After much thought on the subject, I will be abandoning Special B use for good.
It doesn't produce, for me at least, anything considerable that CaraMunich couldn't do in it's place. It's grainy and too roasty.
Time after time I see in recipes for Belgian beers despite the fact that, as far as I know, none of the foremost examples of Belgian beers use it. It strikes me as pure homebrew Dogma and a relic of a time when dark syrups were not as widely available as they are now.
Try chewing on a bit of Special B and then some CaraMunich. You'll notice less roastiness and a bit of a sweeter flavor. Color is about the same in a visual sense despite the ratings. Not to say that CaraMunich is some sort of magic grain, just using it as a comparison (it is one of my favorites, the Dingeman variety in particular).
So I bid you farewell, oh darkest of all thou Belgian specialty grains. I shall not miss your supposed "raisin" flavors as I never experienced them anyway. Thou shalt get his "plum-y" and "dark fruit" flavors from Candi Syrup from this day forward.
It doesn't produce, for me at least, anything considerable that CaraMunich couldn't do in it's place. It's grainy and too roasty.
Time after time I see in recipes for Belgian beers despite the fact that, as far as I know, none of the foremost examples of Belgian beers use it. It strikes me as pure homebrew Dogma and a relic of a time when dark syrups were not as widely available as they are now.
Try chewing on a bit of Special B and then some CaraMunich. You'll notice less roastiness and a bit of a sweeter flavor. Color is about the same in a visual sense despite the ratings. Not to say that CaraMunich is some sort of magic grain, just using it as a comparison (it is one of my favorites, the Dingeman variety in particular).
So I bid you farewell, oh darkest of all thou Belgian specialty grains. I shall not miss your supposed "raisin" flavors as I never experienced them anyway. Thou shalt get his "plum-y" and "dark fruit" flavors from Candi Syrup from this day forward.