The beaten to death topic of crystal vs carapils

[HOPtuary]

So im trying to finally get a consistant grip on whether to use C60 or C40 with Carapils or to forget the Carapils. Also ive heard to forget the crystal malts all together and use some Vienna or dark Munich. This is mainly directed at IPAs. I can definitely see using Carapils in lighter beer (ie. Pils). Please chime in to set this story straight. Thanks

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Use what you want. It's your beer.

 

[saltymirv]

I stopped using CaraPils for the most part, haven't noticed any difference.

Give this a read: http://brulosophy.com/2016/11/28/de...ous-beer-characteristics-exbeeriment-results/

Very interesting

Caramel malt on the other hand can definitely change your beer

 

[Hammy71]

For me personally, I rarely use anything dark or sweet in my IPAs. I want them to showcase the hops and as a general rule, the beers seem to be balanced longer in the keg. Most of my IPAs are strictly 2-row and a hint of something light (maybe a little Carapils) with a crap load of hops. But...that's how I like mine. Some folks like the malty IPAs, so have at it. Thats the point of making our own. Make what you like and screw the "straight story". LOL

 

[Sadu]

As others have said, figure out what you like and do that.

For me, I have been reducing crystal malt to the point where I use very little now. I have made a few beers that have that famed "cloying sweetness" and when I look at the recipe to see what went wrong, sure enough, there's the crystal malt. Not saying that is conclusive evidence but that is my experience.

For pale ales you can do very nicely adding in a bit of wheat or oats for body, and I'll generally use Maris Otter instead of 2-row which negates the need to go silly with specialty malts.

In New Zealand we have something called Supernova malt from Gladfields which is some proprietary kind of light roast malt specially designed for pales and ambers where you don't want that heavy sweetness from the crystal. I'm a big fan of this malt and love the color it brings too.

I also stopped using Carapils after failing to notice any difference at all. YMMV.