Organic 2 Row vs Regular?

[rtbrews]

My local HBS has some organic 2 row as well as the regular and I was thinking about trying it out.

Does anyone have any experience with it and could tell me how it compares to regular 2 row? Just curious about any possible differences or benefits.

Thanks!

 

[klnosaj]

I use organic American 2 row extensively and haven't noticed too much of a difference. I buy it because 1) I don't like pesticides anywhere near my food when it can be helped 2) I don't like facilitating the dumping of pesticides into the land and 3) there's the potential that it does indeed taste better--perhaps a little fresher. I haven't done a side-by-side but I have an American Lager on deck so I might try it as an experiment since the only grain in the recipe is 2-row American and of course there's very little hoppiness to distract from the taste of the grain. I'll try to remember to let you know how it turns out but it'll be months before it's ready since it has to lager.

 

[SouthBay]

Last time i tried it, it made me want to go buy a prius and stop bathing.

no offense to anyone who drives a prius or doesnt bathe.

 

[klnosaj]

I recently concluded my side-by-side test of organic American 2-row and non-organic American 2-row. In a double-blind taste-test all four tasters could not only tell there was a difference but each preferred the organic. None of the tasters, aside from me, knew what was being tested--I only asked each sampler "do these beers taste alike?" The OGs weren't exactly the same (1.048 for organic and 1.045 for non-) but everything else was identical. The recipe was a SMaSH lager with very low hops (10ibus). The tasters described the organic lager as being more fruity and complex and less flat. I may try this experiment again with higher gravity beers to see if the differences intensify and to try to better control for differences in og. .048 vs .045 might produce a greater difference in taste than, say, 1.060 and 1.057. I'll report back if I find anything new worth reporting.

 

[rtbrews]

Very interesting, definitely let me know if you do another round with higher OGs and I will do the same. Thanks for following up with the results.