whats the difference crystal malt

[endlesssurf]

hey everybody i was wondering what the difference between crystal malts. I have a recipe for a Heineken clone that requires 20L but i bought 40L at the store what would be the consequence for using 40L in the recipe, and what does the 20L or 40L stand for anyway?

 

[Loup]

it is a measurement of how much it will darken the beer. Different types of crystal malt also impart different flavors so you don't want to pour in a large amount of 20L to make up for a small amount of 120L, but using a larger amount of 60L to make up for not finding 80L would be OK.

 

[endlesssurf]

ok so the recipe asks for 1/4th a pound of 20L does that mean i can use 1/8th of 40L instead

 

[bradsul]

It's not a direct relationship in that way, so no you can't do a substitute like that and expect the same result. The malts chart on the wiki can help you figure out what the various malts give you.

That said; in my experience there isn't too much difference between 20L and 40L so I would just do a direct substitution. Your beer will be slightly darker and will have slightly more caramel flavour but 0.25lbs isn't much crystal malt.

 

[Professor Frink]

ok so the recipe asks for 1/4th a pound of 20L does that mean i can use 1/8th of 40L instead

Your best bet would be to use a calculator (there are some free ones online) that will calculate your final SRM. There isn't too much difference between the two - 20L will give you more of a sweet flavor while 40L will be a little more caramel, but you probably won't notice the difference. But once you get higher than 40L, the differences become more noticeable.

 

[endlesssurf]

where can i find one of these calculators

 

[Brewsmith]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/confused-speciality-malts-fruitiness-maltiness-84787/

 

[mttewes]

where can i find one of these calculators

Beer Calculus . homebrew recipe calculator is free and it's online.

BeerSmith Brewing Software, Recipes, Blog, Wiki and Discussion Forum is a useful program you can download. It has a free trial period.

 

[Bob]

where can i find one of these calculators

[ame=http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=homebrew+recipe+calculator&btnG=Google+Search&aq=2&oq=homebrew+recipe]homebrew recipe calculator - Google Search[/ame]

Or is typing 'google' in your address bar too taxing?