# Any experience using Malt Flour



## mosto (13/11/14)

I found out recently that among the various products my company sells is Dark Malt Flour. I spoke to the head of our R&D to confirm if it is made from malted barley, which it is. It's used in the baking industry as it is diastatic and reacts with the yeast to help baking products rise. I grabbed a few kilos (I'm certainly not in management, but high enough up the tree to grab of few kilos now and then and nobody cares), thinking it was basically dark DME, or at least a substitute for it, mainly to use in starters. I cracked some open last night to put in a starter, but on tasting it it's certainly not DME as it's not sweet, but actually has a bitter choc taste to it.

A bit more googling would confirm that, while it is not fermentable in it's current state, it can certainly be added to a mash as there are starches and enzymes present. So while not suitable for my original intended purpose, I'm thinking it could be used in the mash in small quantities, maybe as a crystal substitute. Has anyone had any experience using this? It has quite a strong flavour, so I'm thinking maybe a max of 200g in a 20L batch. I'm brewing a recipe I've done many times this weekend, which has 200-250g of light crystal in it, so I may take that out and sub in around 100g of the dark malt flour to see what effect it has.

I used to use 250g of Carapils in this, and most, of my brews for head formation/retention, but now use flaked wheat instead as I found I can get that from work for nothing as well :beerbang:


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