Abbey Malt

Anybody have any experience with using Abbey malt is a stout or porter? Specifically do you get much residual sweetness or bitterness from it and what sort of quantities would you look at using it at?

I am looking in an RIS.

I used some in an Amber and it reminded me of honey malt....there was some residual sweetness.

I too just used it in an amber. Haven't tasted it yet. But sounds like that sweetness would be good for something like a RIS that you are going to store for awhile.

What sort of quantities did you use in your ambers?

Since there is a dearth of first-hand information about this malt in home brewing use, I'm about to make a 2gal test batch with it:
2.5lb german pilsner
2.5lb Weyermann Abbey
25IBU Willamette (20 min)
estimated 1.054 OG
balanced water profile

tempted to use a belgian yeast, but may use US-05 for neutral comparison purposes.

Hopefully I can post back here in 6 weeks with impressions.

(edit: NOTE: different maltsters seem to have very different products sold as "abbey malt". Some seem to be intended for small percentages of grist (2-10%), while the Weyermann is sold as a base malt with a max recommended of 50%. )

I used in in my imperial stout, can't say what it contributed in particular. I am thinking if using it in a rye pa. Know the out come of your brew will be hopefully be insighful

andrewmaixner said:

Since there is a dearth of first-hand information about this malt in home brewing use, I'm about to make a 2gal test batch with it:
2.5lb german pilsner
2.5lb Weyermann Abbey
25IBU Willamette (20 min)
estimated 1.054 OG
balanced water profile

tempted to use a belgian yeast, but may use US-05 for neutral comparison purposes.

Hopefully I can post back here in 6 weeks with impressions.

(edit: NOTE: different maltsters seem to have very different products sold as "abbey malt". Some seem to be intended for small percentages of grist (2-10%), while the Weyermann is sold as a base malt with a max recommended of 50%. )

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Did you ever do this brew? I have since heard abbey doesn't leave much sweetness in a smash.

andrewmaixner said:

Since there is a dearth of first-hand information about this malt in home brewing use, I'm about to make a 2gal test batch with it:
2.8lb german pilsner (Avengard)
2.8lb Weyermann Abbey
25IBU Willamette (20 min)
estimated 1.054 OG
balanced water profile

tempted to use a belgian yeast, but may use US-05 for neutral comparison purposes.

Hopefully I can post back here in 6 weeks with impressions.

(edit: NOTE: different maltsters seem to have very different products sold as "abbey malt". Some seem to be intended for small percentages of grist (2-10%), while the Weyermann is sold as a base malt with a max recommended of 50%. )

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Queequeg said:

Did you ever do this brew? I have since heard abbey doesn't leave much sweetness in a smash.

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Thanks for the reminder. I split it between US-05, Chimay, and T-58.

Mashed 148 stovetop BIAB, RO water plus "balanced" mineral profile and acidification per EZWater.
OG 1.060, FG 1.014-1.015. The high FG despite low mash temp leads me to believe that this malt may not be nearly as fermintable as a standard base malt

The US-05 portion ended up being quite good, there was plenty of residual sweetness in this 50% abbey malt recipe, probably would classify it as an American Amber. Good enough to brew a full keg again, tasters in my club liked it also.

The Chimay was good enough to drink it all also, but not exactly what I prefer in a belgian dubble

As usual, T-58 was unimpressive. I've pretty much given up on T-58 when there are other better yeasts available now (Lallemand Abbaye which is fruity and Chimay-ish and good, and Fermentis Abbaye which is 'clean'-trappist-ish but not as good at the Lallemand)

How would you describe the taste contribution from the abbey?

Queequeg said:

How would you describe the taste contribution from the abbey?

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I'm not the best describer of malt flavors. As I mentioned, I thought it made for a good and flavorful but not too-complex american amber. Might make a good dubble or quad also, would allow you to cut back the dark syrup?

I'd say that the various reviews and descriptions I find on the internet are reasonably accurate:
"Highly maltaromatic. Adds deep-amber to red-brown colour, maltiness, body, and mouth feel to finished beer"
"Belgian brown-biscuity type malt and it has unique characteristics. It’s sweeter than a typical biscuit malt. ... it’s a combination of aromatic malt, honey malt, and biscuit malt. "
"pronounced maltiness, honey notes"

Cool, I have used in in two beers now, both stouts in replacement of Munich and medium crystal. The results have been good.

So I am looking for a new grain bill for my next IPA after being unsatisfied with crystal, amber and Munich malts. I went back and tasted the grains fro weyerman abbey, meladonin and Munich I and vienna and some English carmamalt.

I have to say Abbey was by far the most exciting, virtually as malty as meladonin malt with about the same sweetness as Munich but with complex biscuit and honey notes, perhaps some slight caramel too.

I have to say Abbey is fast becoming one of my favorite specialty malts.

Queequeg said:

So I am looking for a new grain bill for my next IPA after being unsatisfied with crystal, amber and Munich malts. I went back and tasted the grains fro weyerman abbey, meladonin and Munich I and vienna and some English carmamalt.

I have to say Abbey was by far the most exciting, virtually as malty as meladonin malt with about the same sweetness as Munich but with complex biscuit and honey notes, perhaps some slight caramel too.

I have to say Abbey is fast becoming one of my favorite specialty malts.

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Would you post your grain bill and mash information for the batches you have used it in and liked?

both are stouts

0.50 kg Barley Hulls (0.0 EBC) Adjunct 1 5.3 %
5.44 kg Pale Ale (Dingemans) (6.5 EBC) Grain 2 57.3 %
1.27 kg Rye Malt (9.3 EBC) Grain 3 13.4 %
0.51 kg Roasted Barley (Dingemans) (591.0 EBC) Grain 4 5.4 %
0.42 kg Abbey malt (Castle Malting) (44.9 EBC) Grain 5 4.5 %
0.42 kg Rye, Flaked (Briess) (9.1 EBC) Grain 6 4.5 %
0.25 kg Chocolate Malt (689.5 EBC) Grain 7 2.7 %
0.17 kg Special B (Dingemans) (290.6 EBC) Grain 8 1.8 %

and

6.67 kg Pale Malt (2 Row) US (3.9 EBC) Grain 1 72.3 %
0.69 kg Caraaroma (Weyermann) (350.7 EBC) Grain 2 7.5 %
0.52 kg Carafa Special III (Weyermann) (925.9 EB Grain 3 5.6 %
0.46 kg Abbey malt (Castle Malting) (44.9 EBC) Grain 4 5.0 %
0.36 kg Melanoiden Malt (39.4 EBC) Grain 5 3.9 %
0.34 kg Chocolate Malt (Thomas Fawcett) (1000.8 Grain 6 3.7 %
0.18 kg Oats, Flaked (2.0 EBC) Grain 7 1.9 %

Both are excellent

I use Weyerman abbey and not castle, just beersmith doesn't list the former

For my IPA I will be looking at something like

90% Maris Otter low colour
6% Abbey
4% Flaked Barley

Queequeg said:

I use Weyerman abbey and not castle, just beersmith doesn't list the former

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Aah, that's a very important piece of information. Weyerman's is a base malt, while Castles is a specialty malt. They are very different malts, from what I have been able to research.

Even so as base malts go its pretty strongly flavored, to my palette as least it has a similar malt intensity to Weyermans Melanoidin Malt but with a touch of honey and biscuit.

Based on you use in a 50/50 beer, what % would you think was appropriate for a dry style IPA?

I have gone with 6% based on aromatic malt/Melanoidin and biscuit/victory are commonly used between the 4 -8% range.

From the description castle abbey sounds a bit more like victory