CaraBrown malt

[catdaddy66]

I have two pounds of CaraBrown malt and am using half of them in a (gasp!) brown ale. The lovibond was 55 but the label gave no fermentable number (1.035, etc). I am substituting it for C60, 1# to .5# respectively. I'm also adding .5#'s each of biscuit, victory and flaked oats with 9# of Belgian pale as a base and .25# of chocolate malt

What can I expect in fermentables and will 55 lovibond give me a brownish or reddish tint? Just asking...

 

[govner1]

Checking the web the Diastatic Power for CaraBrown is 0 so it will gove your the same amount of fermentable sugar as any caramelized (Maillard) malts - none. You'll get color, sweetness & malt flavor. Since you're substituting for C60 it shouldn't change your overall outcome as far as fermentables. Color should be light brown to orange hues.

 

[chickypad]

Checking the web the Diastatic Power for CaraBrown is 0 so it will gove your the same amount of fermentable sugar as any caramelized (Maillard) malts - none. You'll get color, sweetness & malt flavor. Since you're substituting for C60 it shouldn't change your overall outcome as far as fermentables. Color should be light brown to orange hues.

I don't think you are describing this correctly. Malts that have no diastatic power can contribute fermentable sugars when mashed with a base malt, which the OP is doing. Also as nilo has shown in his experiments cara/crystal malts do contribute some fermentable sugars when steeped (on the order of 40-50%), and when mashed with a base malt they yield even more sugars which are more fermentable.

 

[govner1]

Note I also said his overall outcome should remain the same since he's subbing for C60. Also, there will be some color difference.

 

[catdaddy66]

Thanks for the info.

Anyone care to share their experience with this malt? Did you like it/not like it? Would you use it again? What styles is it appropriate for (other than a Brown ale)?

 

[Bosh]

Thanks for the info.

Anyone care to share their experience with this malt? Did you like it/not like it? Would you use it again? What styles is it appropriate for (other than a Brown ale)?

Got a dubbel fermenting away that had a pound of carabrown in it. Gravity sample tastes great, very biscuity without being too sweet even with a low attenuating yeast.

Tastes kind of like an amped up Victory malt, not really the sort of roast you'd expect in a brown malt but very nice as its own thing and quite nice in a dubbel. Will try it in a bitter later.

Will report back when my dubbel is ready to drink with tasting notes.

"Dark Biscuit" really would've been a better name than "Carabrown."

 

[JKaranka]

I've not used it but I thought it was a proprietary name for a brown malt. That would make it pretty good for porter and stout.

 

[chickypad]

Yeah it does seem like they consider it their version of brown malt, it's not listed with their other caramel malts but rather in the group with victory, special roast, etc. Bosh's descriptor of dark biscuit seems to support that. In which case though it's similar in color to crystal 60, the uses and flavor contributions would be quite different.

 

[Bosh]

Yeah it does seem like they consider it their version of brown malt, it's not listed with their other caramel malts but rather in the group with victory, special roast, etc. Bosh's descriptor of dark biscuit seems to support that. In which case though it's similar in color to crystal 60, the uses and flavor contributions would be quite different.

Right, sticking "cara" in its name seems rather dumb.

Seems less roasty than other brown malt though, much more biscuity. One review of it (that involved putting it in as 20% of the grainbill to get a sense of its flavor) described it much less bitter than brown malt, especially in that quantity.

 

[JKaranka]

Crisp Brown malt is not bitter at 20-30% of grist. It actually brings a big malty flavour and a tiny bit of sweetness in addition to roast and toast flavours at those proportions.

 

[Bosh]

Well have started drinking my carabrown-heavy dubbel, as people have noted it tastes UTTERLY different than C60 malt.

Recipe was 2 kilos pilsner, 2 kilos llight Weyermann munich, 450 grams carabrown, 50 grams dark chocolate, 500 grams amber candi sugar, T-58 yeast and enough hops to balance it (don't like sweet Belgian beers).

Tasty, came out just how I wanted. Malty as all hell with a light bit of toast/roast around the edges without having the cloying caramel sweetness you get from, say, Leffe Brown but it's hard to pick up specific stuff that's not the munich or the dark chocolate or even the candi sugar since the tastes meld together well.

Will be using this malt a lot more in the future. Am thinking this one:

Anniversary Ale (our 10th is coming up):
4 kilos light Wayermann munich.
450 grams Carabrown.
Was thinking about a little dark chocolate for color, but kind of like the idea of a gold-colored malt bomb.
Few ounces EKG (mostly around 10 min?) still thinking about that.
US-04

Should work for a nice tasty malty English ale without anything too off-putting to people who don't usually drink craft beer.

 

[Bosh]

Well I've got a chance to taste my Anniversary Ale although it is still a bit flat and damn is it good, wife loves it too.

This one and the dubbel both have a pound of carabrown but the dubbel is a MUCH stronger beer with a lot of other flavors competing for attention but the newer one really lets the carabrown shine and it's tasty. The flavor is a lot more toasty than its bright gold color would seem to indicate, lot of toasty malty goodness, it's sweet but not as sweet as the same amount of caramel malt, just like a more intense and darker biscuit malt. If you like biscuit malt or victory or use them at all do yourself a favor and pick up some of this, it'd be good in a paler beer to give it some richness since it really doesn't darken the beer much, I could see it being perfect for a bitter, it'd be also good in larger quantities in a darker beer that calls for some more richness and toast where you don't want too much coffee/deep roast flavors. Would be great for an English brown ale or a malty porter. Thinking of trying it in a dunkelweizen...

90% Light weyerman munich
10% Carabrown
US-04 yeast

Try it, it's wonderful.

 

[meatcleaver]

dunno if its the same as carabrown but I've used the Crisp Brown malt @ 10% in a brown ale & I loved it. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=573779

 

[Bosh]

dunno if its the same as carabrown but I've used the Crisp Brown malt @ 10% in a brown ale & I loved it. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=573779

This is roasted less than crisp brown malt so it's not quite the same, basically think of this as Light Brown Malt or Dark Biscuit Malt. I'd love to use Crisp Brown malt but I can't find it in Korea.

Apparently the main difference in flavor is this doesn't have the bitterness you get from putting in a lot of brown malt so if you want something that tastes a good bit of toast but don't want any bitterness it's a good way to go. Would use this in a pale ale in small quantities while I wouldn't use Crisp brown malt, but the Crisp stuff is a great fit for a brown ale.