Specialty Malt To Stock In Personal Inventory.

[Thirsty Boy]

Hey Guys,

I've got myself a mill and a nice (free) supply of schooner malt that will work well for a variety of ales and lagers. Ditto for hops. And I'm going to start gathering yeast soon. So I'm thinking I might start to keep a modest inventory of specialty malt at home, so I dont have to run off to the LHBS every single time I want to brew.

I can keep on hand a constant 15-20kg of pale and I'd like to have enough specialty malt to do a couple/few brews worth between stock-ups. So what should I keep on hand to give me a nice wide choice of beers I can make without leaving the comfort of my humble home.

I was thinking maybe

5kg Boh Pils (to mix in with the schooner for better flavour in actual pilsners/lagers)
5kg Munich
5kg Wheat malt
2kg light crystal
2kg med crystal
2kg dark crystal
2kg flaked Barley
1kg Chocolate (dark)
1kg Chocolate (light)
1kg Melanoidin
1kg Roast Barley

plus whatever flaked oats, four, sugars, polenta etc etc lives in the pantry at the moment anyway.

Of course if I am brewing something that just cant live without Marris Otter or Pure Weyermann Pils... I'll go get it. But this is for a waking up on Sunday morning and thinking "I'd like to brew today, what shall I make?" and not being stymied by the fact that G&G isn't open.

I could probably live without the Boh pils and I think I'd like to keep it to 12 or less . What have I forgotten that I just cant live without?

Thanks

Thirsty

 

[Adamt]

I do know a few people who would say:

"Where's the rye?!?!"

Also, what about an ambery/biscuit malt?

 

[DJR]

+ Carafa Special III

Easily the best malt out there for colour adjustment - just really really smooth. Would be excellent in Porters and Stouts, i did a Schwarz with it (along with Choc Wheat and Farbmalz) and was really good.

I'm not sure if there is a need for all 3 crystals and 2 chocolates, i think 2 crystals and 1 choc would be enough (or maybe some Choc wheat instead/as well)

It is really good to have a lot of specialty malt on hand though.

What about Carapils or some pale caramel malt like Cara-Amber or Caramalt?

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Adam,

Perhaps a Bairds Amber - I seem to recall that being a biscuity malt and I've heard it suggested as a substitution for the "Biscuit Malt" that you see used in recipes out of america.

Rye I will leave for those occasions when I do the run to the LHBS. I like it, but I dont know how often I will use it.

DJR,

Cara-pils is used mainly as a body enhancer Yes?? and I've never actually understood the technical difference between a Caramel malt and a Crystal malt.... I thought one was just the German version of the other. How far off track am I?

I like having the different crystals, I like to use a combo of different levels of EBC to give it a bit of complexity without upping the colour too much, but maybe 2 different chocolates is going too far I might go for JWM choc which is inbetween the Bairds light and dark versions.

Who stocks the Carafa special III ? I haven't used it, but it sounds like it might be really handy.


I also thought that I should probably get a little CaraAroma to use when the damn americans etc suggest Special B in a recipe. Thats an OK sub isn't it?.

So Now my list might go

5kg Weyerman Boh Pils (to mix in with the schooner for better flavour in actual pilsners/lagers)
5kg JWM Munich
5kg JWM Wheat malt
2kg JWM Light crystal
2kg JWM Crystal
2kg JWM Dark crystal
2kg Flaked Barley
1kg Roast Barley
1kg JWM Chocolate
1kg Bairds Amber
1kg Weyeman Melanoidin
1kg Weyermann CaraAroma

and maybe a few hundred grams of Carafa special III

Better?

 

[Stuster]

Crystal malts and cara-whatever are the same thing as you say. How about some Caramunich for Belgian/German beers? I'd say go with the Bairds Amber. Nice in British and American styles. Caraaroma as you say is a sub for Special B. I've been using the Bairds Pale Chocolate recently and really like it. (Jamil likes it too. )

 

[pint of lager]

How much crystal do you use per brew? 250 gms?

You have 6 kg listed which at 250 gms per brew means 24 brews. Same with your dark specialty grains. A kilo of roast or black goes a long way.

Crystal is not a necessary component in every recipe. Also, I read somewhere that the specialty malts even uncrushed do not have as good a shelf life as the base grains. So you may want to back right off on the quantities.

That way, you will not end up trying to devise recipes to use up the end dregs of old stock. Or feeding it to the chooks.

Going to the brewshop to stock up is alot of fun. No need to hold so much stock if you live within easy driving distance to G&G.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Crystal malts and cara-whatever are the same thing as you say. How about some Caramunich for Belgian/German beers? I'd say go with the Bairds Amber. Nice in British and American styles. Caraaroma as you say is a sub for Special B. I've been using the Bairds Pale Chocolate recently and really like it. (Jamil likes it too. )

So... I've still not quite got it. Caramunich I, II & III are essentially just three different sorts of Crystal malt... yeah, of course they are German varieties and the maltsters different methods will impact the flavours, but thats basically what they are..

So could I sub on eof the crystals I am already going ot have in stock for the Caramunichs

The plain Caramunich thing still confuses me... there are the 3 weyermann varieties, which we have just worked out are essentially just crystal malts. But then people talk about Caramunich... just plain, no numbers and I think they are talking about a different thing. Or are they just talking about caramunich 1 or an equivalent product?? Its got me buggered. Not that I can get any versions of carmunich apart from the I, II, and III versions. I just want to know what the hell people are talking about so I can make a reasonable sub.

Sorry to blather... but its always bugged me.

Thirsty

 

[Stuster]

I think the three Caramunich varieties are fairly similar. So maybe that's why people just refer to them as the name without a number. They are different to the Joe White/English crystal malts, but just in the same way that base malts differ. Yep, just sub caramunich whichever for one of the crystals you have. I think PoL has a good point. 1kg of each crystal (or caramunich ) would be plenty. (and of flaked barley come to that)

 

[browndog]

Hi TB, I've got exactly what you have described there with the inclusion of
1kg peat smoked malt,
1kg Black malt (great for altering colour in small amounts)
1kg carared.
A good allround selection, you can make just about anything you like from that lot.

cheers

Browndog

 

[Thirsty Boy]

So I'll settle on - - -

5kg Weyerman Boh Pils (to mix in with the schooner for better flavour in actual pilsners/lagers)
5kg JWM Munich
5kg JWM Wheat malt
1kg JWM Light crystal
2kg JWM Crystal
1kg JWM Dark crystal
2kg Flaked Barley
1kg Roast Barley
1kg JWM Chocolate
1kg Bairds Amber
1kg Weyeman Melanoidin
1kg Weyermann CaraAroma

and maybe a few hundred grams of Carafa special III (which I will use for colour adjustment in leiu of Black Malt.

Dont want to cut down the amount of Black Barley or Flaked Barley, because I want enough to brew a dry stout with, but still have some left over in case I need them for other things. I can afford the couple of bucks replacement ot stop them going stale, after all, I'm gettin gmy base malt for nix

I'll see how I go with that lot for a start.

Thanks for the input guys

Thirsty

 

[johnno]

I usually have JW dark and light crystal.
JW choc.
JW roasted malt and roasted barley.
Powells caramalt.
I toast my own amber and brown.

I need to get a few more when I visit the shop.

cheers
johnno

 

[Cortez The Killer]

My current inventory looks like this

16,250g Ale Malt
880g Crystal Medium
500g Crystal Pale
250g Crystal Dark
100g Torrified Wheat
100g Black Malt
500g Roast Barley
450g Chocolate Malt
16,000g Wheat Malt
21,100g Pilsner Malt
1,000g Munich (Light) Malt
2,000g Melandonian Malt
3,360g Carapils

Don't know if that is any help to you

If i need anything else its just a quick order with Ross

Cheers