Dark Grain Preferences . . .

[Halowords]

Curious about two things.

First, what is your favorite dark (roasted) grain for flavoring a Stout? If you want adendums(sp?), how does this preference change between the Dry/Irish Stouts, Sweet/Cream Stouts, Oatmeal Stout, Foreign Export Stouts (FES), and Russian Imperial Stouts (RIS)?

Second, perhaps more important question, why? What does each malt bring to the proverbial table in terms of taste? I know Black Patent has a reputation for being sharp and harsh/astringent, but a late mash addition a/o cold steeping seem to be the most reliable ways of combatting that, so I'm looking more for taste qualities, but any opinions are welcome.

So, any preferences a/o rationales behind the malts?

-Cheers

 

[tdh]

Grumpy's stocks the Thomas Fawcett range of roasted malts from the UK e.g. Chocolate Malt, Black Malt and Roasted Barley. Also Weyermann Chocolate Wheat and Carafa Special 2 Roasted Malt (dehusked roast malt).

www.grumpys.com.au

tdh

 

[Justin]

I like the Carafa Specials from Weyermann in my stouts. They may not necessarily be exactly to style in some stouts (and I do like big strong traditional stouts) but I do like the smooth roastiness you can get from this malt. To hell with styles anyway, I make beers that I like, but I do like a traditionally made stout as well. Most of the people that drink my Carafa Sp made stouts actually really like them and are amazed that they dont have that really bitey bitter roast that some people don't like about stout. I also like Thomas Fawcett malts, nice flavours.

A search on google should reveal the answers to your questions regarding flavour contributions of different dark malts.

Cheers, Justin