Wanting to know what the major differences are between crystal malt and caramunich malt. Can they be readily substituted for each other without any real noticeable differences in flavour or colour? Are there members that would create a certain style that would require the use of say dark crystal and feel that substituting caramunich III for example would be out of character??
Interested in your opinions....
Caramunich is the German equivilant of a medium crystal malt. Caramunich and Medium Crystal is interchangable. From what ive found the the kining of local Australian medium crystals (e.g. joe white) can vary in EBC/SRM signifigantly compared to weyermanns crystal malts. Weyermann has a wider product range which also helps them accomodate for this and keep their kilning stock standard.
E.g. Weyermann have a light to medium crystal range of Carared, Caraamber, Caramunich I, II, & 3 compared to joe white having caramalt (like carared) crystal (a medium crystal like caramunich,) and dark crystal (80L dark crystal which is pushing caraaroma)
Saying that, buy some of each and try them. I find if i use caramunich on its own its overly cloying and i use it rarely. Im a big fan personally of blending the ultra light crystals (caramalt/carared) with the mediums (caramunich/jw crystal) to get a balanced crystal malt palate.
As for the substitution thing. Dark crystal (atleast the JW malts) are pushing burnt toffee and dark fruit overtones, more akin to caraaroma than caramunich both of whcih can be quite intense if used in high %'s.
Easiest way to interchange them is to have a look at their respective EBC/SRM on their websites and substitute within their ranges. After all, its the degree of how they are kilned that gives you that distinct flavour within that colour range.
