Which base grain?

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guldalian

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Brewing my 1st AG this weekend. It's an American IPA. Just wondering if it is better to use pale ale male or American 2-row as the base. Or is it preferential?
 
They are almost the same thing. Pale Ale malt is two row that is kilned slightly different. I've used both extensively and honestly can't tell the difference. Pale ale malt has a shade darker SRM, but that's about it. You can use these two interchangeably.
 
I would suggest 2 row if you intend to use more than 5% specialty malts. Maris Otter pale malt has plenty of character and I like to use it all by itself. I get good color, head retention with MO.

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duckredbeard said:
I would suggest 2 row if you intend to use more than 5% specialty malts. Maris Otter pale malt has plenty of character and I like to use it all by itself. I get good color, head retention with MO.

Yeah I'm planning on using about 12% special malts. 1 lbs each of crystal 40 and victory.
 
I'll dissent and recommend the pale malt. I recently did a couple of batches with (Rahr) 2-row instead of pale, + 10%-20% specialty malts and they turned out kind of one dimensional and lacking in depth. Went back to pale for some more recent batches and it's like I'm being reminded why I love brewing. The difference is really surprising.
 
I like Maris Otter in my IPA's as a base too... Gives a good solid malt backbone to build with.
 
Marris otter tastes awesome. its one of my new base malts. I bought a 55lb sack of it at 40% off so im using it alot. Love the flavor
 
I stick with MO and pale as well, I find that they provide a better all around malt base with more character than just plain 2-row
 
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