Blending 2 crystal malts to achieve the target Lovibond

[Gogga]

Hi, I hope this is the correct place to to ask this question. I am a home brewer in South Africa and sometimes I can't find the exact ingredients I need. I bought myself Jamil Zainasheff and John Palmers book, great! I was wondering if you could blend two crystal malts to get your target lovibond. Example:

Say I need 100g Crystal 80, but all I can find is Crystal 60 and 120. If I mix 33g of Crystal 120 and 67g of Crystal 60 the resulting weight and Lovibond would be the same as if I just used 100g Crystal 80 as I was supposed to.

I have found a malt substitution chart that helps, but I am to much of a novice to be SURE of what I am doing and I want to follow the recipes in that great book as close as possible for learning purposes.

Any thoughts and tips on this would be much appreciated.
Gogga

 

[Xpertskir]

The flavor result of 60+120 does not equal 80. It is not just about lovibond but the flavor of the malt and c120 has a very disctinctive flavor that likely wont play well, depending on the recipe you are making.


If it was me, I would either just use the 60 or the other option would be to home toast your own malt. There are lots of resources available online and for someone in your situation with limited access to ingredients it would provide you a level of flexibility you couldnt achieve any other way.

Which recipe are you making?

 

[Gogga]

Thank you Xpertskir for your answer, it is very helpful - I have to say I thought it is to easy a solution. I have access to a spectrophotometer to measure the lovibond so your advice to roast my own sounds fun and with the right equipment it could be an accurate solution, would you agree?
I don't have a specific recipe in mind, as I mentioned I am just reviewing what is possible to brew in Brewing classic styles. My ultimate goal is craft brewing, but I believe that I should first master brewing the "classic" styles. That is is why I what to be as accurate as possible to the recipes, because I know close to nothing about various ingredients' contributions to flavor and that is what I want to learn.
I think this forum might be very helpful!

 

[Xpertskir]

Here is a good website.

http://barleypopmaker.info/2009/12/08/home-roasting-your-malts/

 

[Gogga]

Thanks once again Xpertskir, that is really a nice site.

 

[thadass]

There is a nice video on youtube ( ) of some folks from the US who moved to Chile and their experiences in brewing there. One thing they do mention is that they found a local source of pale malt and have been roasting it themselves.

 

[Gogga]

Thank you for the youtube link thadass. Its seems like the best option. I have to say our brew shops are getting better, but not close as nice as for example NB in the US. They also mention Radical brewing by Randy Mosher explaining the roasting process. I am anyway looking into expanding my brewing book collection, maybe that could be the next one. Thank you for the feedback everyone.