Which specialty malt is best and why?

[TastyAdventure]

Title says it all.

I like Special B because it's complex, malty, fruity, etc.
also caramunich.


Anyone ever done a SMSMASH?
(Single base malt, single specialty malt, single hop)

 

[Yooper]

Asking which specialty malt is best is like asking which spice is best. I would say that it depends on what you're making. If you are making a porter, you can't beat brown malt. It is that special something in a porter. If you're making an American pale ale, it's gotta be crystal 40L. I don't know if I have one specialty grain I use the most, but if I do it's probably victory malt.

I love that toasty flavor, and I've used it in pale ales, stouts, California common, brown ales, even IPAs. So, for overall versatility, I'd say victory malt. But I wouldn't use it for German lagers or several other styles I make.

 

[Bosh]

Victory malt is great, love it in IPAs as well (90% Vienna, 4.5% Carared, 4.5% Victory, 1% Caraaroma makes a great malty IPA grainbill).

Also have a lot of love for Carabrown, it's a light brown malt that has a lot of what I like about Victory and doesn't doesn't have any of the bite that brown malt sometimes have. It's good by itself and it's good backing up and deepening roasted malt when you don't want to much burnt or astringent flavors.

 

[lstewart89]

That's a real broad question. I'll go with victory and/or biscuit malt seeing as I tend to use it a lot in the malt bills for IPAs, stouts, and bitters just to drive home that biscuit flavor or add a little complexity. However, it's completely style dependent.

 

[chickypad]

Geez, that's like asking which of your kids is the best - depends on the day
I can't choose so I looked at what I've been using most recently. I notice that one of these 2 has been in 8 of my last 10 beers: Baird's Carastan 30/37 and Baird's medium crystal 70/80. I've always used these for things like milds, browns, porters, stouts, but then realized that I also like them in other things like APAs. I used the 70/80 recently in a Dubbel in place of caramunich knowing it's not the same, but it worked well in the beer. The British crystals tend to lean more towards toffee and toast, and to my palate seem less sweet than equivalent lovibond domestic crystals. They just seem richer I think, so I've been keeping them in stock.

 

[Kharnynb]

specialty malts are too dependent on style....hard to say.
Maybe Viking cara pale as I tend to smuggle some in most of my beers.

Base malt is a much more fun question, Vienna wins it for me, closely followed by munich.