Ingredient question - new to AG - pale malts

[dndlyon]

Hi all,

I'm putting together an order for several ingredients to do a few extract batches, and a few small AG batches. The recipes come from different places, so I'm trying to understand what I can combine in the order to prevent ordering lots of smaller amounts of lots of things that might be the same. I've looked all these ingredient descriptions up, but need a bit of advice from those of you who regularly use these ingredients.

1st question - I have 3 different recipes that call for the following pale malts
- "pale malt crisp (UK)" - Blue Moon Clone (AG)
- "pale malt (maris otter)" - IPA (AG)
- "pale malt 2 row" - Centennial Blonde recipe (AG)
Is there a huge difference in these pale malts? Should I use exactly what the recipe lists, or can I combine the order.

2nd set of less important questions - I understand the difference between the different crystal malts (10 - 80L, etc), but the recipes call for 0.3 lbs of 60L and 0.3 lbs of 80L (both for the same IPA recipe). What can I expect if I combine the amounts and use either 60L or 80L? If you were going to combine, which would you choose?

3rd and maybe almost irrelevant question - What the hell is "special roast malt (america)? :cross: I've noticed several special roasts, but they all seem a bit different. This is for an Irish Red (extract), and I'm thinking that I just need to find a special roast that matches the right values (1.033 and 40 SRM). Is this right?

Thanks in advance from someone who is in awe of all the info on these message boards!

 

[Dunerunner]

In all three of the beers you mention brewing, the Pale Malt is the major player in the recipe. The character of a Maris Otter Pale Malt (BTW, my guess is the first two malts are the same, Crisp is the maltster) comes from it being utilized as a major portion of the malt bill in an AG recipe.

You may be able to recreate the flavor profiles by using one of the UK LME products listed here http://www.midwestsupplies.com/homebrewing-ingredients/malt-extract/imported-unhopped-lme.html I would skip the addition of steeping malts (the Crystals) if using these extracts.

Special Roast Malt is defined here http://www.midwestsupplies.com/special-roast-briess.html

 

[Windigstadt]

I'll answer your first question... There is indeed a difference between various pale malts, but it's quite subtle. Generally speaking, the bigger/more complex/hoppier the beer, the less likely you'll be able to pick up any differences. Some people are more sensitive to differences in various pale malts (e.g. some people just love Maris Otter) but if you're not picky I would definitely say you could just go with one pale malt for all three beers. Think of it as kind of like cooking with broth. If you're making a light chicken soup then the quality of the broth makes a big difference. But if you're using it as the base for chili you could probably use whatever crap from a can and nobody will know the difference.

 

[dndlyon]

Thanks for the info. This will be the first time I've cooked up an AG recipe, so I have no idea of the differences (if any) between the different "pale malts" as my taste buds aren't very experienced yet! When I started searching around, it appears that there are differences, but how different is the question. None of this is really a big deal as it isn't a problem ordering small amounts of the different ingredients. I was just curious.

The chili / soup analogy makes a lot of sense!

Thanks for the special malt reference as well. I think I did some terrible searching late last night after a few brews. It seems pretty clear to me now, but was a bit hazy lastnight (imagine that!) - I thought there were several maltsters with different characteristics of their special malts. Thanks for being patient with me

 

[Hang Glider]

Regarding the crystal, the 60L and 80L are similar. There is a difference, but it might be hard to find.

Lower numbers, while lighter in color, are also sweeter, caramel-ier.
higher numbers, darker, get more toward toffee.

If I were blindfolded and tasted 60 and 80, I might not be able to tell the difference. The recipe might have come about because somebody ran out of 60, and finished off with 80, then loved the beer, so had to duplicate exactly what he/she had done.

 

[HotbreakHotel]

I would use regular pale 2-row for the blue moon as well as the blonde. Blue moon is kind of a "light and bright" beer and I think a maris otter type of malt would weigh it down.

For the IPA this recipe sounds like they are going for a very malty/caramelly/earthy version, which can be very nice. Maris Otter will really add to this and make a difference.

60L vs 80L: 60L has a caramelly flavor, and with 80L and darker you start to get into the raisiny flavors. In those small amounts they are probably just adding a touch of complexity. If it were me I would use both, like the recipe says.

Special Roast imparts a dark toast flavor.

Are you sure your Irish Red is 40 SRM? 40 SRM is a very black beer. 14 sounds more like it.