Thank you for joining me on the BeerSmith Home Brewing Blog. I hope this article has helped you to understand base malt flavors and their use in beer brewing. However Munich can be used as a base for any style that leans on the malty side. For example the famous Marzen style from Munich uses 50% Pilsner and 50% Munich. Munich malt is often used in combination with Pilsner for many of the most popular German lagers. It is slightly sweet in flavor, but still has a clean finish. Munich malt has a caramel finish with a cookie bite to it. The light Munich malt is close in color and flavor to mild ale malt. It is often used in combination with Pilsner malt to give a light caramel finish to certain Continental lagers.įinally there is Munich malt which has a fairly wide color range (6-12.5 L) and also comes in a light Munich variation. Unlike mild ale malt, it has a clean finish and also has some caramel character without the toastiness of some other pale malts. Vienna malt is a lesser used base malt that is also just above pale malt in color (3-4 L). It is not that much different from lighter colored Munich malt in practice, though Mild malt from the UK will take on some of the complex English character due to the region where it is grown. ![]() It has a more malty finish with a slight caramel hint, but does not have a lot of toasted character. Mild ale malt is a shade darker (3.5-5.5 L) than Pale malt and can be thought of as the British version of Light Munich malt. I like the additional character of Maris Otter so I use it extensively in making English styles. More flavorful variations like “Maris Otter” are used heavily in duplicating more complex English ale styles such as real ale, bitters, browns, porters and stouts. A clean pale malt like Briess is frequently used as a base for most American ales including pale ales and IPAs. Pale malt is slightly darker than Pilsner (2-4 L), and has a clean malty aroma with slight hints of toast. Pale malt is the workhorse for many ales including as a base for most English styles. The flavors can be fairly subtle which is why it is often used in Continental lagers such as Pilsners, German lagers and some Belgian beers. Pilsner malt, being the lightest of the base malts (1.4-2.2 L) has a clean malty aroma with white bread or cracker qualities. The rule of thumb here is to try to get malt grown in the region for the style you are brewing. So one consideration when selecting a base malt is its origin, as a Pilsner malt grown in the US is likely to be much different than one grown in Germany. Barley is grown throughout the world, and like grapes often takes on the “terrior” or character of the region it is grown in. ![]() Since base malts make up a majority of the malt bill, selecting the right base malt is important for the overall flavor balance of the beer. They typically make up 80% or more of the malt bill, and provide the vast majority of fermentables in a beer. Munich malt is also often used as a base malt in Continental beers, though some consider it to be part of the kilned malt group.īase malts are used as a “base” or foundation for virtually every barley beer. The base malts are the lighted colored malts produced and this group includes: Pilsner malt, Pale malt, Vienna malt and Mild malt. It may be later kilned to make kilned or roasted malts. The seedling is allowed to grow for a few days before it is rapidly dried and to produce malted barley. Many beer styles like IPA were traditionally made with only base malts, and you can brew a large number of styles using 100% base malt.Īs I explained in my earlier article on malting and malt groups, base malts are made from raw barley which is germinated by adding water. The Base Malt Groupīase malts are the most widely used in beer brewing as they make up the vast majority of any malt bill. This week I describe base malts and their use in beer brewing.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |