A 2-row is a 2-row is a 2-row?

[CircleC-Brewer]

I have a 55 lb bag of malted Pilsner two row barley that I have been using for my base grain in most of my beer recipes. However, for my next batch I would like to brew a Belgium Abbey style beer. Could I substitute the Belgium 2 row malt with my American 2 row malt without changing the flavor profile significantly? I still plan on using all Belgium specialty grains and I will be pitching a White Labs Trappist yeast. I will save $28 by substituting 2 row malts.

 

[Bob]

First, the word you're looking for is "Belgian". Just like a Corvette isn't "an America car" - it's "an American car".

2-row is not 2-row is not 2-row. "2-row" refers to the way the barleycorns grow on the stalk. 2-row can be lots of different varieties, from Klages to Harrington to Maris Otter to Golden Promise. 2-row can be malted in lots of different ways, from traditional floor maltings producing crackery, biscuity Pale Ale malts (Crisp Maris Otter) to neutral "US 2-row" (Briess 2-row Brewers Malt) to yummy Bohemian Pilsner malts (Weyermann Pils).

You can use Belgian malts for your Abbey ale, sure. You can also use your in-house Pilsner malt without problems.

It's easy to over-think this. Most Belgian breweries use Pils as the base malt in all their beers. Only rarely is it Belgian-sourced Pils. Some of the best Abbey beers in the world are brewed with German and French Pils.

Unless you're brewing a very pale beer like Tripel or Golden Strong, the specialty grains will end up changing the character of the beer so much that, relatively speaking, the character of the base malt doesn't matter much; as long as the base malt tastes good, use it. Moreover, the yeast has a profound impact on flavor.

Cheers,

Bob