All these cara malts

[NCBeernut]

I have used crystal enough to know what it tastes like, but what exactly is the difference between crystal, caramunich, caraviene, and carahell?

Second question - carapils vs carafoam?

 

[BigEd]

I have used crystal enough to know what it tastes like, but what exactly is the difference between crystal, caramunich, caraviene, and carahell?

Second question - carapils vs carafoam?

Cara malts are essentially the same thing as Crystal malts. The German & Belgian producers call them "Cara" and the British and Americans use "Crystal". Of course there are some differences in colors and flavors since they are produced from different types of barleys and different maltsters. CaraPils and CaraFoam are both dextrin malts. Again different companies use different terms for similar products.

 

[rocketman768]

They are all treated in the same way, so they are all "crystal" malts so to speak. They are named after their base malt, so caramunich is a crystal malt made with munich. Or at least, that's the way I understand it.

 

[NCBeernut]

I do know what they are. I guess I was looking for details on the differences in taste. For example, something like "caramunich has a slight toasted flavor that American crystal doesn't"

 

[Revvy]

The link that Rocketman posted has one of the best listing of the "details" of the different cara malts that I have ever seen.

# CaraPils - (1.5 to 3L) - Pilsner malt steeped to add mouthfeel without much color or flavor.
# CaraFoam - (1.5L) - Carapils-like malt from Weyerermann
# Caramel Malts - Anywhere from 10L to 120 L
# CaraVienna (CaraVienne) - (20 to 22L) - Vienna Malt based crystal malt product.
# CaraHell - (10 to 11L)
# CaraRed - (20L) - Adds a great red hue - great in Red ales or Scottish -/L beers.
# CaraAmber - (27L) - Intensifies color and aroma.
# CaraMunich - (43 to57L) - Varies by maltster, adds toffee, roast
# CaraAroma - (120L) - Adds color, armoa, coffe, roast, toast to stouts and porters
# Carafa I (337L), Carafa II (425L) and Carafa III (470L) - Adds color, aroma to stouts,schwartzbiers, dopplebock, etc.

 

[NCBeernut]

Ah. Thanks. That is exactly what I was looking for. I didn't even notice the link.

 

[Revvy]

Ah. Thanks. That is exactly what I was looking for. I didn't even notice the link.

Yeah come to think of it, that was a little cryptic way to post a link. I remember from this morning, I more or less clicked it out of curiosity....

Glad it was helpful.