A suitable substitute for Maris Otter type base malt?

[Silver_Is_Money]

Maris Otter is darker and more biscuit flavored than a typical Pilsner or 2-Row Brewers type malt. It appears that a blend of 96.25% Pilsner or 2-Row Brewers and 3.75% Briess Victory (a type of biscuit malt) should be essentially the color equivalent of straight Maris Otter. Might it also come close to being the flavor equivalent?

 

[thehaze]

I cannot comment on a suitable substitute, but I find that I can get similar flavours by using Pale Malt ( 3L ) and a touch of Biscuit malt ( 30L almost ). I also like using Vienna malt where I would use Maris Otter. As a matter of fact, I have a Strong Bitter recipe where I use Vienna as base malt and it works very well.

 

[GHBWNY]

Technically, there is no "substituting" one malt for another. Although the characteristics of each variety are subtle, substituting always has subtle trade-offs. That said, a close second to MO in character might be malts like Halcyon, Optic, Pearl, and Simpson's Golden Promise. Personally, I've become a big SGP fan and use it now in my IPAs. Adds a slightly bready quality, great mouthfeel, and balances with big hops really well and overall seems a bit more flavorful pound-for-pound than other pales.

 

[BigEd]

Might it also come close to being the flavor equivalent?

No. What kind of beer are you brewing? I'd say your blend would be fine for a domestic (US) style but if you are making an old world (UK) brew any generic UK pale malt will work better. The modern barley that has been used is Pearl although that could have changed by now. You won't get all the nuances of the MO variety but the malt will still have more richness and flavor than domestic choices.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

No. What kind of beer are you brewing? I'd say your blend would be fine for a domestic (US) style but if you are making an old world (UK) brew any generic UK pale malt will work better. The modern barley that has been used is Pearl although that could have changed by now. You won't get all the nuances of the MO variety but the malt will still have more richness and flavor than domestic choices.

It's a matter of my presently having a fair quantity of Swaen Pilsner malt on hand and not wanting to have to use other base malts until I have whittled down the supply of Pilsner. I'd like to make an ESB and a Wee Heavy somewhere along the way to consuming the Pilsner malt.

 

[MaxStout]

I've subbed Golden Promise for MO in British-style ales and it was quite close.