Beer Made From 100% Aromatic Malt

[DannPM]

Anyone tried making beer with aromatic malt as the only malt used? I couldn't find anything about anyone actually ever doing it.

It has the diastatic power to convert itself fully so there is no problem there. It'll be a strong flavored brew for sure!

I'm planning on doing a one gallon batch test batch of 100% aromatic malt this weekend. I'll post pictures as an update when I do.

Any suggestions in the meantime?

 

[sigsegv]

It sounds like a good SMaSH (Single Malt and Single Hop) recipe. A quick search shows it's been tried:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/aromatic-amarillo-smash-194111/

I'd say go for it.

 

[Revvy]

Check 2 discussions in the similar thread box below. The first and the last.

 

[greenbirds]

Count me in as curious. How are you going to hop it?

 

[blizzard]

subscribed.

 

[DannPM]

Thanks guys for pointing me to those! I actually didn't know what a SMaSH brew was so that probably infringed my searches quite a bit.

Yeah I'll hop it to about 20-25 IBU with some Arg. Cascades I have on hand, for bittering only.

 

[Revvy]

Yeah I just remembered that there was one not too long ago on here, hope it helps.

 

[SpanishCastleAle]

I think remilard hit it in one of those threads, i.e. it was most likely Franco-Belges Special Aromatic malt. IIRC, Palm Brewery uses that in at least one of their beers. I bought a sack a while back and I liked it. Most similar to Vienna.

 

[DannPM]

Thought I'd provide an update here on this one. It's been about the minimum time from when I brewed this to when I could possibly try it.

It doesn't look promising with more aging but I'm hopeful; this was probably the most disgusting beer I've ever had in my life.

It has a sharp extremely-burnt toast flavor that dominates the profile . It's tastes very similar to a flavoring extract of burnt toast (similar to drinking a concentration extract of vanilla, but for burnt toast instead.) I only bittered to about 20 IBUs but the almost bitter-like pungency from the burnt toast characteristic makes it seem more like 50-60 IBUs.

I couldn't bring myself to swallow this as it made my eyes practically water and made me feel almost nauseous just thinking about swallowing it and subjecting my throat to what my mouth was going through. I was forced to spit it out.

Definitely a never brew again beer.......

 

[mtbrider]

I couldn't bring myself to swallow this as it made my eyes practically water and made me feel almost nauseous just thinking about swallowing it and subjecting my throat to what my mouth was going through. I was forced to spit it out.

Definitely a never brew again beer.......

It's times like this I think we all should do a short video of our response. That would have quite a bit of entertainment value.

I wish I would have done a video of my first AG batch. It was a chinese fire drill with 2 people that drank too much prior to starting.

 

[SpanishCastleAle]

Well that sucks. Which Aromatic malt did you use? If it was the MFB Special Aromatic then it wasn't the malt. Did the color come out right?

 

[KyleWolf]

This was going to actually be my next brew...I will also let you know the outcome. I was going to use cascade or citra...

what yeast did you use?

 

[DannPM]

Well that sucks. Which Aromatic malt did you use? If it was the MFB Special Aromatic then it wasn't the malt. Did the color come out right?

It's ok, it was only a 1 gallon batch and cost me about $4-5 total to brew so no big deal. I used Castle Aromatic Malt

Color came out about 20 something SRM

 

[DannPM]

This was going to actually be my next brew...I will also let you know the outcome. I was going to use cascade or citra...

what yeast did you use?

Notty Dry & fermented around 55 to keep a clean profile so I could isolate the malt flavor.

Please let me know how your came out as well if you end up still doing it!

 

[dcp27]

I did an aromatic/amarillo smash last year. I definitely didn't get any overly burnt toast on mine. However, mine did catch an infection before I truly got to enjoy it. The sample before that was pretty enjoyable though.

 

[KyleWolf]

i may end up doing it this weekend. lookin to do a 3 gal batch. probably like 6.5lbs and cascade or willamette. I have a belgian pale ale yeast cake sitting in the 3gal carboy which makes it seems too convenient to pass up

 

[SpanishCastleAle]

It's ok, it was only a 1 gallon batch and cost me about $4-5 total to brew so no big deal. I used Castle Aromatic Malt

Color came out about 20 something SRM

Yeah, per Castle on that malt - "recommended proportion: up to 20%". It's considered a specialty malt even though it does have enough DP to convert. The MFB Special Aromatic is a base malt similar to Vienna. Still surprised by the 'burnt toast' flavor, I would expect 'bread crust and toast' but not burnt toast.

 

[KyleWolf]

So I have mine kegged and ready to go.

3 gal batch
6.5lbs Aromatic Malt (Castle)
.75oz Cascade 60min
.50oz Cascade 10min
.50oz Cascade 2min
Yeast: Luevan Pale Ale Yeast

Color: Beautiful dark copper with medium red highlights.

Nose:With the exception of a light hop, the nose is very neutral with only the slightest hints of toast.

Taste: Very interesting. Definitely toasty and that is the primary flavor. However, the taste itself is not saturating. It reminds me of the toast I would find in a reasonably young oaky red wine. Otherwise, there is a reasonably thick body, but not syrupy or sweet necessarily.

I will say that it was an interesting project, very drinkable, but nothing to write home about. Overall, I will chalk it up to an experiment worth doing and now I know what to expect out of a grain bill with much higher aromatic %s. (Maybe, I will do a 30% aromatic american pale ale...might be interesting).