# Best & Worst Malts You've Used



## labels (5/11/12)

Mainly about base malts

I know not many would agree but, I bought one sack of TF Golden Promise - once and that's it Never Again.
I tried everything to get a good beer from this expensive malt and every time all I got was a horrible earthy flavour. It may be good for whisky which I believe it was developed for but beer - Nah.

Maris Otter on the other hand is something else, I even use it in my lagers absolutely fabulous malt, give a nice malty flavour without the heaviness of Munich or specialities like Melanoidin.

Galaxy Lager malt is my all time favourite being a lager brewer. The first batch from the re-released Galaxy was a bit off-ish but now it's really great.

Joe White Pilsner - so so, Weyermann pilsner not really better than Galaxy, Weyermann premium pilsner, too attenuative great if you want a low carb beer but I didn't end up with apremium pilsner out of it.

Steve


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## Thefatdoghead (5/11/12)

Wey dark wheat is awesome so is Boh pils. Wey munich 1 is so good and bready in a lager and one of my favourites is TF FM MO. I only used golden promise once in a TTL and it was pretty good but I messed up the bitterness a bit with cube hopping so Ill have to finish the sack of GP off and get back to you on that one.
I disagree with your comment about premium pils as you can use it with so many combos to just get a bit of graininess from it and balance out a darker larger just nicely. It almost takes the edge the heavier malts, if you know what I mean?

I thought BB ale was boring but that would be the only malt I have not liked so far.


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## dr K (5/11/12)

The brewer has a far greater effect on the finished beer than the malt.


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## Fourstar (6/11/12)

dr K said:


> The brewer has a far greater effect on the finished beer than the malt.



end thread.

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...showtopic=41025


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## manticle (6/11/12)

labels said:


> Mainly about base malts
> 
> I know not many would agree but, I bought one sack of TF Golden Promise - once and that's it Never Again.
> I tried everything to get a good beer from this expensive malt and every time all I got was a horrible earthy flavour.



What were you trying to make?

Only used that malt once as it's not locally available (Grain and Grape have a big range but don't stock TF) but the resulting beer was great and trying to replicate with simpsons GP, despite the fact I LOVE simpsons malts, didn't give me the same result.

Like equipment, like hops, like yeast - there will be results you prefer but most grains can be used in some way to make a decent beer. I no longer use JW unless (rarely) I want to make a coopers or AU lager type of beer but I don't rate the malt badly - just not as having the qualties I want in most of my finished beer, considering I favour brewing UK and belgian styles with a few Germans and the odd APA (with UK malt) thrown in for variety.

To answer the question - Favourite base malts include dingemans pilsner, weyerman munich I and Vienna, simpsons maris otter and possibly TF floor malted Golden promise but my experience of the latter is limited.


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## rehab (6/11/12)

I am almost the opposite. GP makes a great Blonde type SMASH. Also Beers like Epic Pale Ale are made with it... Can't be all bad.
We don't have galaxy malt here from what I know but Gladfields Ale malt and MO are very good too from experience.

I am too n00b so far to have a worst malt as it has been my poor skill that has affected my brews so far. I keep getting stale, oxygenated brews so am trying to simplify to fix it...


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## Logman (6/11/12)

:icon_offtopic: 

How does BB Pale Pilsner measure up against Weyermann Pilsner? It's $15 cheaper per sack, plus I assume it's Aussie owned so I'd rather buy it if possible. 

I originally bought Weyermann Pilsner because it was in DSGA which was my first brew and then just kept buying it - was thinking about getting a couple of sacks of BB next time.


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## Arghonaut (6/11/12)

Also a little off topic, has anyone used "MEU AU" Ale or Pils malt?

http://www.ubrew.com.au/web/showproduct.asp?prodid=465

Never heard of it, equivalent to BB?


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## Bribie G (6/11/12)

TF GP has been my malt of choice for years now for Pommies and APAs. I've just bought a sack of Bairds Maris Otter to try, but I have always found GP to be dead reliable. 

BB Ale and Lager (and Galaxy) are good clean neutral malts made for the local and Asian styles. There was a maltings at Oakey which has sadly closed, and their malt was very similar indeed to BB and destined for the Chinese market. 

I use BB - but will have to switch to Joe White as that's Marks Home Brew's brand - in my American Wheats and my Cascade Pale Ale tributes. However I wouldn't really expect it to do well in a Euro Lager, maybe if you tricked it up with a fair percentage of Munich or Vienna or Melanoidin.


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## Spiesy (6/11/12)

dr K said:


> The brewer has a far greater effect on the finished beer than the malt.


How's stating the obvious working for you?


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## DJR (6/11/12)

Weyermann Vienna :icon_drool2:


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## petesbrew (6/11/12)

Spiesy said:


> How's stating the obvious working for you?


I used Rye and I didn't like it.


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## labels (6/11/12)

dr K said:


> The brewer has a far greater effect on the finished beer than the malt.



I take that as meaning you can just buy any malt - the cheapest available because you can turn that malt into anything you want so why bother about different styles of malt.

Or I can take that as meaning the effect can range from negative through to positive meaning you can give a bad brewer the best malt and he'll still **** it up.

Steve


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## labels (6/11/12)

I guess a lot of it is style driven. If you're making an extreme IPA for example the taste profile of the finished beer is so dominated by bitterness and hop flavours you wouldn't be tasting too much of the underlying malt base so malt choice becomes less important.

At the other end of the scale Kolsch, most lagers and light ales and finely balanced and the wrong malt choice will take you off target.

From personal experience, I make a megaswill type lager that is very close to Pure Blonde for my non brewing mates. Using exactly the same recipe, yeast and procedure but replacing the Galaxy malt with BB Ale malt will produce a beer that very close to Carlton Draught, also enjoyed by non brewing mates. Proving that the malt has a greater effect on beer that the brewer - in this case.

Steve


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## Nick JD (6/11/12)

Weyermann Pilsner goes into everything I brew nowdays. For me, it's worth the extra $15 a sack. Makes supurb APAs and IPAs and lends that essential sweet breadyness to lagers where the malt needs to be boss.

I haven't found an Aussie base malt that can make a half-decent Euro lager - BB Pale makes great adjunctified lagers - seems to taste better the less of it is in the beer. :lol: 

End of the day, Wey Pils isn't out of place in any of my brewing styles, but it is essential for half of them. 

If we're talking spec malts, Caramel Rye is REVOLTING.  Tastes like you fermented the batch in plastic made entirely of nut-shrinking plasticisers dry hopped with a dishcloth.


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## labels (6/11/12)

Nick JD said:


> I haven't found an Aussie base malt that can make a half-decent Euro lager -



Have you tried BB Galaxy? It really is pretty damn close to a Euro lager malt - not the same but close.


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## stux (6/11/12)

TFFMGP is my favourite malt for ales, love the grainy taste. 

Of course, to the OP, I cab see why you could call that "earthy"


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## mje1980 (6/11/12)

Any of the Maris Otters, yum. In fact all the UK ale malts give me nice results. For AIPA's, IIPA's and lagers, BEST pilz has been great so far


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## Thefatdoghead (6/11/12)

dr K said:


> The brewer has a far greater effect on the finished beer than the malt.



You forgot to say off topic though.


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## Batz (6/11/12)

labels said:


> Have you tried BB Galaxy? It really is pretty damn close to a Euro lager malt - not the same but close.




+1 
In fact I think it's better quite often, BB Pale is an excellent malt as well. I also like the fact I'm brewing with Aussies malts.


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## Spiesy (6/11/12)

petesbrew said:


> I used Rye and I didn't like it.


I'm not sure why you've quoted me... 

Back on topic - and in particular, Golden Promise. I've only used this grain twice, both time in making the Dr. Smurto's TTL clone. I get a distinct earthy taste to this beer on both occasions, and I'm not a big fan of this flavour. Would the hops also have something to do with an "earthy" taste? Fuggles, EKG and Styrian Goldings - from memory.

I'd be interested to try the same grain bill for Dr. Smurto's Landlord clone, but completely sub the UK/Euro hops out for US hops - purely as a learning exercise.


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## manticle (6/11/12)

Fuggles is certainly described by many as earthy, sometimes woody and even tobaccoey.

I get mandarin from styrians but it is closely related to fuggles and I know people who've decribed it as more earthy.


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## Spiesy (6/11/12)

well, I guess earthy hops and earthy malt means 'earthy as f**k' beer.

I wonder why people enjoy the Landlord so much, perhaps they are fans of dirt?


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## seamad (6/11/12)

Id point the earthy finger at fuggles. Ive swapped mo and gp around in various brews, theyre both very tasty. Try ross' ns summer ale with just gp and a little wheat,mmmmm


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## Spiesy (6/11/12)

thanks manticle and seamad... fuggles, huh? Shame I just took receipt of 1/3 a pound of it! Maybe I can dump them in a Porter.


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## Logman (7/11/12)

Nick JD said:


> Weyermann Pilsner goes into everything I brew nowdays. For me, it's worth the extra $15 a sack. Makes supurb APAs and IPAs and lends that essential sweet breadyness to lagers where the malt needs to be boss.


Do you see it making any difference in a hoppy APA (maybe 90g of cascade etc per 20 litres) ? That's all I use Wey Pils for....


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## Bribie G (7/11/12)

The Brisbane APA grand master, BrownDog, got a bit of a rude shock a couple of years ago when my APA just pipped his entry in a BABBs minicomp B) - my effort was made on Golden Promise and Tony said that when brewing in Australia, UK malts are probably the best varieties for "authentic" APAs. Their two row malts are more akin to UK than continental breeds, the main difference between UK and US malts being the way they are treated by the maltster, with a more dry "grainy" flavour and a couple of UK forums suggest that Optic is a really good sub and not as in your face as MO etc.

Edit: however when doing "Aussie faux APA" brews to impress my Fat Yak loving buddies and rellies I still tend to BB ale as I'm aiming for a lighter bodied beer with low to medium American hop notes, pub style.


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## Logman (7/11/12)

Bribie G said:


> Edit: however when doing "Aussie faux APA" brews to impress my Fat Yak loving buddies and rellies I still tend to BB ale as I'm aiming for a lighter bodied beer with low to medium American hop notes, pub style.


Ah I see, that's why I thought of giving the BB Pils a go - the slightly lighter body was what I was looking for. :icon_cheers:


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## drsmurto (7/11/12)

Spiesy said:


> well, I guess earthy hops and earthy malt means 'earthy as f**k' beer.
> 
> I wonder why people enjoy the Landlord so much, perhaps they are fans of dirt?



Earthy isn't how I would describe Landlord, either the authentic version from a cask in the UK or my interpretation.

But that is the joys of the human palate, we all taste/perceive things differently. One mans earth is another mans spice.  

You could try MO instead of GP and use some other hop to bitter with - Target or Challenger spring to mind. My last Landlord used First Gold to bitter with and my next will use Challenger as I am all out of Fuggles.


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## HoppingMad (7/11/12)

You've all just reminded me. 

I have a 25kg bag of Golden Promise in the brewshed. 

Never used it either so will have to put it to the test. Thanks lads!

(scratches head, then consults double batch recipes).

Hopper.


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