Briess Base Malt And Dms

[Fourstar]

After recently purchasing some briess 2 row base malt i finally had a chance to brew with it. a partigyle was in order.

Anyway, after boiling both batches and no chilled i pitched the yeast on them last saturday. The starter was built up from a fresh 1272 smack pack in a single erlenmyer, popped on a stirplate and split between the two worts.

Come today to check the gravity and taste for off flavours etc i noticed the second beer, which coincidentally had a NQR boil (was quite soft for around half an hour until i noticed and it got a decent rolling boil) is riddled with cooked cabage DMS.

The first beer is clean with a beautiful malt profile. I even handed both beers to SWMBO to taste and without even putting the second beer to her lips she noticed the sulfur.

Im interested to know who has experienced briess base malts and their resultant DMS? (or any other quirks for that matter)

I have always seen on US HB forums about how much they seem to have DMS in their beers and are on a constant struggle to avoid it and i never understood how so many of them ran into this as a problem. Now i know why.

Prior to this i had been led to believe local malts and wyermann in perticular had lower levels of the precursor SMM compared to US malts and didnt really beleive it until i experienced it.

So, throwing it out to the masses.

How has your experience with briess base malts been and what quirks have you noticed? DMS, haze, flavour profile etc.

:icon_cheers:

 

[MHB]

The only Briess Base Malt I have used is the Ashburn Mild Malt. No problems but then again it had a 90 minute boil so you wouldnt be expecting too much in the way of DMS.
Feedback from customers has been favourable (especially for the mild) but I wont be stocking much in the way of the base malts mostly concentrating on the specialty and adjunct ranges, another importer has finally decided to bring in some UK mild malt and I am looking forward to trying that.
The extract range is getting a lot of support, highlights are the Dry Wheat and Pilsner, the 1.5 Kg LME Munich is great and all the rest compare very favourably with their competitors.
Good point to consider when planning on using American malt, it may pay to make sure you get a good boil and evaporation rate.
MHB

 

[Fourstar]

The only Briess Base Malt I have used is the Ashburn Mild Malt. No problems but then again it had a 90 minute boil so you wouldnt be expecting too much in the way of DMS.

Also the fact that it is probabaly kilned for longer and/or at higher temperatures which will denature the SMM. (Assumed from the higher Lov value on their website.)

As somone who sells the Briess Malts, have you noticed anything with the 'slackness' (for lack of a better word) of the malt? i noticed the victory i have is quite soft as is the Briess 2 row compared to equivilant local and weyermann malts. The only other malt i have noticed to be similair to this but not as soft is Crisp maris otter.

I wouldt say its chewy like most slack malts but doesnt have the snap of local grain.

I wish when i was starting out i could have access to munich and pilsner extracts. The newbies of today have got it lucky IMO altough i may have never got into brewing all grain as early as i did.

 

[MHB]

Frankly I admit to being a bit underwhelmed by the whole Briess range (the mild being an exception) in part its possible that they have been talked up for years and that nothing could match the hype, for example, now that I have tasted both, I would choose Belgian Biscuit over Victory every time.
They are in my opinion good malt, not great but good. I wouldnt be paying much more for the base malts than for the better Australian base malts. When it comes to the specialty malts I got about half a dozen into stock, most of them have a head to head competitor already available i.e. Midnight Wheat and Weyermann Roast Wheat, not the same but clearly from the same school of thought and although the midnight is nice I cant carry both and the Weyermann is great, not just good.
Clearly some of the specialty will stay in stock and there will always be people ordering American malt if for no other reason than to try it.
I certainly havent noticed any slackness in the malt, tho some of them do feel quite soft compared to what we have been using, no noticeable drop in yield so they cant be far from normal. Have to dig out the COAs and have a look at the moisture content and the friability (that will be in some weird American unit), might shed some light on what you have observed.
I believe Crisp is being imported by G&G so Im not in a position to comment on it
We have been well served with the range of domestic UK and German malt available, good to see the range we can get expanding and big ups to Bintani for taking the punt.
MHB

 

[Bribie G]

I've often wondered why US malts haven't been available here, considering that they are equidistant or nearer than UK and Germany. I had a hankering for some six row to use in my mofo headbanger Malt Liquo' - which MHB talked me out of, as it happened.
Giving Briess a swerve I think, thanks for heads up.

 

[Fourstar]

Giving Briess a swerve I think, thanks for heads up.

At this stage i wouldnt go that far, i'm more in the boat with MHB that the hype could have possibly pushed it over the edge for me in terms of expectation. If it yields a decent pale ale and its different to my local malt pales and adds something unique, i'd be happy to continue buying it.

My biggest reason for selecting the briess was to try and get the best representation of the US malt profile as possible. Much like 99% of brewers using weyermann and german gown noble hops for their German pilsners.

Funnily enough when JZ was down last year i was discussing the ins and outs of US malts with him and he seemed to find comparitively that US pale malts seemed to have a greater depth of flavour/complexity compared to our local BB and JW ales.

Again, much like how a lot of brewers prefer the Weyermann Pilsner to JW Pilsner. Terroir or personal preference? Im yet to decide. Both are quite different from what ive observed with the Pilsner debate (and i like both) so it will be interesting to see how my Pale ale turns out and wether or not it does something special for my beer or its all just a placebo.

 

[np1962]

One of the Local multi award winning homebrewers also commented to me on the lack of crispness, I hesitate to call it slackness as I haven't seen any myself, of a couple of the Briess Spec malts he had bought from interstate.
As MHB says the moisture content and friability may tell the story.

:icon_offtopic: But since MHB raised it.
The latest shipment of UK malts to arrive are really interesting. I have stocks of TFFM Mild and Pearl and several good brewers are using them now. Will be interesting to taste the results. Also heard today the next to arrive will be Low Colour Maris Otter.
On Maris Otter, who the hell keeps buying up all the stocks of this malt. Cryers again out of stock for several weeks. :unsure:

Cheers
Nige

 

[kenlock]

I have only done one brew with Briess Pale Malt doing a vigorous 90 min boil. 86% Pale Malt, 9% Caramalt (Powell's) and 5% Munich (Powell's) mashed at 65C. 60 min and 15 min hop (Cascade) additions for 55 IBU and 1060 SG. This was split between two of us. I fermented with 1056 (2L starter) and mate with a pack of US05.

Hydro sample before kegging/bottling by both of us showed none of that cooked cabbage taste. It finished at 1008 for both of us, and we both commented that it had a malty sweetness despite the low mash and finish. Yet to be carbed.

Willing to do a few more brews with it and see what it brings, especially in doing APAs and AIPA. ie. will grab a bag in the bulk buy.

:icon_cheers: