Replicating English Pale Ale Malt?

[Skipper74]

I would like to brew an English bitter. In Brewing Classic Styles, Jamil notes that it is important to use English pale ale malt in order to get the biscuity notes that it provides. I do not have a source for bulk English LME, and I would rather not try to use portions of a can to get the odd amounts (i.e. 7.5, 8.1 lbs.) that the recipes call for. Is there some type of steeping grain (e.g. Biscuit or Victory malt) that I could add to domestic (e.g. Briess) LME to approximate Eglish LME? If so, how much should I use for a 5 allon batch?

 

[Skipper74]

Alternatively, does it make that big of a difference to use English LME to make an English bitter rather than Briess? (I will not be entering any competitions with it.)

 

[PT Ray]

You could use a toasted malt like Munich, Special Roast, Biscuit, Victory.....However, they're not a steeping grain and really need to be mashed. Can you find some Munton's DME? It's English and pretty common. Personally, I would roll with the Briess.

 

[Skyforger]

Agreed, I don't think there's much of a way to replicate it without a mini-mash. In that case I think Victory and Biscuit would both help to approximate it, but nothing will be exact (and the flavor of British pale malt, as well as biscuit malts, varies a fair amount). A brush of brown malt in addition would help approximate Maris Otter I think, but ditto on the mashing with that one.

The only way to really replicate british ales is to use the authentic ingredients. But the Briess will make a perfectly good beer, and with the right yeast and hops it will be pretty British-inflected. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[Skipper74]

Thanks, I think I'll skip the English malt for now, then, and concentrate on the other ingredients. Depending on how it turns out, maybe I'll re-brew it with the real thing.

 

[VTDuffman]

FWIW, I have been brewing my way through "BCS" for the better part of 4 + months at this point. I tend to work exclusively with DME because I think the LME is kind of a pain for measuring and storage, especially compared with the alternative of DME. The conversion from LME to DME is pretty easy (I think it's .8lb of DME to 1lb of LME but don't quote me on that), and it's made even easier if you are using brewing software like Beersmith, because you can tweak until the OG, IBU, etc. numbers are the same.

Somebody else mentioned it upthread, but I have been using Munton's DME for all of the recipes in BCS that call for English Pale Malt extract and have been getting great results from that. For the recipes that call for domestic 2-Row I use Breiss Golden Light DME. Munton's DME is readily available online, and my LHBS carries it. I imagine it's pretty common. You should definitely give it a shot if you have the opportunity.

 

[unionrdr]

Munton's plain DME is def great for those English type flavors. I use it all the time. Even cooper's plain LME cans can be used in conjunction with the Munton's for those flavors,since AU ales are English derivatives. England shipped them ales in colonial times up through Victorian.
Beyond that,the cooper's LME's seem to ferment out more than some LME's over here I read about. But Breisse has been good so far. I just like Munton's for DME & cooper's for LME. Then change things from there. It's like I've been saying all along,it's not just what kind the extract is,but what country it comes from. Different tastes,different grains used. Hop accordingly with the right yeast as well. Not hard to find out. But it's worth using there country's ingredients to reproduce their beers.