Different grains

[Ó Flannagáin]

Pilsner, Pilsen, Munich, Vienna, CaraPils... are these all barley? If so, I keep hearing pilsner is often used as a base malt, why so more than the others?

Just a noob question, I'm sure I'll have more as I approach my first AG brew date.

 

[Blender]

Those are all barley malts. There are different types of 2 row barley from various parts of the world. Speciality malts are kilned to produce the characteristics of the particular type being produced. Here are a couple of links wsith some brief explanations of types.
http://home1.gte.net/richwebb/malttypes.htm
http://www.realbeer.com/spencer/FAQ/grain.html

 

[Ó Flannagáin]

Those are good resources, just learned quite a bit. Thanks for the links!

 

[perry]

This seems like a good place for this question. What base grain is Maris Otter most like...?

Reason I ask, is that I've been using the efficiency calculator on tastybrew.com and they don't have Maris Ottter listed.

Thanks, -p

PS Hope this isn't considered a thread hijack.

 

[ajf]

Maris Otter is a two row pale malt.

-a.

 

[zoebisch01]

Maris Otter is a two row pale malt.

-a.

Add Pale Malt to your list of base malts seefresh.

Pilsner Malt (among others) are just about as 'neutral' in character and color as you can get. Think of it this way, you want the bulk of fermentables to be subtle enough in flavor that your specialty grains can really shine through...Pilsner is very subtle and can be dominated/masked/blended by other malts fairly easily. True, on their own these base malts do have a character all their own and some styles(ie Pilsner and Pale Ale to name a few) really allow this character to be shown by the lack of additional malts, or very limited additions of such. But they are in general, quite easily blended with those other flavors. You will even see sometimes slight to fairly significant differences among maltsters as well. Which is why, sometimes, you may see notes for using 'authentic Belgium Malt', etc in a recipe.

Think of it as the 'canvas'