Identifying unlabeled malt

[trevgale]

So I have found a container of unknown malt (~16kg) that suspect it is Barrett Burston Pale Malt. I must have put in it in there about a year ago without any labelling.

Based on the quantity it could also be Weyermann Premium Pilsner malt, Weyermann Vienna or Marris Otter.

What do you think is the best way to work it out, visual, taste the grain, tiny mash in a glass etc?

Does anybody have a good way of comparing malts that they have come across before?

 

[BrewLizard]

Haha, how does that even happen? Does that mean you have unlabelled bags of each of the other three?

Barrett Burston Pale seems to be pale aka pilsner, and it's debatable whether people can even blindly taste the difference between pale and pilsner malt. I can certainly tell pale ale (or pilsner) and Maris Otter apart, but I don't know about Vienna, other than it would sit somewhere in between.

If you're sure of the 4 possibilities, why not just buy 50g of each from the homebrew shop and match what you have to a known sample?

 

[yankinoz]

Given those possible malts, a mixup won't give you a bad beer, at worst one a bit out of style. What do you plan to brew with it?

 

[trevgale]

Cheers, I did a bit of a visual, taste and then made a small mash using 30g of malt and 100ml of water comparing it to BB Pale. Anyway I am pretty convinced that is what it is and I used it in a pale ale ale.

 

[trevgale]

I brewed a pale ale that should be similar to a 4 pines pale ale with it.