Which Substitute for Victory Malt - Vote

[mcleanmj]

I'm brewing an ESB tomorrow and was hoping to use victory malt, but I can't get any. I can't get biscuit malt either. What I can get are amber, special roast, melanoidin, aromatic, caravienne, and crystal 30. Which of these would you use in a pinch? Thanks!!!

 

[soccerdad]

More Beer has a malt along the lines of Biscuit / Victory called Cookie.

 

[DBhomebrew]

Victory™ is a biscuit-type, drum-roasted, malt at 28°L.

Ambers are also drum-roasted, color depending on maltster.

Special Roast™ is also drum-roasted, but a lot darker than Victory ™.

Color being a good marker for flavor.

Cara-, or crystal malts are going to be very different.

 

[Holden Caulfield]

Victory™ is a biscuit-type, drum-roasted, malt at 28°L.

Ambers are also drum-roasted, color depending on maltster.

Special Roast™ is also drum-roasted, but a lot darker than Victory ™.

Color being a good marker for flavor.

Cara-, or crystal malts are going to be very different

Just building on DBHomerbrew post if you are interested.

Victory Malt is Briess Malting's brand of biscuit malt.

Biscuit malts along with Melanoidin, Aromatic, Amber, and Special Roast (not to be confused with Special B) are all made similarly to Munich Malts but are kilned/roasted to a darker color imparting deeper and more intense flavors. These malts are dried prior to kilning/roasting and never held when wet at mashing temperatures, unlike Crystal/Caramel malts.

Crystal/Caramel malts are held wet at mashing temperatures for a period of time which converts their starches into sugars essential mashing in the hull. Once mashed in the hull the temperature is raised and the sugars are caramelized to the desired flavor profile/color.

The kilned/roasted malts can never be substituted with Crystal/Caramel malts as one has melanoidin (malty) flavors while Crystal/Caramel malts have caramel, toffee, and even raisin (dark fruit - Special B) like flavors.

Another important distinctions is steeping. For all intent and purpose the Munich-like malts should not be steeped as they have unconverted starches that could cloud your beer. Crystal/Caramel malts are already mashed so are great for steeping. That said, many do steep some of the Munich-like malts, and even some of the maltsters, like Briess, say some of these malts (Victory and Special Roast), can be steeped. This confuses me as Briess also says that malts that have a mealy endosperm should be mashed and Victory has a 100% mealy endosperm per their spec sheet. My thoughts, if you are going to steep with them, just do so with some pale malt to help covert the starches just to be safe. Note - the dark roasted malts can be steeped even though they have not been mashed in the hull.

As DB said, color is a good marker for similar flavors.

• Victory is ~28L
• Amber Malt ~ 25L
• Aromatic Malt, which is actually listed as a Munich malt on Briess website is ~20L
• American Honey Malt, which is Briess' version of Melanoidin Malt is ~20L
• Melanoidin Malt is ~26L
• Aromatic Malt is ~ 20L
• Special Roast is ~50 (quite dark)

All that being said, a good English Amber malt with a ~25L is what I would use.

 

[Yooper]

Biscuit malt is a great sub, but without that I'd consider a smaller addition of special roast.

 

[mcleanmj]

Thanks a lot for the really informative answers!

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Dingemans 50 MD Biscuit malt.

 

[cmac62]

I'd do aromatic with a touch of the special roast for color and a little darker flavor.