Need Tips on "Malty" Beers

[ViperMan]

Hey All,

So long story short, I went to a brewery in Gaylord Michigan last year and got a Red Bird Ale which was billed as a "very malty" beer...

It was AWESOME...

I'm not an IPA kinda guy - I like mildy-hopped beers with lots of flavor...

I'm preparing to delve into full-mashing and I want to make an attempt on a heavy-malt beer. Should I add a lot more base grain (probably amber,) or add more crystals (60L or so) to bring the caramel tones?

I appreciate any advice. Thanks!

Jeff

 

[Quaker]

Check out one of the recent Basic Brewing Radio podcasts with Chris Colby on talking about no-sparge brewing. It also is in a recent BYO magazine. The idea is that by increasing your grain bill, but then not sparging, you can get a maltier flavored beer. I'm wanting to try it in the future as I'd like to make more session beers. Go for more base malt. Amping up the crystal malts just gets too cloyingly sweet.

 

[1Mainebrew]

It has a lot to do with grain selection, mash temperature and yeast selection. If you like malty beers, an oatmeal stouts a good option. German beers with a lot of Munich can be very bready and malty. Mash high- like 157-158. And get a less attenuative yeast. And lightly hop your brew.

 

[Hanso]

Adding more base grain vs more crystal is not easy to answer because it depends on what you are going for. I'd check a style guide and look for recipes of malty beers to get a feel for what is needed.
Everything 1mainebrew mentioned are good ideas to swing the balance toward the malts, but again it depends on what is required for your beer.

Good styles to try: English barleywine. Any bock, Munich dunkel. For darker beers, certain stouts and porters are more malty but you have to be careful and know what you are getting. Generally sweet stouts, oatmeal stouts and Baltic porters will be the maltier ones.

If you're ever hoping to attempt to enter the wonderful world of hoppy beers, start with something like a Bohemian pilsener because it has a strong malt presence that also introduces a good hop flavor in a way that is subtle and doesn't overwhelm.

 

[BigEd]

Hey All,

So long story short, I went to a brewery in Gaylord Michigan last year and got a Red Bird Ale which was billed as a "very malty" beer...

It was AWESOME...

I'm not an IPA kinda guy - I like mildy-hopped beers with lots of flavor...

You have answered the first part of the question yourself. Going light on the hops will certainly help emphasize the malt in a beer.

I'm preparing to delve into full-mashing and I want to make an attempt on a heavy-malt beer. Should I add a lot more base grain (probably amber,) or add more crystals (60L or so) to bring the caramel tones?

Add lots of crystal malt makes the beer "crystal-ly" not malty in the true sense of the word. It that is what you're aiming for fine, but IMO a really malty beer derives its' flavor & body from the appropriate high quality base malt, not crystal malts. Crystal and other specialty malts are just that, to provide enhancements to color and flavor not to be the predominant flavor of the beer. By doing all grain beer, choosing the right style and the right malt(s) you can certainly make brews as malty as you like.

While there are exceptions American beers tend to emphasize the hop side of things although you can bend any recipe to suit your taste. A number of old world styles like many UK ales, Continental amber lagers, bock beers, German alts, etc are known for big malty bodies. Using good quality and big flavored malts also helps immensely. Again while there are exceptions, for my money the old world malts like pale malt from the UK, Belgium and Germany, along with German Vienna and Munich malts are at the top of the list for rich malty flavors.

 

[1Mainebrew]

Don't forget Maris Otter! And to the OP: focus on technique and basics before you worry about lagers.

 

[ultravista]

subscribing

 

[Yooper]

If you want a recipe for a malty beer, to get an idea of the malt bill and the amount of hops, check out my Dead Guy clone recipe. It's a very malty beer, although not heavy and very drinkable.

 

[ViperMan]

Quaker - I had actually thought about doing that as I was re-reading the mashing section of the "How to Brew" book. And seeing how buying grain is cheaper than buying extracts, it doesn't seem like a bad idea...

1Mainebrew - I did read elsewhere about using a slightly higher mash temperature. Unfortunately the "Strike temperature" equation from Palmer makes absolutely no sense to me... Also, I'm still sticking with Ale's, although the garage is a perfect temperature right now for lager fermenting!

Hanso - I think I've decided on a "Bock" style.

Yooper - thanks for the tip. Hope you don't mind that I searched for "Dead Guy Yooper" on this board, but I found your recipe pretty quick, and already have the .BSM file imported. I think I'm going to just slightly up the Caramel (use a full pound since that's the increment I buy in anyways) and am researching hop variations as I try to buy dried-leaf hops and my LHBS doesn't have a HUGE selection of dried-leaf hops in stock. But it looks like a relatively easy recipe to use to break into the world of all-grain brewing. I'll let you know how it goes!

 

[ChiechiBrouw]

I'm right there with you... Never been a huge fan of IPAs and hyper-hopped styles (they upset my stomach and give me hopsomnia), but I have always loved well-rounded, malty beers. I was never able to get the desired effect brewing extract, so I went partial mash, and then eventually all-grain, and the maltiness increased with each iteration. (Nothing fancy, just a slightly finer crush and batch sparging.)

As someone mentioned, Marris Otter is a terrific base malt. The Brits do the best "malty" styles IMHO, so why not use their malts/yeast? From my experience, yeast has a huge impact on the perceived maltiness. I have had the best results with Ringwood and Nottingham yeasts.

If you're a BYO reader, two issues ago (Fall 2011) they featured a Brown Porter that, to me, tastes like sticking your head in a bucket of freshly crushed malts and inhaling deeply... And it's only around 4.8%.

Hey All,

I'm not an IPA kinda guy - I like mildy-hopped beers with lots of flavor...

Jeff

 

[troub]

There's a local brewpub here that does some really tasty "malty" beers, and I happened to be talking to the brewer about it the other night. It's not always about using more malt, but picking the right kinds. They have a "British Best" that smells like a mash tun -- delicious grainy, bready aroma and great flavor -- and also a "Vienna Lager" that carries many of the same notes but is a bit cleaner and less complex. The awesome malty flavor was mostly attributed to judicious use of Vienna malt (and also some Biscuit and Maris Otter, I think, in the Best).

If at all possible, I would go to a homebrew shop and sniff all the specialty malts to get a sense of what they bring. Better yet, buy a small amount of a lot of them (especially Vienna, Munich, Biscuit, Maris Otter, etc...not so much Crystal & Carapils) and take them home and taste them, make teas, etc. Find out which malts have the "malty" flavor you like and use those. *Then* you can worry about techniques like no-sparge, lagering, etc. The key is to start with the right malts (and a good complementary yeast is important, too, but I think safe, easily accessible ones would be things like Nottingham and probably Windsor).

 

[ViperMan]

troub,

How would one make a tea out of grain? I'm rather interested in this concept. Please enlighten!

Thanks

P.S. I think I'm going ingredient shopping tonight - just bought all the parts for my mashing tun last night!

 

[1Mainebrew]

Mash it...

 

[GuldTuborg]

How would one make a tea out of grain? I'm rather interested in this concept.

I've used coffee mugs before, especially when comparing different malts. Add a couple Ts of malt, pour over water at around 160F or so, and let it sit for a while. The smell and taste of the "tea" will give you a rough idea of what the malt will taste like in a beer.