Whiskey Malt?

[Joewalla88]

Morebeer.com has some stuff called Whisky malt and I thought it might be interesting to brew with. I think it's different from distillers malt, because they carry that too with the distinct name of distillers malt. They say you can use it in beers amd get some fun flavors, but has anyone here messed with it for beer? Thanks!

 

[day_trippr]

Is this it? Odyssey Whiskey Malt - Briess Malting | MoreBeer

And https://www.brewingwithbriess.com/wp-content/uploads/documents/Briess-PISB-Whiskey-Malt.pdf

There's a lot that does look pretty good for beer, and clearly more complex character set than Briess Pilsen, for instance...

Cheers!

 

[Joewalla88]

Is this it? Odyssey Whiskey Malt - Briess Malting | MoreBeer

And https://www.brewingwithbriess.com/wp-content/uploads/documents/Briess-PISB-Whiskey-Malt.pdf

There's a lot that does look pretty good for beer, and clearly more complex character set than Briess Pilsen, for instance...

View attachment 822369 View attachment 822370


Cheers!

That's the stuff. I would love to give it a shot, but just hesitant to buy a giant bag I haven't really heard of before. I think it's sold in 1lb, or 50lb. So....

 

[day_trippr]

I just checked Northern Brewer and it would take $60 to have them send me 20 pounds of that malt unmilled.
Then I checked Ritebrew.com and they will deliver the same 20 pounds of Odyssey for $45. Much better - but not great.

I have been utterly spoiled by having someone with a BSG wholesale "license" delivering bags of malt for cheap $$ over the last many years. And there is an excellent chance I could get a whole bag of that malt for less than that $60...

Cheers!

 

[Joewalla88]

I just checked Northern Brewer and it would take $60 to have them send me 20 pounds of that malt unmilled.
Then I checked Ritebrew.com and they will deliver the same 20 pounds of Odyssey for $45. Much better - but not great.

I have been utterly spoiled by having someone with a BSG wholesale "license" delivering bags of malt for cheap $$ over the last many years. And there is an excellent chance I could get a whole bag of that malt for less than that $60...

Cheers!

Pretty sure my lhbs uses morebeer as a vendor, so I can always save on shipping for what I find on there.

Edit: If they can get it for me at 50lbs for about 50 bucks, it might be worth it just to change things up.

 

[Joewalla88]

Think I'm going to order some. I'll try to remember to follow up when I finally get around to it.

 

[Beerstein]

I've used the Odyssey before and I really like it. It has a more prominent grain taste.

 

[Joewalla88]

I've used the Odyssey before and I really like it. It has a more prominent grain taste.

Awesome! What was your grain bill? Was this your primary base grain?

 

[Beerstein]

Awesome! What was your grain bill? Was this your primary base grain?

I've used it up to 95% of the bill. It does tend to add some haze, so West Coast IPA lovers might not like it

 

[Joewalla88]

I've used it up to 95% of the bill. It does tend to add some haze, so West Coast IPA lovers might not like it

While I do think west coast is the bests coast, I also believe haze schmaze.

 

[day_trippr]

lol!
Wait - I may steal "Haze Schmaze" for my next hazy!

 

[Beerstein]

While I do think west coast is the bests coast, I also believe haze schmaze.

It's nothing like oats. Just means one has to work a bit hard to get super clear beer.

 

[Joewalla88]

It's nothing like oats. Just means one has to work a bit hard to get super clear beer.

My beers usually take forever to really clear, and by then their half gone. So, it's no big deal.

 

[Joewalla88]

My LHBS is getting me a bag on their next bulk grain pallet order. Not sure when that'll be, but I'm excited to mess around with something new.

 

[day_trippr]

Definitely have to write something up as you (and the malt) have me intrigued

Cheers!

 

[uweschmitt]

If found this article about differences to brewers malt. So it has a little bit less extract (80 vs 77%) but much higher Enzyme content suited for adding larger amounts of adjuncts like corn without sacrificing conversion.

 

[Joewalla88]

I finally got my 50lb bag of whiskey malt. I'm hoping to brew up a batch this weekend with it. I got some new hops to try too, so I'm going to brew a simple pale ale recipe. I'll report back with recipe and results.

 

[MaxStout]

Briess must be conservative in its DP rating. The sheet shows 100L for a malt that's only 1.9 SRM. This is roughly at or below typical levels for 2-row, pilsner, etc. If you're making bourbon, where the bill has to be >51% corn, that gets your overall DP precariously low. I always thought distiller's malt had a much higher DP. Maybe bourbon distillers add amylase enzyme?

Anyway, I'm curious how it turns out for brewing.

 

[Joewalla88]

Briess must be conservative in its DP rating. The sheet shows 100L for a malt that's only 1.9 SRM. This is roughly at or below typical levels for 2-row, pilsner, etc. If you're making bourbon, where the bill has to be >51% corn, that gets your overall DP precariously low. I always thought distiller's malt had a much higher DP. Maybe bourbon distillers add amylase enzyme?

Anyway, I'm curious how it turns out for brewing.

Yeah, that seems a little weird to me too, but we'll see what happens. Hopefully it's awesome, because I have a lot of it.

 

[DBhomebrew]

At 51% corn, 100L will give a weighted average of 49L. 60% corn, 40L. That's still plenty of DP for full conversion.

Brewers used to brewing with American 2-row are accustomed to needlessly high DP values. Check out the DP values on some British pale ale malts. Even with 10, even 20% adjunct, they convert just fine.

 

[Joewalla88]

Just wanted to follow up on this. I just finished brewing my second batch with this malt. When it's ready I'll give more input. However, my first batch turned out alright. It was a pale ale with 10lbs of whiskey malt. The malt is a bit underwhelming in this one. I can't tell if it's the malt's fault though. The hops I used ended having way more punch than I had planned. So this time I went with a gentler hop schedule, so maybe I'll get a better idea of how the malt tastes.

I will say, the conversion sucks. I'm used to getting around 70-75% efficiency, but I get around 60 with this malt. I'll probably start doing a 50/50 split with this and vienna or pils going forward.

Anyhow, so far, it's not terrible, but not as interesting as I'd hoped. Might need some more experimenting though to nail down what its best use would be.

 

[Joewalla88]

Alright, so I kegged it yesterday. My main take away is that this malt is okay. It doesn't offer anything special from as far as flavor goes, and the conversion seems to bean issue. It's not terrible, but for the price, you can get more from just about any other base malt. I think I'll just mix the rest 50/50 with vienna going forward. It seemed like a cool idea, but it's not really worth it.