# Tell Me Your Top 5 Specialty Grains



## raven19 (16/10/09)

All,

Keen to know your most popular/favourite 5 (or more if that is the case) specialty grains that are in your AG recipes and grain stores at home.

I have done a number of searches and could not find a similar topic.

This shall help me start my specialty grain library to go with my base malts.

Cheers!


----------



## Zwickel (16/10/09)

at stock:

200kg of Pilsener malt
50kg of wheat malt
50kg Munich malt I
10kg Corne/Maize
2kg acidulated Pilsener malt




Prost :icon_cheers:


----------



## manticle (16/10/09)

I haven't brewed enough to say these are the definitive 5 - they are just 5 that I regularly have on hand and use.

Dingeman's Biscuit Malt (this is lovely)
Joe white chocolate
Joe white light crystal
Joe White Black malt
Joe White Roasted barley

Of these I regularly use the choc, crystal and biscuit in anything of colour. Black and barley are reserved for stouts and my upcoming planned porter.


----------



## Effect (16/10/09)

carapils
crystal medium
crystal dark
choc
roast


edit: I wanted to put down some wheat and munich, but they are base, not specialty


----------



## mje1980 (16/10/09)

No particular order

Pale choc
Choc
Any/all of the weyermann caramunich's
Vienna ( ok this is a base grain, but mostly i use it as a specialty )
Melanoiden ( dont use it often but very handy )

Manticle i just got some dingemans biscuit, what do you think of it, and what style/s does it suit?, i was thinking of doing a simple blonde ale, and adding some in, so i could see what theflavour contribution was. Either that, or use 3-4% in a bitter?

Cheers 

P.S i brew 90% bitters.


----------



## Maple (16/10/09)

Biscuit
Caraaroma
Carafa II
Black patent
Pale chocolate

This is purely because I consider the following base grain:
Rye
Munich I & II
Vienna
Rye
Ale
Pils
Rye


----------



## manticle (16/10/09)

mje1980 said:


> No particular order
> 
> Pale choc
> Choc
> ...



The biscuit gives a distinct nuttiness. I bought it because I love dubbels and it was available in a bulk buy and I got excited so I got 25 kg. Not sure how wise that is for specialty malts as I only ever use a max of 200g in an average recipe. However I'm not sorry I got it - it's lovely.

I guess I see its place more in darker coloured ales but I don't think it would be out of place in something golden or amber or maybe even a pilsner to complement the breadiness. Kind of just musing there but I think I might give it a shot.Anything that relies on malt character could benefit in my slightly uninformed opinion. Not something to be overshadowed by loads of late hopping I reckon.

I'd go the bitter route and keep the other malts to one or two that you're already familiar with and a single hop type. Kind of like a SMASH & SPEC??


----------



## mje1980 (16/10/09)

Cheers mate!


----------



## manticle (16/10/09)

Interested to see what you reckon when it's done.


----------



## haysie (16/10/09)

Weyermann acidulated #1
Melanoiden #2
Special B #3
Barret Choc #4
Carapils #5



Bairds Choc


----------



## Fourstar (16/10/09)

Carafa Special II
JW Caramalt
Weyermann Carared
Weyermann Carapils
Weyermann Caraaroma
JW Roast Barley


I would have Munich in there as my favourite base supplement malt, but unfortunatly its a base, not a specialty.


----------



## Muggus (16/10/09)

Really haven't played around enough with specialties to have favourites unfortunately.
But i''m certainly a big fan of alternate wheat varieties...crystal, chocolate, roasted. Find they produce far different flavours to the barley varities.

And I do love dark crystal and caramalt...as much as i've used light/medium crystal in the past, i think those days have gone.


----------



## chappo1970 (16/10/09)

Maple said:


> Biscuit
> Caraaroma
> Carafa II
> Black patent
> ...



Great minds Maple! :icon_cheers:


----------



## Mantis (16/10/09)

JW Caramalt
Rye
Caraaroma
Chocolate
Caraamber

Rye rocks :icon_chickcheers:


----------



## Thommo (16/10/09)

No particular order:

Amber - In most of my Pale Ales
Carafa II - Great for colour adjustment with subtle impact on flavour
Caraaroma - LOVE this one.
Carapils - use it in most of my lagers (which I don't brew enough of)
Caramunich - Prefer it over Crystal

In number six I'd have Choc Wheat. No idea why, just like it.

And tbh there are still too many that I haven't tried.


----------



## parrja (16/10/09)

When I started out I got a lot of milage out of the following: 

"Bulk" Base Malts:
Pilsner
Ale
Wheat

Specialty grains and lower quantity base malts
Munich
Crystal
Chocolate

This covers (no doubt imperfectly) a lot of styles.


----------



## warra48 (16/10/09)

Crystal, light, medium & dark
Chocolate
Caraaroma
Carahell
Caramunich II

There are others I have, but these are the most used.


----------



## benno1973 (16/10/09)

Pale Choc
Caramunich II
Brown Malt (mmm...)
Carared
Carafa Special


----------



## Muggus (16/10/09)

Is Munich really considered a specialty or base?

It would be well up on my list, but i'd consider it more of a base grain than specialty.


----------



## dj1984 (16/10/09)

Base malt same as Vienna.


----------



## Jazzafish (17/10/09)

> This shall help me start my specialty grain library to go with my base malts.



Basically, buy specialty malt to cover your next few brews as needed. Don't need to store it in bulk unless it is rare/not something that comes up often. Like Special B for example. 

If you really want to keep something on a shelf to stand at attention, I suggest something over the colour spectrum:
English: Bairds Crystal, Chocolate and Roasted Barley
Euro: Weyermann carapils, carared/caramunich and carafa special 2

In the base malts I normally have an ale, pilsner, munich/vienna and wheat. Covers my moods in taste.


----------



## ianh (17/10/09)

No particular order and extract brewer

CaraAmber
CaraAroma
CaraRed
CaraPils
Choc Chit malt


----------



## Barry (17/10/09)

melanoidan
caraaroma
carafra specialI
amber (hopefully English)
a range of others eg Bairds crystal 90.


----------



## beachy (17/10/09)

my favourites are

dingemans biscuit
pale choc
carared
brown
dark crystal
pale wheat (as specialty instead of carapils)


----------



## raven19 (17/10/09)

Thanks all, I have a number of recipes on the cards, however I figured while I was getting these particulr specialty grains I would get a number of others while I am at it.

A great spread of favourites there with some common ones too.

Thanks again!

Cheers!


----------



## drsmurto (19/10/09)

English crystals - bairds and simpson, medium and dark.
Bairds amber/brown
Caramunich
Carafa special
Bairds Pale choc
Flaked barley/oats
Torrified wheat

I could go on but next time you are passing by drop in and check out my wall of spec malts. I think i have the full set...... :icon_chickcheers:


----------



## raven19 (19/10/09)

Dr S - do you try and keep around 1kg of each, more or less? (until it started getting used of course).

(I also now have 7 of those 48L tubs from the Green Shed - they _just _fit a 25kg sack of grain in them indeed. After one brew it shall fit a little better though!)


----------



## drsmurto (19/10/09)

raven19 said:


> Dr S - do you try and keep around 1kg of each, more or less? (until it started getting used of course).
> 
> (I also now have 7 of those 48L tubs from the Green Shed - they _just _fit a 25kg sack of grain in them indeed. After one brew it shall fit a little better though!)



I buy 1kg at a time as the containers i have fit 1kg perfectly.

English crystals and torrified wheat i use more frequently so buy in 2-3kg lots.


----------



## KHB (19/10/09)

I cant stop at 5 i have a big stand with kilo lots of them, plus some bulk base grains


----------



## raven19 (19/10/09)

After totalling the entries thus far (thanks all!) I have a most popular list of the following (3 or more votes) in no particular order:

Biscuit Malt
Chocolate
Medium Crystal
Dark Crystal
Carapils
Choc
Pale Choc
Caramunich
Melanoiden
Caraaroma
Carared
Brown Malt
Caraamber
Caramalt
Carafa 2

Plus many others with 1 or 2 votes...

Darn thats a lot of grains! :icon_cheers:


----------



## raven19 (21/10/09)

Just placed my Specialty Grain order for the following with Wayne:

Roast Barley

Carapils

Dark Crystal

Medium Crystal

Choc Malt

Cara Red

Cara Munich

Cara Aroma

Biscuit

That will cover my next 6 or so planned recipes and aligns pretty closely with the grains suggested by you all in this thread!

Next grain order will be a different set again to slowly build the library!

Cheers.


----------



## Fourstar (21/10/09)

raven19 said:


> Just placed my Specialty Grain order for the following with Wayne:



Looks like a good mix there Raven!

Carapils/Dextrin malt, 1 Light SRM Crystal (carared), 2 medium crystals (Caramunich and Medium Crystal), 1 Dark Crystal, 1 Uber Dark Crystal (Caraaroma), Roasted Malt (Chocolate malt), Roasted raw grain (Roast Barley), and a highly kinled malt (biscuit).

Looks like you have covered all spectrums! Think about giving Carafa special a go too! There is something i just looooove about the dehusked chocolate malt, its so uber smooth, nutty and bittersweet! :icon_drool2:


----------



## raven19 (21/10/09)

Fourstar said:


> Looks like you have covered all spectrums! Think about giving Carafa special a go too! There is something i just looooove about the dehusked chocolate malt, its so uber smooth, nutty and bittersweet! :icon_drool2:



Thanks mate, I already have it on the next list.
Its hard to hold back and not buy one of everything!
Give it time.... :icon_cheers:


----------



## brettprevans (21/10/09)

lets see. when i got all my grains for starting AG (plus other grain from extracts etc) I got 
generic light crystal
caraaoma (dark crystal)
Caramunich (medium crystal)
carapils
black patent
choc malt

now really i need to add some carared & Melanoiden to my collection.


----------



## Pennywise (21/10/09)

Here's mine

Med Crystal
Choc Chit Malt
Caramalt
Roast Barley
Caraaroma

It is really mean of you to limit us to just 5 though


----------



## raven19 (21/10/09)

Not limiting the list to 5, but I thought it would make a great starting point!

Add more if you need to...


----------



## Tony (21/10/09)

only 5?

I have about 25 in stock!

top 5

Bairds Pale Crystal (100 ebc)
Weyermann carahell
Bairds Chocolate malt
JW caramalt
Weyermann Choc wheat

love em.

high raters:

Carared
Carafa scec malts
Pale choc
Standard crystal
flaked barley
Flaked maize

yum yum


----------



## Stubbie (21/10/09)

Tony said:


> Bairds Pale Crystal (100 ebc)
> Weyermann carahell
> Bairds Chocolate malt
> JW caramalt
> Weyermann Choc wheat



Tony,

Find much difference b/w JW caramalt and W carahell?


----------



## Tony (21/10/09)

hell yeah

The carahell is only 26 ebc and the caramalt is usually around the 50 mark

Carahell i use in beers i want to add a subtle honey sweetnes to ballance a bitterness or add a subtle maltiness to say......... a weizen. I use min 5% and up to 10%. Adds body and sweetness similar to carapills but better IMO.

Caramalt is a bit more in your face. I use it around the 5% mark in an Aussie pale ale or where i want a more prominent malt sweetness.

2 similar malts that can be used to two very different resuts

Thats the joy of brewing

cheers


----------



## Stubbie (21/10/09)

Thanks Tony.

Haven't used caramalt but find I can detect the carahell sweetness in even small amounts ie. < 5%. For my palate, anyway. Got near 5 kg of carahell and have been too apprehensive about using much more than 5%. Gonna last me for ages unless I up the ante.

Cheers


----------



## Pumpy (22/10/09)

raven19 said:


> All,
> 
> Keen to know your most popular/favourite 5 (or more if that is the case) specialty grains that are in your AG recipes and grain stores at home.
> 
> ...



English Pale Chocolate 600 EBC
Munich 1
Caramunich 1
Caramunich 2
Dark Crystal 

Pumpy


----------



## technocat (22/10/09)

And here's mine

MUNICH 1
CARAR0MA
MELANOIDIN
CHOC
FLAKED MAIZE


----------



## Pennywise (22/10/09)

Damn, I forgot about Carahell


----------



## raven19 (22/10/09)

Homebrewer79 said:


> Damn, I forgot about Carahell



Not to worry mate, I reckon it will be on my next buy of spec grains!


----------



## Fourstar (22/10/09)

Stubbie said:


> Haven't used caramalt but find I can detect the carahell sweetness in even small amounts ie. < 5%. For my palate, anyway. Got near 5 kg of carahell and have been too apprehensive about using much more than 5%. Gonna last me for ages unless I up the ante.



Caramalt is beauuutiful in heavily hopped american beers. The sweetness helps pull the malt forward and balance it out a little. almost a requirement for my AIPAs (except the next one, im doing a Vinnie C beer and he believed crystal has no place in an IPA! )


----------



## reviled (22/10/09)

Munich is a base malt you silly people  But if its classed as a specialty, it would be up there in my top 5 for sure cos I put it in everything!!!

Mine would have to be

1. CaraPils 
2. CaraRed - I use carared and carapils exclusively in my AIPA's, with a bit of munich its the perfect combo IMO
3. CaraMunich II
4. CaraAmber
5. CaraAroma

In saying that, I try to have a big stock at all times, I probably have about 10 or more specialtys in stock atm... B)


----------



## DiscoStu (22/10/09)

These are what I have used most since and keep at least a kilo of each on hand since I went AG

Carafa II
Light Crystal
Choc Malt
Roasted Barley
Brown Malt


----------



## technocat (22/10/09)

reviled said:


> Munich is a base malt you silly people  But if its classed as a specialty, it would be up there in my top



I have never used it as a base malt and have almost a full 25 kilo bag of it as I use it a fair bit. Interesting option, probably worth trying.

:icon_cheers:


----------



## Pennywise (22/10/09)

Beernut said:


> I have never used it as a base malt and have almost a full 25 kilo bag of it as I use it a fair bit. Interesting option, probably worth trying.
> 
> :icon_cheers:




Good for Dunkelweizens so I've read/heard, I'm having a crack at a partial with 2kg on the weekend, 50/50 wheat/munich2. In my new mashtun


----------



## drsmurto (22/10/09)

Beernut said:


> I have never used it as a base malt and have almost a full 25 kilo bag of it as I use it a fair bit. Interesting option, probably worth trying.
> 
> :icon_cheers:



Munich Dunkel! :icon_drool2:


----------



## Fourstar (22/10/09)

Beernut said:


> I have never used it as a base malt and have almost a full 25 kilo bag of it as I use it a fair bit. Interesting option, probably worth trying.





DrSmurto said:


> Munich Dunkel!


Beat me to it!

Oktoberfest/Marzen :icon_drool2: :icon_drool2:


----------



## raven19 (11/11/09)

Grain Order #2.

Special B
Pale Choc
Caramunich 1
Caramunich 2
Carafa 2
Melanoiden


Slowly collecting the set... grabbing some extra caramunich 1 for some repeated upcoming brews. :icon_drool2:


----------



## manticle (11/11/09)

A few people (myself included) mentioned biscuit malt. Recent readings suggest to me this is actually a malt that needs to be mashed. I throw all my grains in the tun together so that bit doesn't affect my brewing but I am curious. Is it defined as base or spec?


----------



## fcmcg (11/11/09)

manticle said:


> A few people (myself included) mentioned biscuit malt. Recent readings suggest to me this is actually a malt that needs to be mashed. I throw all my grains in the tun together so that bit doesn't affect my brewing but I am curious. Is it defined as base or spec?


Manticle,
According to Palmers "How to Brew ", page 124 ,Amber Malt 25 L ( eg Biscuit , Victory both tm) is a kilned malt that needs to be mashed.... so , i'm guessing its a base malt ?
As you throw it all in the tun , it's no prob !
Hope this helps
Cheers
Ferg
edit..further eading says typically its 10 per cent max of the garin bill..so maybe its a spec that must be mashed ?
Bugger...now i'm confused


----------



## bum (11/11/09)

From Dingemans' webpage:



> Biscuit (Mout Roost 50) (18 - 27 L)
> This toasted malt will provide a warm bread or biscuit flavor and aroma and will lend a garnet-brown color. Use 5-15% maximum. No enzymes. Must be mashed with malts having surplus diastatic power.


----------



## raven19 (12/11/09)

Imo - If you cant use it to at least 50% say of the grain bill (similar to say wheat) then I would wager it is a specialty malt - but happy to be corrected on this item.

I ordered some of it in my previous grain purchase - looking forward to using it!


----------



## Fourstar (12/11/09)

manticle said:


> A few people (myself included) mentioned biscuit malt. Recent readings suggest to me this is actually a malt that needs to be mashed. I throw all my grains in the tun together so that bit doesn't affect my brewing but I am curious. Is it defined as base or spec?





raven19 said:


> Imo - If you cant use it to at least 50% say of the grain bill (similar to say wheat) then I would wager it is a specialty malt - but happy to be corrected on this item.



I'd concur with it being a specialty. In my books, a specialty grain is one you would not want to make a beer with 100% of it for the grist.

Also, the higher the kilning of the malt, the lower the diastatic power it has (enzyme conversion). I'd say a grist with 100% amber/biscuit malt would struggle to fully convert itself anyway. Same thing goes for Melanoiden too. '

So they are not grains for steepers unless they plan on minimashing them with some base malt. Even 50:50 with pils malt would be worthwhile as pils has a high diastatic power to aid in conversion without having to add bucketloads of grain.


----------



## manticle (12/11/09)

Fourstar said:


> I'd concur with it being a specialty. In my books, a specialty grain is one you would not want to make a beer with 100% of it for the grist.
> 
> Also, the higher the kilning of the malt, the lower the diastatic power it has (enzyme conversion). I'd say a grist with 100% amber/biscuit malt would struggle to fully convert itself anyway. Same thing goes for Melanoiden too. '
> 
> So they are not grains for steepers unless they plan on minimashing them with some base malt. Even 50:50 with pils malt would be worthwhile as pils has a high diastatic power to aid in conversion without having to add bucketloads of grain.



I guess the thing I was getting at is whether a base malt is called so because it's generally the basis for a beer or because it needs to undergo conversion.

My guess is base= basis but it's good to clarify.


----------



## raven19 (12/3/10)

Grabbing 1kg of the following next week for some more brews...

Carafa Special

Bairds Brown Malt

Bairds Black Malt

Pale Choc

Choc Chit

Simpsons Imperial


----------



## Bizier (12/3/10)

Cool thread.

I love the following:

Caraaroma
Carahell
Brown
Bairds Pale Choc
Simpsons Med Crystal (with milk in the morning)

ED: perhaps the last entry should be Wey Munich II which I have been using a fair bit of recently.


----------



## stux (31/1/12)

Munich is base malt 

Given that, my favourites are

Melanoiden
Chocolate
Caramunich
Carabohemia
Heritage Crystal

and an honorable mention for Carafa Special II, the speciality malt I keep in small quantities


----------



## browndog (31/1/12)

light crystal
dark crystal
carapils
amber
pale choc


----------



## Sunshine_Brewer (31/1/12)

Victory
CaraMunich II
Dark crystal (Heritage or TF)
Choc Wheat
Pale Choc

Just brewed a DunklerWeizenBock today with most of the above :chug:


----------



## benno1973 (31/1/12)

So many to choose from, but my favourites (in no particular order) would be:

Munich 1
Caramunich 1
Brown
Pale Choc
Carared


----------



## adryargument (31/1/12)

Special b
Crystals
Choc
Carafa
Carared

Have around 20-35kg of specials of about 15-20 varieties. I use an average of 500g of a couple per 45l batch.
+ sack each of Munich Vienna carared


----------



## ianh (1/2/12)

Acidulated - to reduce pH on light brews
Aromatic
CaraAmber
CaraAroma
CaraRed

Brew mainly Irish Reds and ESB/Pale ales


----------



## Pennywise (1/2/12)

Pale crystal
dark crystal
caramalt
cara aroma
pale choc


----------



## MarkBastard (1/2/12)

Munich
Caramunich
Chocolate
Biscuit
Carafa Special


----------



## Amber Fluid (1/2/12)

Wheat
Choc
CaraAmber
CaraMalt
Caramunich II


----------

