Vienna malt from Munich and Pils?

[Upstate12866]

Would anyone care to share their opinion on the idea that Vienna malt is made by maltsters by just combining 85% Pils or Pale and 15% Munich malts?

Has anyone tried to DIY this Vienna malt mixture, and do you think it's comparable to regular Vienna malt? Thanks for sharing

 

[thehaze]

At least for Weyermann, which is something I use lots of, Vienna malt is not made by blending Pilsner and Munich malts. Vienna is biscuitty, whereas Munich is malty-sweet, bready. I don't believe they " make " Vienna malt by blending to existing malts. Perhaps some do, but then why have a specific malt, which is not unique at all? I made beers with Pilsner and Munich malts, and they tasted nothing like Vienna.

 

[GoodTruble]

Yeah, I'd say definitely not. Vienna doesn't taste like mix of pils & munich.

 

[ebbelwoi]

Is this what you're referring to?

I work at a brewery in Germany and the Brewmaster told me that a classmate of his (from brewing school) took a job at Weyermann after their studies and this classmate apparently told my boss that the Vienna malt is just Munich 1 blended off with their Pale Ale. Could have been BS, obviously, but why would he lie about something like that. I’ll ask my boss about it again today.


So, my boss confirmed that was what his former classmate told him. Apparently, Weyermann just blend off a base malt (he couldn’t remember if it was Pale or Pils) with Munich until the blend reaches the correct EBC. To speculate further, their Barke line consists of Pils, Munich and Vienna. Coincidence?

https://brulosophy.com/2017/12/11/grain-comparison-vienna-malt-vs-munich-malt-exbeeriment-results/
The posts I quoted here are in the comments of the Brulosophy post. Here's another one, a bit further down:

On a tour of the Stamag maltings in Vienna, the maltser told us that nowadays Vienna is a blend of Munich and Pilsner. We were surprised about this but he insisted this was the case everywhere. I assume he was referring to maltings in the German-speaking world. I asked some brewers about this after, and one of them said that he had heard this before from another brewer.

If it's true, you could try the method mentioned above: use brewing software to adjust the proportions until you hit a color that's roughly that of Vienna.

I bet if they did a Brulosophy experiment, a lot of people wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

 

[Upstate12866]

That is exactly where I saw it, actually. Exbeeriment comments are often as interesting as the results!

 

[Protos]

I've tried making such a substitution someday. Blending Munchner and Pilsner, I got the colour of Wiener, although not the exact flavour of it.

Saying that, the flavour of the mix was closer to the real Vienna than any of the two blended malts taken alone, so what I got was a passable substitute (sort of). Won't try that again as long as I have access to the real Vienna.

 

[passedpawn]

Very interesting. Perhaps someone (me?) could ask Weyermann directly, via their Facebook account. I've done that with breweries and gotten answers about ingredients directly from their staff.

 

[beersk]

Funny this was posted last night. I was talking to someone about this very topic at my homebrew club meeting last night. I'd never heard this before and I call bullsh*t. I want to see some sources.

 

[McMullan]

Vienna malt is made by maltsters by just combining 85% Pils or Pale and 15% Munich malts?

I very much doubt that. Consistency issues are going to kick in before they knew it. Or did you mean 'brewers can just combine…' to achieve 'Vienna' malt? I can't get Mild malt where I live, so I use Vienna malt as a substitute, because, imo, it works enough for me. My point being, if it works for you, it works for you.