a bit hoppy in the middle, at the end and after.

None of these beers are stouts, and none of them have that burnt roasty taste that you don't like.

I like all 3 of them.

Hope this helps, if you need more recommendations just ask ok.

Cheers :mug:
 
This is an excellent thread! I like the dark beers but not the bitter/burnt flavors too. I just did a Maibock that is now lagering in the keg and the hydrometer sample tasted SUPER malty. I did a double decoction with 10 minute boils. Here is the recipe:

OG= 1.071, FG=1.011
Amount Item Type % or IBU
6.00 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM)
6.00 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM)
3.00 lb Light Munich Malt (6.0 SRM)
1.00 oz Hallertauer Mittelfrueh [3.90 %] (60 min)
1.00 oz Hallertauer [3.90 %] (20 min)
1.00 oz Hallertauer [3.90 %] (10 min)
1 Pkgs German Bock Lager (White Labs #WLP833) Yeast-Lager
 
Try Left Hand Brewing's milk stout &nitro stout. Milk stout's more like icedcoffee beer to me. Smooth just a lil roasty on the end. Their nitro stout adds some chocolate flavor to that. Fuller's ESB should be to your liking. I also agree about the octoberfests & the paulaner salvator as well..
 
Cream Ales can give you a nice maltier feel with a touch of sweetness to it. The bigger commercial examples have a little too much bitterness to them in my opinion. Not that they are bitter, but they cover the nice malt backbone just a little too much. Haven't had too many from craft breweries as not many make them, but it's an under-appreciated style in my opinion.
 
Samuel Smith's Nut Brown is probably one of my favorite malty beers and I don't think I've ever detected a roasty taste from it, much less any hop bitterness or aroma.
 
I concur on the brown ales...good malt character, some sweetness, some chocolate

something like:
8oz of crystal
8oz-1lb of victory or biscuit
4oz chocolate
rest English base malt
 
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