what is "malt backbone"

it's a catchy phrase, especially w/r/t IPAs. so what is it? how do you get it?

- replacing 2-row with a more assertive base malt?
- adding some munich? melanoidin? aromatic?
- a function of BU/GU?
- a function of final gravity?

and for IPAs/doubleIPAs, when do you want to "let the hops shine" vs "provide balance/malt backbone"?

Don't believe the hype. A balanced IPA is a careful balance between bitterness and hoppy juiciness. I've made a killer DIPA that was maris/2 row. I ususally add 2-3% crystal 40 or 20 to those recipes for the color. If I have 3% crystal I'm mashing pretty low and shooting for a FG between 1.006 and 1.012. Higher FG for lower ABV and lower FG for Higher ABV.

As far as I am aware the malty backbone is just that, the level of malt being strong enough to support the beer. The beer is created as a structure, you have the maltiness which provides the sweetness and body, then you build on it with hop bitterness, aroma and flavor. Having a strong malt backbone supports the higher amounts of bitterness from the hops. This is why some DIPA/TIPAs with ridiculously high IBUs can taste more balanced than some PA/IPAs.

I consider it more for balancing.

Then again, I could be wrong.

My 2 c, using 2 row itself adds some maltiness because it is more roasted than say pilsner. To me maltiness means sweetness and body together. It is kind of cliche saying, but take it as you will, to me it means using a slighly toasted malt like 2 row, and being able to detect that when you drink it.

Simply put and in my opinion, in a IPA, a FG of .012-.016.

The best commercial example I can think of is Sierra Nevada Celebration.

Mashed in the upper 150's and finished very high. Well. For an IPA anyway.
NO

Don't replace two row, but add complexity to the malt profile by adding in portions of Munich, biscuit, and a little melanoidin (5% of grain bill is a good start as this malt can become overpowering).

brownrice said:

it's a catchy phrase, especially w/r/t IPAs

Click to expand...

^^That pretty much nails it.

Put another way, it's the presence of some degree and character of maltiness in said beer style. The "degree" varies depending on the beer you're brewing.

But, really, it's just a catchy phrase :cross:

i understand the backbone metaphor and i think it's great, but i wanna dig a little deeper.

i guess i'm looking for a more nuanced answer than "more malt -> more malty". i'm seeking a measurable/empirical unit to achieve "balance".

supposedly, leaving a higher FG will provide some residual flavor from malt sugars. furthermore, that goal can be achieved in a number of different ways: using english yeast, or high mash temps, or dextrine (crystal) malts. the thing is, most people seem to report that these methods will "muddle" hop flavors rather than "balance" them. i'd love to hear what works for you!

BU:GU is shorthand for the ratio of bittering to grain. fortunately these are measurable/empirical units, so we can do the math ahead of time instead of just hoping that it tastes balanced. i don't have a lot of experience engineering this, except to say that i do mostly super-late hop additions (almost none before 10min) which effectively reduces the BU side of things. i'm not sure how far i can get simply tweaking the hops, but so far for me it's been the golden ticket.

i'm starting to play around with base malts. i used 6lb of maris otter LME as the total grain bill for 5gal of APA and the "backbone" is awesome. i'm about to bottle a SMaSH that used 15lbs of Vienna malt, and i've got high expectations for that too.

and the "maltiest" tasting beer in my opinion is bock. even at session strength, they can totally live up to the adjective "chewy". besides being a lager, the use of munich malt seems to be the culprit. i'm also trying to figure out what "melanoidin" malt can do to jack up the backbone in an otherwise 2-row grist.

I often see it with bitters too. When people use the tag you can expect a bit more colour, more body and more balance with the hops. It's obviously a 'fuzzy' criteria so you can't really make hard and fast rules about it. You'd expect an ordinary bitter without a malty backbone to be fairly low in body, pale, and most likely to earn it's keep by having a good hop and yeast flavour.

Have you seen a red herring?

Malt characterization comes in the form of many adjectives. If you can apply some of those adjectives to said beer then you have some degree of "malt backbone". The emphasis you put on those adjectives could serve to increase/reduce the degree to which said beer has "malt backbone".

Higher FG and hotter mash will not increase or decrease the malt presence in your beer. We're talking about body and maybe a hint of residual sweetness (not maltiness) here.

To some extent, crystal malts can aid in the malt presence in your beer but to only a minor extent. We're usually talking about fruit, and cooked sugar notes here - but maltiness does play a small part here.

Yeast strain is a much more useful tool in "retaining" malt character that you've put into your beer. This is a significant factor in retaining malt character in those beers where you want it.

BU:GU will not tell you about the malt character in your beer, but it may influence the perception a little bit (not a lotta bit). We're just balancing the beers sweetness with it's bitterness. While this does have a small influence of perceived maltiness, it's a minor player.

While bock does indeed have a firm malt character to it, it's sweetness should not be considered a major part of that malt character. You can have a dry malty beer (munich dunkle, festbier, porter) and a sweet malty beer (bock, wee heavy, barleywine).

Read about the available base malts as that is where you will get 90+% of your malt character, and couple that with a yeast strain that helps to retain malt character. Base malts such as maris otter, munich I/II/Light/Dark, vienna, pale ale malt, pilsner will be your starting point; and then you'll add some character malt (maybe) to help tailor the perception of the beer in the direction you want (cararoma, aromatic, melanoidin, caramunich, carahell, etc).

Unfortunately, the only tool I'm aware of for "measuring" maltiness is YOUR tongue (or MINE, as it were).

excellent write-up, thanks dood.