Viking and Weyermann malts comparable?

[DeanRIowa]

The price of Viking malts is 30% less than Weyermann at a place I plan on buying bags of malt.

I was wondering how comparable of results will I get using Viking malts instead of Weyermann? Minor differences for me is not going to be a problem.

I plan on buying the following malts: Pilsner, Wheat, Munich, and Vienna and on brewing Kolsch, Oktoberfest, Berliner Weisse, and Helles.

If anyone had any personal experience with these different malts I would appreciate your opinion.

thank you,
Dean

 

[thehaze]

I've used Weyermann and still use and they are always good.

Viking are a polish+scandinavian company, and some malts are from Poland and some from Scandinavia and Germany ( ? ). I think the differences in malt quality will show up there, but I wouldn't comment on how they compare with Weyermann.

 

[BrewingAroundtheRrealm]

I've been using Viking pilsner base malt for my last few batches. I have not had any issues. Nor do I detect a difference in flavor from the Briess pilsner malt my LHBS carries. I'm sure if I had beers made with each side by side I might be able to make out some kind of difference.

I think you'll be fine using Viking malts with any beer you plan to make.

 

[SanPancho]

FWIW i was told viking supplies grain to weyerman. Thats from a company moving lots of both malts. No reason to lie that i can suss out.

 

[Vale71]

In which sense do they supply grain? If he meant unmalted barley this seems rather unlikely as there is no significant barley production that far North. Viking themselves have to buy large quantities from other (northern european) countries. If he meant malted grain that seems even more unlikely as I'm not aware of Weyermann ever outsourcing production to anybody.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

In which sense do they supply grain? If he meant unmalted barley this seems rather unlikely as there is no significant barley production that far North.

Oh there is, Scandinavia as a whole produces more than the UK, add in Poland and the combined entity would be the second biggest producer of barley on the planet. It's a big problem in the market actually, as that's the area (with Germany) that was worst hit by this year's heatwave, so expect their supplies to be particularly disrupted this year.

 

[madscientist451]

Haven't tried Viking malt, but I was planning on it to see if I could notice an difference. I mostly wanted to try their rye and wheat malts.
From the Viking Malt website:

The raw material for our malt grows in the northernmost farming areas of the world, where the circumstances for cultivation are absolutely unique. Our long-standing tradition in malting northern grains is reflected in the staunch expertise of our malthouses and in the quality malts they produce.
Viking Malt’s six malthouses are located in Halmstad, Sweden; Vordingborg, Denmark; Lahti, Finland; Panevėžys, Lithuania and in Sierpc & Strzegom in Poland. They are close to the farming areas, so the distance from the field to the malthouse is short. We purchase most of our grain directly from local farmers, thus we can rest assured of the quality and origins of each batch of malt.


So Viking Malt is saying they purchase "most" of the grain grown close to their malthouses, its hard to say of this true, but if so, they may be using different varieties of barley compared to Weyermann.
Note that if you added up the barley production of the 5 countries listed above they would be the #3 barley producer for the world.

Edit: Came across this tidbit, a barley report from Viking Malts. Barley for malting was expected to be 50% lower, because of weather issues, so they probably ARE buying barley and other grain where they can find it, and blending it in.
https://www.vikingmalt.com/wp-conte...king-Malt-Barley-Report-July-2018-ID-9092.pdf

I was just thinking, there are so many different malts and hop combinations to try....so little time to drink it all....



So

 

[ESBrewer]

They do not own malt houses in Germany, but in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Poland and Lithuania. See their plants here. The Polish and Danish malt houses were obtained from Carlsberg (Danish malting co) in 2016. I think they source grains from each of these countries. Poland is a good addition in their line-up as it is a large agricultural country, not far behind UK and Germany when measured in surface area of agricultural land. Most breweries (craft & large scale) here use their products extensively. The grain material is somewhat rich in protein (much like American grains) when compared to most British/German malting grains where quality control process is more strictly controlled by contracts between growers and maltsters. This probably means e.g. that these malts tend to have relatively high diastatic power, depending on the malting process for each product, of course. I have not heard any complaints from the local brewers but it is true that different type of grain tends to have different properties that may be either good or bad depending on the purpose and context.

And like NB said, the growth conditions, at least here in North were not optimal this summer. It was too hot and I think last summer was too wet..).

 

[Miraculix]

I know a brewer from Poland owning an award winning brewery, and he prefers German malt to polish malt. Haven't asked about particular brands though....

 

[DeanRIowa]

Great information, thank you everybody!

Does not seem lots of people on this forum have first hand experience using these products, but I have about one and half months before my purchase at a California Brewing Supply store, thus I have time.

Dean

 

[SanPancho]

If they were sending malted grain to weyerman that would be “malt” commonly. He said grain. So raw grain is the understanding.

As noted above, tons of grain produced in the north.