Dxtrin vs Belgian Caramel Pils

[RedGuitar]

Brewing a red ale this weekend. Went to the LHBS to buy ingredients this afternoon. My recipe calls for 1/2 lb of Belgian Caramel Pils, which they did not have and swore they never heard of. Looking at their grains, the Dextrin malt said in there it was also known as Caramel Pils, so I went with that. However, after doing some research after getting home, I see that Dextrin is 1.5 L, whereas Caramel Pils is 6 L. The descriptions of both grains differ as well; dextrin's description focuses on head retention, while caramel pils says it adds subtle caramel flavors.

So, here' the question; how will replacing caramel pils with dextrin effect my final product? I have some crystal malt (120 and 60 and maybe some 40) from previous brews, would it be a good idea to add a couple ounces to my brew to help with that subtle caramel flavor?

 

[ghpeel]

Yeah I'd do half dextrin malt and half C40.

And I love C120, so I'd throw some in too, but thats prob not what you are looking for flavor wise!

 

[cshamilton]

Carapils and Dextrin malt are the same. Caramel pils is different - it is supposed to have some of the qualities of dextrin, but it is a light crystal (7 - 9 L). So maybe throw in a tad of the crystal 40 - it won't be quite the same. If you are going back to the HBS you could try some crystal 10 instead - I think it would be a decent substitution (but I can't say I tried this myself - so maybe someone else knows better).

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