# What's your main base malt?



## mosto

Just wondering what most people prefer to use as their base malt. Do people generally use the same base for most beers, or do they change to suit individual styles? I'm 3 brews in to my AG brewing adventure and started off with a 12.5kg bag of Joe White Ale Malt, which I've now pretty much used up. Thinking of getting a 25kg bag of Maris Otter to try next, which should do me for 5-6 brews. I'll probably brew 3 versions of my house ale, which is an Aussie-style Pale Ale. For the other couple, thinking an ESB, an IPA and possibly a Porter if there's enough grain left. I will probably include some small of amounts of Carapils and/or Caramunich to make up the grain bills for each of these beers.


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## manticle

I change for style.


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## Diesel80

Marris Otter is excellent. I use this mainly.

Works well with US and UK hops, plays nice with most crystals and makes lots of nice ale type receipes.

I have recently started playing with Pils malt and brewing some more sessionable beers.

These two i generally have on hand, but then again it suits the beers i like to make. This is the main consideration with HB'ing.

Cheers,
D80


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## Lord Raja Goomba I

Generally in Brissie, most were based around Bairds Perle Ale Malt, with obvious changes for styles not needing an ale malt. 

But I generally brewed Pale Ales in their various guises.

Now, I've got a sack of Bairds Pale Ale (unopened), with half a sack of JW Ale and some JW Pils, and the latter two have been pretty solid.

I'll probably save the Bairds for next autumn/winter's beers, when I really want a deeper maltiness, and keep knocking out lighter coloured beers with Pils, Wheat and topped up with a little Ale malt.


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## syl

You need to change for style, and then people have their favourite brands/locales for each style.

A lot of people prefer to get the malt from the region it originated etc. I personally the the Joe White aussie stuff is great, not aussie owned any more. Is it still all aussie product? I assume so...


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## rehab

I am still playing around. I have used a fair amount of GP and didn't mind it. I use a bit of malteurope nz malt and gladfields malt due to the price but may give weyerman pils a shot next for a particular pale ale recipe I have seen and then Marris after that as I have been yet to use it.


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## JDW81

Like most, mine varies with style.


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## hsb

For bulk buying, I tend to get a bag of something British - Golden Promise, Marris Otter etc.. for IPAs, Bitters, Porters, APAs etc. and a bag of something Belgian/German for Belgian and German styles where paler malt is the get-go.

If buying base malt in bulk it's always going to be a bit of a compromise on those sorts of lines, unless you have masses of space and get through half/full bags regularly.

From what you describe above, you could quite happily get by with a big ole bag of Pale Malt, MO would be a fine choice.
I would hazard a guess that most people buy base malt on those sorts of lines - between 1 and 3 types - grouped into broad categories of styles that it'll work with. No hard and fast rules though.

I'm still getting through some Perle for now and tend to 'trick out' APAs with a bit of Munich for example.


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## BeerNess

I'm lucky my LHBS is Mark's in Newcastle, who does great prices and weigh/mill to each brew order so I can change depending on brew or style. If I had to pick one base malt for everything I'd have to say Marris Otter right now, but I have been thinking of trying Golden Promise to see what difference it will make... Would love to use a local Aus malt, but never been very happy with anything i've made with it, even my solid recipes.


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## mosto

hsb said:


> For bulk buying, I tend to get a bag of something British - Golden Promise, Marris Otter etc.. for IPAs, Bitters, Porters, APAs etc. and a bag of something Belgian/German for Belgian and German styles where paler malt is the get-go.
> 
> If buying base malt in bulk it's always going to be a bit of a compromise on those sorts of lines, unless you have masses of space and get through half/full bags regularly.
> 
> From what you describe above, you could quite happily get by with a big ole bag of Pale Malt, MO would be a fine choice.
> I would hazard a guess that most people buy base malt on those sorts of lines - between 1 and 3 types - grouped into broad categories of styles that it'll work with. No hard and fast rules though.
> 
> I'm still getting through some Perle for now and tend to 'trick out' APAs with a bit of Munich for example.


That's pretty much along the lines I was thinking. Before going AG, I was buying my extract and a bit os specialty grain online, but now I'll be buying 12.5kg/25kg of grain, shipping costs become an issue. My nearest hbs is about 100km away in Bathurst, so I want to settle on a 'general purpose' base malt and adjust to different styles with some spec malts. That way with a bit of planning, I will only have to go for a drive every couple of months to re-stock. I'll trial most of the main base malts, starting with Maris Otter, until I settle on something that suits my taste / brewing style.


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## Liam_snorkel

wey munich I.


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## Tilt

+1 choose to beer style - but it depends what you like brewing. 
If its early on in your AG career then a pale, less distinctively flavoured malt (like Wey Pils) can be good. It lets you adjust grists to style (add malty flavour with a bit of Munich or Melanoidin) and provides a clean slate for learning what specialty grains bring to a beer.
I mix it up between MO, GP, Gladfields Pale and Wey Pils / Boh Pils nowadays.
Nothing substitutes for trying them all over time to find your own faves though!


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## Black Devil Dog

1. Wey pilsner.
2. Ale malt
3. Wheat malt.


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## Lakey

My choice always changes depending on what styles of beer I am making. I'm just about to buy 3 bags in a bulk buy, Barrett burston galaxy, barret burston wheat and weyermann Vienna malts. This I am thinking will let me brew a range of styles like pale ales, wheat, pils, kolsch, saisons, etc. In preparation for the hot weather.


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## CONNOR BREWARE

When the style allows for it I lean towards TF golden promise.


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## benno1973

TFGP for me too. I find it's good and malty for any ales I do, american or english. Wey Pils for most lagers.


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## Bizier

I generally have MO, Wey Pils and Wey Munich I on hand. Sometimes JW Trad as well, but give me the good stuff any day of the week.


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## verysupple

manticle said:


> I change for style.


Although I'm relatively new to AG (10 AG brews so far), I'm with Manticle. Having said that, I love Maris Otter for pretty much any British ale and loved it even more in a SMaSH with either centennial or cascade (I called them "Transatlantic SMaSH hit" and "Transatlantic second album" for obvious and not lame reasons  ). I then made "Best of Transatlantic" which was MO with 50:50 centennial and cascade for each addition.

Now that I think of it, MO seems to be my 'go to' base malt.


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## givemeamash

with goomba, my house beer is with perle


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## vykuza

I tend to get a bit over MO if I use it brew after brew (within/near style). Weyermann Pils is great if you know you're going to do lighter beers, and Weyermann Pale is the little black dress of malts to me - it works in many situations.


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## manticle

I meant I change trousers for style


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## bullsneck

manticle said:


> I meant I change trousers for style


I've attended brew days with you. You have a strict 'no pants' policy.


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## jotaigna

JW export pilsner, because I''ve been brewing exclusively lagers for a while. But I also follow style when I can.


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## Rocker1986

For my ales I have used Joe White Traditional Ale and Barrett Burston Ale malts, both giving good results. For my lagers I've been using Weyermann Pils malt. I just grabbed a 25kg sack of TF Maris Otter from Craftbrewer yesterday which I will be using some of in my next batch brewing on Saturday, to see what that's like. I still have enough BB Ale and Wey Pils malt for a couple more batches of each as well. I'm probably still in an experimental phase at the moment so I don't really have a "main" base malt as such. I also don't really brew strictly to style either apart from using ale malt for ales and pils malt for lagers. All beers I have made with the 3 malts I have used, I have been quite happy with (except one, but that wasn't a base malt issue). Looking forward to tasting the MO based brew, I've heard good things about it from a number of people.


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## kymba

i read the last three posts and i feel cheated


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## manticle

bullsneck said:


> I've attended brew days with you. You have a strict 'no pants' policy.


Correct. No-one watching me brew is allowed pants.

I invite a lot of lingerie models to my brewdays but their hectic schedules make attendance somewhere between seldom and never.


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## Foxy74

I've been using the Barrett Burston ale malt for my paler ales for a while now. It costs as much as the sack in freight charges to get it to the NT, but it still works out cheaper than smaller orders. I just recently started using Maris Otter for anything darker.


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## mje1980

I jus tried dingemans pilsner for the first time in a saison. I figured belgian beer belgian malt. Compared to my usual best pilz, it was crazy pale in colour. Smelt great in the mash. If it goes alright I might switch to it instead of best pilz, as I hardly brew lagers. Haven't tasted it yet though.


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## Bribie G

For my UK ales I have recently got onto Bairds low-nitrogen Pale Ale Malt. Also known as Pearl ("Perle" was probably a typo on the CB website, it isn't actually spelled the same as the German hop "Perle").

For all malt brews it seems to break better in the boil and is a nice nutty bready malt, but not as rich as MO. 

For anything requiring adjuncts, i.e. blonde ales, I use JW or Malteurop pale ale malts. MHB sells Malteurop - a Geelong maltster.


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## dago001

Due the inability to get malt here in Tassie, we are pretty much restricted to bulk buys for our malts. I have been predominatly a JW Ale malt, but also have goodstocks of Marris Otter. I recently purchased 2 bags of Bairds Pale so while I do have a variety to call upon, JW Ale has been my got to malt.
Cheers
LB


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## yankinoz

I'm a malthead. In AG I mostly use MO for English and Amerucan ales, GP in some English and Belgians. In partial mash I go with Joe White Vienna, because it has good diastatic power to convert disproportionate amounts of specialty malts and contributes malt flavours of its own,offsetting the diluting effects of DME.


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## Edak

I switched from MO to GP and is amazing. I really like the malty character it brings to my beers and it's not too powerful so can be balanced out well. That being said I still buy wey pils for some brews and Vienna for others. GP is just very versatile.


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## Doctormcbrewdle

Understand this one's a little old now but all things remain the same.

Finding that I'm liking Golden Promise for most styles as base malt. It's just a nice malt with an ale spec ebc. I like the taste over BB, JW or even Weyerman for styles such as Megaswill lager and pale ale's

I like TF Maris Otter for Brit styles such as English IPA, pale ir Special bitter. It just has that little bit more complexity over any other you miss if not using it.

I love Weyerman pils malt for pilsners and witbiers. Can't beat it and most EU breweries probably agree there

I'm still torn between Weyermann and BB for their malted wheat. The Weyerman looks rubbish with it's shriveled little husks and can even smell weird too. Kinda chemically until it's a little older but tastes fantastic. The BB wheat looks A1 and also tastes fantastic so probably happy to go Aussie for wheat next time.


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## Doctormcbrewdle

Rocker1986 said:


> For my ales I have used Joe White Traditional Ale and Barrett Burston Ale malts, both giving good results. For my lagers I've been using Weyermann Pils malt. I just grabbed a 25kg sack of TF Maris Otter from Craftbrewer yesterday which I will be using some of in my next batch brewing on Saturday, to see what that's like. I still have enough BB Ale and Wey Pils malt for a couple more batches of each as well. I'm probably still in an experimental phase at the moment so I don't really have a "main" base malt as such. I also don't really brew strictly to style either apart from using ale malt for ales and pils malt for lagers. All beers I have made with the 3 malts I have used, I have been quite happy with (except one, but that wasn't a base malt issue). Looking forward to tasting the MO based brew, I've heard good things about it from a number of people.



Wow this is going back Kels'!

I remember you getting right into the Maris Otter for most things, are you still loving it? What's changed since this post for you in 5 long years brewing? Will be interesting to hear. I find brewing is like a long enjoyable journey of change

Cheers!


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## Rocker1986

I kept using Maris Otter for all my ales, for my tastes it works in every one of them and I still use it to this day. I just bought a bag of Gladfields ale malt in the last bulk buy to try but it's meant to be pretty similar anyway so I don't know if I'll notice much difference there. Just gotta use up the rest of the MO first. Stuck with Weyermann for the lager malt, but switched from the 'normal' pilsner malt to Bohemian pilsner malt. I've used both the regular and floor malted versions of the Bo pils malt and while there's not a great deal of difference, I probably prefer the floor malted one. It's just not always available. I've been making a few German lagers with the Bo pils malt lately and it's just as good if not better than the 'normal' pils malt. Or maybe my recipes and brewing techniques have improved


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## Doctormcbrewdle

Ooooh nice. I have gots to get me a bag of that Bo-Pils!


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## Quokka42

Maris Otter for British Ales, JW Traditional for Aussie, JW Pilsner for "lagers" and "American Pale Ales" (I refuse to call them IPAs or Pale Ales.) You can't taste the malt in Hopster beers, so it isn't really important.


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## Fatgodzilla

Which week?


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## S.E

Fatgodzilla said:


> Which week?


Most weeks I think.


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## The Mack

I like to use Pilsener for my lagers, pale ales and Belgians, Maris for stouts/ porters/ browns and most English ales.


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## Hpal

Weyermann Pilsner usually but have a sack of premium Pilsner at the moment, can use it in many beers.


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## scomet

Edak said:


> switched from MO to GP and is amazing


Grain for Style, storage space (lots) is an issue; for the mrs anyway…
Edak, I thought I was the only person who didn't like the taste of MO, sounds like I should give the GP a go?? Tried the MO down to 20% and still didn't like it! (the chooks will)
Just realised the thread age, any thoughts anyone? ( I already know I’m an idiot swmbo tells me every day)


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## Fatgodzilla

S.E said:


> Most weeks I think.


Probably should have said which weeks. Last month was Baird MO for a series of milds I made. Got a sack of Irish stout malt for a series of stouts I want to brew over the next few weeks. Pilsners .. American CAPs also happening soon, so that sack of Weyerman Pils will be used. So, why only one base malt .. one at a time I guess.


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## AleByI

Learned a lot from this thread. Curious @mosto how many brews have you done since the first post in your thread and what do you find yourself using as a base malt for your favorite style of beer?


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## Hangover68

Barrett Burstons Pale Malt, i use it for everything nearly.


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## yankinoz

CONNOR BREWARE said:


> When the style allows for it I lean towards TF golden promise.


I'll second that, very versatile malt.


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## yankinoz

GP. Besides British ales, It's my go-to for hoppy American ale styles and knew a few US breweries that used it rather than American two-row. One German expat brewed Helles lagers with it and they were wonderful.

Re Munich I, above, I like it too, but its potential for converting other malts and grains is slight to none. Using it in alone in, say, a pilsner recipe, will give you a Dunkel instead. Nothing wrong with Dunkels.


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## mynameisrodney

AleByI said:


> Learned a lot from this thread. Curious @mosto how many brews have you done since the first post in your thread and what do you find yourself using as a base malt for your favorite style of beer?


He hasnt been on the forums for 2 years, so doubt you'll get a reply haha.

I use bairds maris otter and gladfield pilsner as my base malts.


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## AleByI

mynameisrodney said:


> He hasnt been on the forums for 2 years, so doubt you'll get a reply haha.
> 
> I use bairds maris otter and gladfield pilsner as my base malts.


I would guess your name is Rodney  Didn't look into that - still a good thread. May I ask do you buy locally or use an online supplier? That Maris Otter looks to be right up my alley - thx!


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## An Ankoù

Blimey, this is an old thread- well worth resurrecting, though. I live in France and it's cheaper to get my malt from Ireland. Irish Minch, malt or Crisp's Best ale malts are both excellent. I only use Maris Otter when it;s called for by the recipe, like Summer Lightning, for example. It's no better or worse than the other two in my opinion, it just had a characteristic flavour. I also like to use Crisp's Chevallier, but that's got really expensive over the last year. I use Bestmalz Pilsner, and it's cheaper to buy it from Ireland than to get it directly from Germany or buy it in France. Crazy!


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## AleByI

An Ankoù said:


> Blimey, this is an old thread- well worth resurrecting, though. I live in France and it's cheaper to get my malt from Ireland. Irish Minch, malt or Crisp's Best ale malts are both excellent. I only use Maris Otter when it;s called for by the recipe, like Summer Lightning, for example. It's no better or worse than the other two in my opinion, it just had a characteristic flavour. I also like to use Crisp's Chevallier, but that's got really expensive over the last year. I use Bestmalz Pilsner, and it's cheaper to buy it from Ireland than to get it directly from Germany or buy it in France. Crazy!


That Crisp Chevallier looks like a great malt - love IPA's and Barleywines.


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## An Ankoù

AleByI said:


> That Crisp Chevallier looks like a great malt - love IPA's and Barleywines.


It's a weird one. It's really rich and malty and it just soaks up IBUs. Not sure it'd be the best choice for a hop-forward IPA, though. Great for barley wines.


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## AleByI

An Ankoù said:


> It's a weird one. It's really rich and malty and it just soaks up IBUs. Not sure it'd be the best choice for a hop-forward IPA, though. Great for barley wines.


Good to know your experience. Loads of info on their website Crisp Malt | British Malting Company | Manufacturer & Supplier of UK Malt. And it's been commercially grown in AU since the 60's. I'm liking the flavor and aroma profiles. Thanks for mentioning it. Once I get all set up and the brew rig in place this will be my first malt.


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## mynameisrodney

AleByI said:


> I would guess your name is Rodney  Didn't look into that - still a good thread. May I ask do you buy locally or use an online supplier? That Maris Otter looks to be right up my alley - thx!


It's actually Chris haha. 

I buy locally, mostly from 41 pints in north rocks or Dave's homebrew in North Sydney.


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## philrob

Thomas Fawcett floor malted Maris Otter, also Golden Promise, Weyermann Premium Pilsner, Weiss, and Dunkel Weiss. 
Really depends on what I'm brewing. 
Did an Altbier some years ago with over 90% Munich.


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## yankinoz

I'm thinking of an analogy and making up a story.
Tourist asks, "What gives your tacos their wonderful flavour?"
Woman behind the stand answers, "Strong onions, lots of cilantro, mejorano, garlic, nopales, pasillas, habaneros, chiles de arbol, poncas."
"What meat do you use?"
"Rat, cat, dog, whatever happens by. With all the other flavours no one can tell."
So in an Old Rasputin clone your base malt won't matter. On the other hand one of my all-time favourite beers was brewed to specifications of a Czech brewer who'd contracted to brew it in the US. He introduced Hanka barley to the US and found a small brewery that would malt it themselves.


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