whats your favorite base malt?

[WouldBeBrewmaster]

I didn't think that individuals could order from BSG. I thought they were just commercial accounts. I know that's where my LHBS and the brewery I've had the opportunity to brew with on two occasions order through BSG.

Correct, BSG won’t sell wholesale to homebrewers. They have a division that supplies homebrew retailers. They don’t want to undercut their retailers. It’s also why they don’t love professional brewers doing group buys for homebrewers.

 

[worlddivides]

I just got a bag of Crisp #19 floor malted maris otter. The best by date is two years away.

That's really interesting. I've always heard and read that unmilled base malts are good for about 6 months, while specialty malts are good for about 12 months (though different sources will vary on those numbers a bit). Since hops in the freezer and dry yeast in the fridge can be good for about 2 years or longer, I've always stocked up on hops the most, yeast to a smaller extent, but only bought grains when I needed them for a brew, occasionally buying enough for two brews off. But if the maltsters themselves put the best buy date at two years away, that does seem like an amount I could use within a two year window. I've also seen those experiments (such as the ones done by Brewlosophy) where they brewed with grain that was several years old and it still tasted good.

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, by the time we mere mortals get malted barley the grain may already be well over a year old...

Cheers!

 

[sibelman]

Pretty much anything Simpson. GP and MO depending on style, light or dark respectively. I like Munton's MO a lot as well. Viking Munich or any dark-ish Vienna also get an honourable mention. Fawcett and Paul's I don't like, Crisp MO is not better than the alternatives. Dingemans MO is also very bad.

I am curious to understand your experience of these malts. The ones you do or don't like: can you describe what about, e.g., Dingemans, Munton's, or Crisp MO, really stood out for you (as good or undesirable)?

 

[sibelman]

fwiw, by the time we mere mortals get malted barley the grain may already be well over a year old...

Cheers!

True, that. We can try to chase fresh hops, though I'm mostly brewing with (frozen) pellets that are more than a year old. But without doing our own malting, we're probably always some considerable distance down the malt supply chain. Several storage locations along the way. No date or lot codes visible on the sack of Great Western I'm about to open. Can't recall ever seeing that info, which I imagine is included with a pallet of malt sacks.

 

[G_robertus]

I am curious to understand your experience of these malts. The ones you do or don't like: can you describe what about, e.g., Dingemans, Munton's, or Crisp MO, really stood out for you (as good or undesirable)?

Simpson's ticks all the right boxes for me, both GP and MO. The malt flavour, the colour, efficiency, etc. They're very flavorful, but not overwhelming and well-balanced. Munton's is similar, but has a more intense flavour profile. More malty and other terms I'm not good at describing regarding malt flavour. I like that in dark beers a lot, but sadly I don't have a supplier anymore. Crisp is not bad, but it seemed to have less character and the flavour was not as full. Crisp also has a slightly lower yield that can come into play when brewing big beers. I've used it mainly in dark beers and it just wasn't the same as Munton's.
Fawcett base malt is also rather lacking and somehow the MO seemed a tad astringent. GP was decent, but not as good as Simpson. Mild is a very interesting malt though. Halcyon I've tried once in an imperial stout and that beer is weird. I'm not sure if it's the halcyon or anything else, but it's a recipe that's similar to what I make more often so I'm leaning towards Halcyon. I do really like their crystal and roasted malts though. Dingemans MO was full of DMS, too light for me and lacking in flavour. Their wheat and Vienna are nice though. Paul's is plain, boring and too light for me. I don't like most of their malts I've tried though, because they just don't seem as flavourful as other English brands.
Viking Munich was the first Munich that I tried that has a good depth of flavour, strong backbone and a potential good standalone without overwhelming me like the extra dark Belgian stuff. I used Swaen before and their light Munich is very lacking in flavour and their dark Munich is more of what their light Munich should be. I don't make a lot of beers that are full on Munich so my references are somewhat limited, so perhaps Viking is the odd one out here, though I wouldn't think so purely based on the colour Swaen's have without the flavour backing it up. Like I said, Belgian Munich can be super dark, but it also tastes equally intense.

I haven't had the chance to try Simpson's crystal yet, but their roast and base malts are awesome. Crisp is also amazing for roast malt. TF is good for mild, crystal (medium, dark and especially extra dark) and roast (especially black and rye).

Edit: I also just realised that I have DM Munich now, but I'll need to do a SMaSH with it. I've tried it together with Weyermann Munich 2 in a rauchbier and the malt flavour is spot on in samples (it's still a bit yeasty), so I think I would like that one as well. I'm leaning towards Swaen being the bad option here, because when I used their Munich there was a lack of maltiness in pretty much the same recipe otherwise.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Crisp Maris Otter

 

[FranklinsBeerTower]

Simpson's Golden Promise for me. Clean, bready, sliiiightly sweet. Haven't met an ale recipe that wasn't made better by using GP.

 

[Yesfan]

Correct, BSG won’t sell wholesale to homebrewers. They have a division that supplies homebrew retailers. They don’t want to undercut their retailers. It’s also why they don’t love professional brewers doing group buys for homebrewers.

Just trying to understand. Group buys by pass the retailer (More Beer, Northern, etc.) because pro brewers are buying direct from BSG. In other words, probrewers doing group buys eliminate the middle man for us homebrewers?

 

[Shenanigans]

Depends on the beer but I'm digging Fawcetts Mild Malt at the moment.
Brewed a stong bitter and a robust porter with it and they turned out lovely.
First time brewing both recipes so it might not all be down to the base malt but so far so good.