melanoidin malt

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I used 1 pound of melanoidin in a 6 gallon batch with 1 pound of rye in what what supposed to be a hoppy Rye PA.

Wow. 1 pound of melanoidin is way too much. The beer is a malt bomb with a really intense malty flavor. 1 pound might be OK for some malty German styles, but still seems like it would be a pretty extreme amount.

Use sparingly and with caution.
 
I have a Red IPA planned after having some of Sierra Nevada's Flipside IPA. I'm not going for a clone by any means, but absolutely love the combination of fruity hop flavor with the earthy, malty base. I stumbled upon Melanoidin and was intrigued by it, as I've been using a lot of Munich to add the malt character I want in most of my beers.

Here's my recipe:

10 lb. Maris Otter -83.3%
1 lb. Melanoidin -8.3%
.5 lb. Chocolate Malt -4.2%
.5 lb. Crystal 120 -4.2%

.5 oz. Magnum -60 min.
.5 oz. Magnum -15 min.
.5 oz. Centennial -15 min.
.5 oz. Mosaic -5 min.
.5 oz. Mosaic -flameout
.5 oz. Centennial -flameout
1 oz. each Mosaic/Centennial -dry hop 7 days

Safale 05


Most people seem to be saying 5% is the best place to start with Melanoidin. I'd be willing to scale it back, but morebeer sells it by the lb. I'd probably waste a portion of it. I love malt flavor, but balance is a priority. My favorite beers showcase complexity from both malt and hops. Keeping all that in mind, is it worth scaling it back at all? Or just scrapping it and replacing some of my MO with Munich?
 
I think I would use just 8oz of the melanoidin and let the MO come through a little more. If you have a food-saver type vacuum system you could keep the unused portion in the freezer for probably six-eight months. If not, I would use the remaining 8oz in another batch within a month or two. Put it in a zip lock and keep it in a cool dark spot. No need to waste good malt.
 
How about a Melanoidin Saaz SMASH Pilsner? Super smooth or what?
 
JayDubWill said:
I think I would use just 8oz of the melanoidin and let the MO come through a little more. If you have a food-saver type vacuum system you could keep the unused portion in the freezer for probably six-eight months. If not, I would use the remaining 8oz in another batch within a month or two. Put it in a zip lock and keep it in a cool dark spot. No need to waste good malt.
Click to expand...

I should add I would be getting the grain precrushed, as I don't have my own mill, or a vacuum sealer. That would certainly reduce the shelf life. I am planning on a brown to brew alongside this one, but I am reasonably happy with the grain bill. Perhaps I could dial back some of the Munich in that one.

Could easily just take it out and replace a decent portion of MO with Munich, but I have done that before and wanted to try something new.
 
filthyastronaut said:
I have a Red IPA planned after having some of Sierra Nevada's Flipside IPA. I'm not going for a clone by any means, but absolutely love the combination of fruity hop flavor with the earthy, malty base. I stumbled upon Melanoidin and was intrigued by it, as I've been using a lot of Munich to add the malt character I want in most of my beers.

Here's my recipe:

10 lb. Maris Otter -83.3%
1 lb. Melanoidin -8.3%
.5 lb. Chocolate Malt -4.2%
.5 lb. Crystal 120 -4.2%

.5 oz. Magnum -60 min.
.5 oz. Magnum -15 min.
.5 oz. Centennial -15 min.
.5 oz. Mosaic -5 min.
.5 oz. Mosaic -flameout
.5 oz. Centennial -flameout
1 oz. each Mosaic/Centennial -dry hop 7 days

Safale 05


Most people seem to be saying 5% is the best place to start with Melanoidin. I'd be willing to scale it back, but morebeer sells it by the lb. I'd probably waste a portion of it. I love malt flavor, but balance is a priority. My favorite beers showcase complexity from both malt and hops. Keeping all that in mind, is it worth scaling it back at all? Or just scrapping it and replacing some of my MO with Munich?
Click to expand...

I bought 1 pound of melanoiden months ago and still have plenty left. I use in in the order of ~1% of the grain bill to offset the need for a decoction. I've used 2oz per 5.5 gallon batch in a Helles, a pseudo Helles and a Vienna Lager. A little goes a long way.

For an IPA it is completely and utterly a bad choice if you want to have a beer that resembles an IPA (hop forward flavor profile).

If you want to experiment with the malt have at it. The result will most definitely not be IPA-like.

If you are looking for a little extra malty note to the beer, 1-2 % would be reasonable in a suitable style with mostly base malts in the grist.

If you are looking to make a very malty, caramelly, beer than melanoiden malt will deliver in spades at those higher % points your planning.

All depends on your objective and tastes really.
 
Gavin C said:
I bought 1 pound of melanoiden months ago and still have plenty left. I use in in the order of ~1% of the grain bill to offset the need for a decoction. I've used 2oz per 5.5 gallon batch in a Helles, a pseudo Helles and a Vienna Lager. A little goes a long way.

For an IPA it is completely and utterly a bad choice if you want to have a beer that resembles an IPA (hop forward flavor profile).

If you want to experiment with the malt have at it. The result will most definitely not be IPA-like.

If you are looking for a little extra malty note to the beer, 1-2 % would be reasonable in a suitable style with mostly base malts in the grist.

If you are looking to make a very malty, caramelly, beer than melanoiden malt will deliver in spades at those higher % points your planning.

All depends on your objective and tastes really.
Click to expand...

Again, I was looking for something in the territory of Flipside, but not a clone. I am not at all concerned with style guidelines but I'd like a considerable malt base that will play nice with the hops. Sounds like this stuff is really that powerful, which is why I was asking. If my LBHS had Melanoidin in their bulk grain selection I'd easily be able to get small amounts, but it sounds easiest to just skip it now and use it for my eventual Wee Heavy.
 
filthyastronaut said:
I should add I would be getting the grain precrushed, as I don't have my own mill, or a vacuum sealer. That would certainly reduce the shelf life. I am planning on a brown to brew alongside this one, but I am reasonably happy with the grain bill. Perhaps I could dial back some of the Munich in that one.

Could easily just take it out and replace a decent portion of MO with Munich, but I have done that before and wanted to try something new.
Click to expand...

I also get my grains pre-crushed. I've read that you should use them within a week, but honestly I've used them 4 to 8 weeks later sometimes and never had any problems with conversion or flavor. I once had a 4oz bag of left over crushed English crystal I found in the back of my brewing closet that was probably close to a year old. It still tasted good so I tossed it in a stout I was brewing and didn't have any issues. I think a lot of it depends on the environment you are storing your grains. My leftovers are always in a sealed container (small brown bag inside a ziplock) tucked into my brewing closet which is dark 95% of the time. All i'm saying is don't be afraid to experiment with the melanoidin malt and if you have some left over, it will be fine to use in a couple months, even crushed, if you store it right.
 
Thinking of sticking some of this in a porter and ditching all crystal. 5% a good place to start?
 
I use it @ 4% in my Zombie Dust recipe (from which Ive gotten online) and it helps contribute a nice copper color and slight malt flavor without making the beer cloying, especially using 1968 for the yeast. My latest tweak was subbing some corn sugar to help dry the beer out some due to the yeast, and its a pretty close substitute. :)
 
JayDubWill said:
I also get my grains pre-crushed. I've read that you should use them within a week, but honestly I've used them 4 to 8 weeks later sometimes and never had any problems with conversion or flavor. I once had a 4oz bag of left over crushed English crystal I found in the back of my brewing closet that was probably close to a year old. It still tasted good so I tossed it in a stout I was brewing and didn't have any issues. I think a lot of it depends on the environment you are storing your grains. My leftovers are always in a sealed container (small brown bag inside a ziplock) tucked into my brewing closet which is dark 95% of the time. All i'm saying is don't be afraid to experiment with the melanoidin malt and if you have some left over, it will be fine to use in a couple months, even crushed, if you store it right.
Click to expand...

That's good to know. I have found a decent solution, though. Unless I just make a trip to my LHBS, I tend to make a large order on morebeer for the free shipping, so I generally have to be strategic about what I order. So I played with the Brown I was also going to brew, and it will now have 1/2 lb. of the Melanoidin, so I can use the other half in the IPA and be a little more conservative. I also actually just replaced the MO with 2-row, as it will be much cheaper and a clean base malt will be just fine for the specialty grain I am putting into this.

Thanks everyone for the input! :mug:
 
I see this is an older thread, but recording my experience for posterity.

I just popped a Belgian ale that's been sitting around since the fall of 2017, so about 1.5 years old. I used 3% melanoidin along with 5% C40, and I get a strong malt and toffee aroma from the bottle and a pronounced flavor as well. Also quite a bit of body.

For a pale beer like this, it's decent but a bit too strong for my tastes (as I drink it... it's a very interesting beer though). I would reduce to 1.5% in future. I think 3% would balance well in a dark beer, and maybe 2% in an amber or brown ale.
 
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