Favourite Base Pale Malt

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Newbee(r)

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I have about 5kg of Marris Otter left so after the next batch I will be looking to buy another 25kg bag.

Keen to get peoples views on preferred base pale malts. Marris has a great smell, intense malt biscuit flavour that mellows with conditioning, and seems to cover most of my favourite styles of ales. I have been averaging 75% attenuation with this and have had both clear and slightly hazy beers using it. It is also a bit more expensive, not that this is a massive concern.

So, suggestions? Go with what seems to be working or have a crack at another pale?
 
I love Bairds Perle. Not as biscuity or "aley" as MO, it still has great malt flavour and aroma and goes great in blonde ales as well - I reckon I could very well do a convincing lager with it, but at the same time it makes brilliant UK bitters and pale ales.

Edit; spelung
 
I love MO, i have simpsons MO and TF MO, and i love both. I can't pick a difference, though i've been doing lots of mild ales so the darkness makes it hard. I got halcyon not long ago, and really liked it too, its a little less "nutty", but still malty. i used it in a UK blonde and it was delicious. Would use it again for sure. Keen to try Golden promise, but not sure about getting a whole sack of it.
 
I have a lot of love for Barret Burston ale malt having just finished a sack of it. It's got a pleasant malt character, without being too biscuity and not too sweet. It deserves a lot of love. Goes with every occasion like your little black dress!
 
I have a lot of love for Barret Burston ale malt having just finished a sack of it. It's got a pleasant malt character, without being too biscuity and not too sweet. It deserves a lot of love. Goes with every occasion like your little black dress!


+1

This is the base malt that i am using. I like it a lot. It's also (as far as i know) the cheapest base malt available and i love it.

Does great ales, pretty good lager knock offs and at $56 bucks a sack, means i can do a batch of beer including hops and yeast for around $15.

What's not to like about that??
 
The big advantage of BB Ale is its fierce diastatic power compared to the modern UK malts, which can only convert around 13% adjuncts. So if I'm doing, say my Yorkshire gold with a good whack of maize in it I'll sub a kilo of Perle / MO with a kilo of BB and get the job done properly. I did an experimental mash with a kilo of BB and half a kilo of Polenta and it zapped it totally in around 3 minutes in a cereal mash :eek:

Also, Bring back BB Galaxy ... waaaah waaahh
 
Newbee®, what types of beer are you thinking of making with your next few brews?
 
Newbee, what types of beer are you thinking of making with your next few brews?

weyermann bohemian pilsner for any lager

thomas fawcett golden promise for any english ale

joe white ale for any apa or ipa


i differ from most brewers on this forum and dont particularly like maris otter
 
+1 for Bairds Perle. It's my new favourite base malt. Base malts need to be flexible, good flavour and cheap as chips by comparison to most.

I can mash a little higher for a really malty flavour, mash lower and it attenuates out nicely whilst still providing a good malt backbone to offset just about any hops I throw at it. And I've used it for APA, AAA, Northern Brown Ale and will attempt an Aussie Ale with it too - so flexible and good flavour.

Oh did I mention cheap?
 
Newbee, what types of beer are you thinking of making with your next few brews?

A scotch ale will finish off this sack - will be having a crack at the skullsplitter recipe I found on here. After that, I am thinking of a TT Landlord, then Dr Smurtos Golden Ale as it seems to get a great rap here, a strong english IPA, another yet to be determined APA and then keen on an oatmeal stout.

There are so many possibilities really, but I don't tend to go in for the lagers too much - they tend to be a bit thin for my palate. Don't mind a pilsner though.
 
The big advantage of BB Ale is its fierce diastatic power compared to the modern UK malts, which can only convert around 13% adjuncts. So if I'm doing, say my Yorkshire gold with a good whack of maize in it I'll sub a kilo of Perle / MO with a kilo of BB and get the job done properly. I did an experimental mash with a kilo of BB and half a kilo of Polenta and it zapped it totally in around 3 minutes in a cereal mash :eek:

Also, Bring back BB Galaxy ... waaaah waaahh

Bribie, does the base malt dictate the conversion of adjuncts? If adding adjuncts to a mash whats the easy peasy that conversion has taken place?
Nothing smarty in the question but I have problems with a high adjunct mash, where it just stops after a very vigourous fermentation......dead only 8 points off a 1066. Add more yeast and 3 weeks later I have a result. Yet to drink it but disapointed my initial huge starter blew and stopped.
The adjunct was polenta at about 20%+ of the grist.
 
Ok, what base malt did you use? I can imagine a situation where the base malt such as Golden Promise etc (not too diastatic) initially converted the adjunct (say a shitload of maize / polenta) into unfermentable dextrins then maybe ran out of steam and the wort ended up very dextrinous and didn't ferment down too well from that point. Most Aus and Weyermann base malts supposedly can take 30% adjuncts. If you have room in the schedule I'd definitely try it again with a high diastatic malt like BB Ale / Pilsner and the 20% polenta - I've never had it happen to me, but with bigger amounts of adjunct I use the likes of BB - I expect Joe White would be similar.
 
A scotch ale will finish off this sack - will be having a crack at the skullsplitter recipe I found on here. After that, I am thinking of a TT Landlord, then Dr Smurtos Golden Ale as it seems to get a great rap here, a strong english IPA, another yet to be determined APA and then keen on an oatmeal stout.

There are so many possibilities really, but I don't tend to go in for the lagers too much - they tend to be a bit thin for my palate. Don't mind a pilsner though.

With that list of upcoming beers, I would purchase a sack of Golden Promise.
 

Seems right out of character, if you gave the polenta a good boil etc. The Yorkshire Gold at the brew day had 500g polenta in - as an example of a polenta beer - dunno what to suggest. <_<
 
With that list of upcoming beers, I would purchase a sack of Golden Promise.


Sounds like a plan - I'll look into this and the Baird Perle I think - the BB is also worth a couple of kg for the stouts by the sounds of it.

Thanks all for the advice.

J
 
Sounds like a plan - I'll look into this and the Baird Perle I think - the BB is also worth a couple of kg for the stouts by the sounds of it.

Thanks all for the advice.

J


Where would you buy the sack of grain from? would you goto a LHBS like Grain and Grape, or go directly to a malter/wholesaler? Can anyone recommend a source in Vic?

If $1/Kg is possible i'll rather get it direct from the supplier!
 
Where would you buy the sack of grain from? would you goto a LHBS like Grain and Grape, or go directly to a malter/wholesaler? Can anyone recommend a source in Vic?

If $1/Kg is possible i'll rather get it direct from the supplier!

For single sacks, if G&G is your local shop then go with them. A saving is possible if you get involved in a local bulk buy. But even then you won't be getting English malt for $1/kg.
 
Where would you buy the sack of grain from? would you goto a LHBS like Grain and Grape, or go directly to a malter/wholesaler? Can anyone recommend a source in Vic?

If $1/Kg is possible i'll rather get it direct from the supplier!
Yes, you can buy it by the sack from Grain and Grape, and possibly some of the other "specialist" LHBS in Melbourne (i.e. don't expect Brewcraft to stock it). If you don't need the entire 25 kilos, ask about their grain book, which allows you to pre-purchase 25 kilos worth, and collect it in dribs and drabs as you want to brew with it.

I don't think you're going to find anywhere selling around the $1/kg price. Cheapest I've encountered lately was through a bulk buy organised on this forum. Joe White Trad Ale was about $32 for a 25 kilo sack. You'll need to keep your eyes on the Bulk Buy forum for the next time these come up, it's usually about twice a year, or whenever somebody can be bothered puling their finger out.
 
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