Recommendations needed for a single malt AG reciepe...

[Ckarsanac]

I feel like the only way to develop a taste for different malts is to find out what they taste like without any other confounding variables. So, I was pondering a single malt, single hop AG brew. I've searched here for some reciepes and am asking a favor.

What malt would you recommend? Here are my self imposed criteria:

1. I want something with a little complexity so as to not have it too bland.
2. It can't cost an arm and a leg
3. It's common enough in other receipes that I would be able to recognize it and use it in the future.

Or, do you guys think that this would be a waste of an afternoon and 5 gallons of water?

Cheers!

 

[WhenInMinnesota]

Basic Rahr two row is a good place to start. There's some disagreement about their Pale Ale Malt quality (same thing as two row, just has a little more color and caramel sweetness), I've used it and liked it. Rahr two row is very common and cheap and if you're doing a single hop beer it will serve as a nice malt backbone and let the hops shine through in a Pale Ale/IPA style beer.

And at worst you'll get beer, probably a darn good one so no, I don't think it would be a waste.

 

[TripHops]

Hi Ckarsanac,

This is a cool concept and a hefty undertaking since there are a plethora of grain varieties and growing regions to sample. I for one have not tried this experiment myself but it sounds like something that might be worth doing for future reference. Especially if you are planning on formulating your own recipes.

If I were to start this experiment, I would probably start with a specific style of beer, like Ale, Lager, Stout or Wheat. Then I would go with either American, German or Belgian origins and test each grain from the style and region. Each style have their unique characteristics for their specific regions. I suspect there are definite differences between the European and American grains for both base and specialty malts. My guess is that each grain will provide it’s own complexity worth noting.

Were you planning on taking each grain through fermentation and Co2 conditioning?

Regarding your question whether it would be a waste of time or water, that depends on your point of view. If you truly want to get first hand experience with individual grain flavors and complexities, I would certainly say it is not a waste of time. It certainly will take quite a lot of time to complete but you will probably end up somewhat of an expert in grain flavor and can probably predict the out come of your future bears with much more accuracy. As far as I am concerned, anything you do to get you closer to crafting a beer you throughly enjoy and are proud to offer it to your friends, is no time is wasted at all.

I would certainly benefit from your notes on this experiment once completed.

Good luck,

Trip

 

[jfowler1]

Base malt is something I have recently put a lot of thought into.

The bros from Troegs were recently on the BN and talked about how they use Pilsner Malt (which is a 2-row barley) as the base in all of their beers. Reason being, you can add color and character, but you can't make your malt lighter. They picked their base malt based on what they wanted to use for their Summer Pils, and doctor it up for their other offerings.

Matt B from FSW talked about something similar, and he reports being much happier with the flavor he got when he combined a lighter 2-row with a darker Munich, rather than just using the darker British Pale Ale malt by itself.

Gordon Strong dedicates a few paragraphs in his book to a discussion about finding your own base blend as well.

Personally, I think it would be more valuable to brew a batch of beer just using your base blend than it is to limit yourself to one grain. It is the same concept as a SMaSH, but IMO, the findings may be a bit more practical. Naturally, you can scrap the blend for a single malt, but it might be worth looking at the flavor contribution of a true blend. Personally, I am working with a 85/15 blend of Weyermann Pils and Weyermann Munich II (FWIW - the color of those two malts in that combination gives you something between 2-row and British Pale Ale Malt).

I had German Pils, German Munich, Domestic 2-row, and British MO all on hand, and just tasting the grains raw was eye-opening. I really found the German grains to be more pleasant than the other two varieties, so I am going to try to run with them for a while. Rules of style aside, tasty ingredients make tasty beer.

But if you are really interested in a true SMaSH, I think German Vienna is a great malt option. It will add lots of complexity, it is a very high quality product, and you don't see it thrown out too often in a SMaSH.