Barret Burston - Ale Or Galaxy?

[Bizier]

I have a sack of MO coming in the post, but I was wondering about a second, more cost effective base grain to have on hand. I pan on making a lot of english milds and bitters, which tells me to get the ale, but I also would like to have a light base on hand for various beers, so the galaxy appeals too.

Can anyone suggest if one is a clear leader of these two, I am tending toward the ale at the moment.

BTW it looks like I will be AG BIAB rather than my initial plan to do partials.

Any advice appreciated.
Dan

 

[devo]

The galaxy would not be my choice for UK type beers and I personally don't use ale malt when making lagers. If you are looking for a more duel purpose malt then I'd probably go for neither and get Barret Burston Pale (lager) malt.

 

[Adamt]

I would personally get Galaxy.. for ales you can always just boost it a little with some Munich. Besides... if you're making mostly milds and bitters you would use the Maris Otter, no?

 

[Bribie G]

Whilst many breweries such as Marstons use Maris Otter, another popular base malt is Perle, which I have used a couple of times in partials. Galaxy is also good if you are going to add some adjuncts such as maize or even rice. Checkout the ingredients on this site:

http://www.hydesbrewery.co.uk/html/hydesbitter.html

 

[jayandcath]

I have a sack of MO coming in the post, but I was wondering about a second, more cost effective base grain to have on hand. I pan on making a lot of english milds and bitters, which tells me to get the ale, but I also would like to have a light base on hand for various beers, so the galaxy appeals too.

Can anyone suggest if one is a clear leader of these two, I am tending toward the ale at the moment.

BTW it looks like I will be AG BIAB rather than my initial plan to do partials.

Any advice appreciated.
Dan

I use both in a few different beers, and the big difference that I see is the Galaxy mash's better (more tolerant). But both are good IMO, and I don't think you will go wrong with either. But the Galaxy is preferred when using adjuncts.

Jay

 

[dr K]

Galaxy is a freaky strain.
It was designed from the ground up for Japanese Export.
Used 100% it will produce a very clean, very dry beer that requires minimal filtration. Most brewers I know keep it on hand as mash-improver. It converts remarkably quickly so if using large proportions make sure you get your mash temp set first go.

K

 

[berapnopod]

Hmmm, I would go along with Galaxy over the Ale but with the slant that Galaxy does a good job in the mash, and the Ale is a load of crap.
I find the ale gives poorly attenuated beers unless it is mashed very low, and am now tinkering with a rest at 60C for limit dextrinase to get the most out of it. For the more seasoned brewers out there, this is the fabled schooner malt.

Berp.

 

[mje1980]

I am a huge fan of MO, and do a lot of english beers with it, top stuff.

I like to have pilsner on hand for blond ales, summer ales, koelsch, all the light easy drinking beers, and an APA done with pils comes out very nice.

Just my .02 cents mate.

 

[Bizier]

OK, can anyone suggest a good basic ale malt besides BB Ale?

I like the idea of galaxy on hand though, I might keep a few kilos around.

Cheers
Dan

 

[Bribie G]

I'm using Galaxy in my partial fake lagers a-la-Queensland-Summer. As above post suggested even using Nottingham Yeast you would swear you were drinking an Australian commercial lager, not an ale. Prolly wouldn't look at it for a Pommy ale.

 

[Batz]

I consider Galaxy more of a pilsner malt,you wouldn't use pils malt for a English Ale. I'll use the BB ale for that style.

Batz

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

I agree

BB ale is the malt to use for bitters

 

[dr K]

Oh dear bit of a bummer here:

For the more seasoned brewers out there, this is the fabled schooner malt.

Its not, lately it has been 100% Gairdner, recently 40% Baudin has been added and in other blends 40% Quasar.
Its a fine malt, but for $1 a kilo extra I find the British malts superior for ales, I understand the german malts are very good for lagers at about the same price break.
If I had an ache to make Tooheys Old or VB then yes this is the malt I would use along with 30% sucrose.
When I have a totally bullet-proof malt like MO available, why bother with anything else for ales, except maybe Halcyon, but that is another story.

K

 

[Steve]

Im currently drinking a very nice apa made with BB Galaxy and BB Ale. Call me a slob but im stuffed if a can tell the difference between BBAle and MO :icon_chickcheers:
Cheers
Steve

 

[Bizier]

I like your thinking on economics here Dr K... it flies in the face of 'the law of diminishing returns' at the current price point.

I might have to get a few kilos of BB Ale and play around with brewing VS identical MO batches and let my palate guide my wallet.

 

[berapnopod]

WRT BB Ale being Schooner malt:

Its not,

Yes it is, Kurtz. At least the two sacks of the stuff I bought in Sept is.
Below is the report:

BB487AleMalt.pdf

Berp.

 

[wessmith]

Looking at the C of A for the BBM Ale malt; I am surprised that they used 100% schooner. The properties of Schooner malt are well known and dont lend themselves to a good craft brewing malt. I well remember the "old days" when all we could get was either Schooner or Franklin malts. It didnt matter what you did in the mash tun, the final result was always a "fat" beer. Too dextrinous and poorly attenuated. Just the thing for a VB/New et al as Kurtz indicated.

The C of A also tells a story. Note the crop year is 2006, malted in July 2008. Also note the protein content is very high at 11.5% (1.84 x 6.25) This is NOT ale malt territory and is probably a result of the drought crop back in 2006. To compensate for this high protein level, the Kolbach index of modification is VERY high and indeed out of spec as you can see from the "max" column. Finally the DP (distatic power) is quite low for an Aussie malt and certainly for the colour which is also at the low end of the spec indicating moderate kilning.

Maybe BBM were out of Gairdner when this batch was done? Also the blend that Kurtz mentioned containg Quaser at 40% - Quaser was developed as a successor to Galaxy. Go figure.....

If you want to brew classic English ales you need the traditional malts and these days you have both the Bairds and Thomas Fawcett offerings.

Wes

 

[The King of Spain]

Im currently drinking a very nice apa made with BB Galaxy and BB Ale. Call me a slob but im stuffed if a can tell the difference between BBAle and MO :icon_chickcheers:
Cheers
Steve

I make all my ales with BB Galaxy and BB Ale, usually with 3 kg of Ale and 2 kg Galaxy + .2kg wheat.

So there is my answer, get both :icon_cheers: