What does biscuit mean?

[Velnerj]

Hi y'all just realized that certain brands of English define biscuit quite differently... I often hear this word used in the beer industry either describing the tastes of beer as biscuit (or biscuity) or the name of a malt itself.

I grew up in USA so biscuit to me is basically a baked roll, that is rolled or dropped (depending on ingredients and technique) a la biscuits and gravy. Typically these are savory. But in UK (or European English) it means cookie. Which is definitely sweet. Even when I order biscuit malt locally they translated it in the local language as cookie malt which gave me pause because I was picturing the other biscuit....

So is there an industry agreement here or are we using biscuit willy nilly as we like and making assumptions that the others know what we mean?

 

[balrog]

I always defer to the malt definitions, which seem to agree on "toasty" and sometimes "nutty". I never see any definition for biscuit malt as being like a cookie or shortbread.

https://beerandbrewing.com/dictionary/aqoIkCsu6F/

 

[oakbarn]

Try some

Amazon.com: Mcvities Digestive Biscuits 250g : Grocery & Gourmet Food

 

[DBhomebrew]

Biscuit, when referring to the type of malt, is a light to medium dry kilned. Contrast against crystal or caramel which is kilned wet.

US 'Victory', UK amber, Belgian biscuit. All talking about the same category of malt.

 

[AlexKay]

The one that really confuses me is Pudding Malt. Not to mention Pants Malt and Napkin Malt...

 

[Bassman2003]

I think the best way is to get some biscuit malt and chew up some kernels. This is a whole world inside of home brewing that is often overlooked. We start brewing and read so much about things that go into our practice and might skip over personal experience. Add your firsthand knowledge and it will not matter what the others' say!

 

[hottpeper13]

The malts in this category are considered high dry malts and need to be converted in a mash with a base malt. Steeping might give you flavor but no GU's.

 

[TheMadKing]

I'm using USA terms here

Biscuit malt is not sweet like a cookie but it does contain some maillard reactions and a light toasted dough quality similar to what you might see on a golden brown USA biscuit.

Based on the lack of similarity to a European biscuit and a close similarity to a USA biscuit, i think the latter is more likely to be the origin of the flavor descriptor.

It's the same thing as Victory malt btw

 

[kevin58]

Hi y'all just realized that certain brands of English define biscuit quite differently... I often hear this word used in the beer industry either describing the tastes of beer as biscuit (or biscuity) or the name of a malt itself.

I grew up in USA so biscuit to me is basically a baked roll, that is rolled or dropped (depending on ingredients and technique) a la biscuits and gravy. Typically these are savory. But in UK (or European English) it means cookie. Which is definitely sweet. Even when I order biscuit malt locally they translated it in the local language as cookie malt which gave me pause because I was picturing the other biscuit....

So is there an industry agreement here or are we using biscuit willy nilly as we like and making assumptions that the others know what we mean?

Rather than think of a British biscuit as a sweet cookie you should think of them more as a cracker. Biscuit flavor, buscuit malt all define the same... a slightly toasty bread like characteristic.

 

[oakbarn]

Rather than think of a British biscuit as a sweet cookie you should think of them more as a cracker. Biscuit flavor, buscuit malt all define the same... a slightly toasty bread like characteristic.

Crackers they are not. They are rather dry. Biscuits are a sort of cookie but somewhat unique. Not like an American or even British Cookie, but nothing like a cracker either. I think most mashes are closer to an English Biscuit when eaten. We always have a bit of the spent grain after a mash. English Biscuits are not very favorable and about the closest thing I can think of is like a ginger snap WITHOUT the ginger. When I lived in England, you had them with tea. The biscuits are slightly sweet and dry, not a lot of flavor. I think that the biscuit in a Malt would refer to that very subtle under taste in the beer that remined them of a British Biscuit.