I was looking through my Northern Brewer catalog and was studying up on base malts. I saw this kind offered by the Fawcett Maltsters named Optic.

It is made from a single barley variety grown in the UK.  It seems to be a newer variety than Maris Otter, and it is a spring variety.  Fawcett follows the traditional floor malting procedure when making Optic malt.

A few forums noted that the kernel size may be a little smaller than other base malts.   As with any new base malt you’re trying out, you may need to adjust your mill to get the crush you need for your usual mashing experience.

Flavor:  Very aromatic.  Adds a good amount of biscuit flavor to your beer.

Color: 2.3- 3.0°L

Body: N/A

Use:  Base malt for English pale ales – IPAs.

When I dug up information on Maris Otter malt, I found many references to Golden Promise malt.  There seems to be some debate about which is a better base malt for English style beers.

At Brew Dudes, we believe that experimentation is the only way to figure out the answer.  Now we don’t conduct as many experiments as we should but someday we’ll live up to the promise of our ambitions.

For now, let’s learn more about the history of Golden Promise malt.

Golden Promise is malted from a spring barley variety which was recommended for cultivation in Scotland in 1968.  It was grown by Miln Masters throughout the 1970s through the 1990s.  The malt was used largely by distilleries in Scotland but many UK brewers used it as base malt as well.

Unfortunately, the barley is very susceptible to disease so its large scale production is no longer.   Commercially, it does not have wide use but it is still available to homebrewers.

Flavor:  Sweet, clean flavor.  Some say it is superior to Maris Otter.

Color: 1.7- 2.0°L

Body: N/A

Use: Certainly can be used in Scottish ales.  It might be interesting to brew the same beer twice, one with Maris Otter – the other with Golden Promise and note the differences.

Maris Otter malt is highly praised for use as a base malt in all English style beers. I ordered some for the milk stout I am brewing later on in the month. After I clicked “submit” on my order, I decided to learn more about this base malt. Here is the Maris Otter malt profile.

The malt was developed by the good doctor, Dr. G. D. H. Bell at the Plant Breeding Institute and was introduced to the public in 1966. He crossed two different barley varieties, Proctor and Pioneer.

Although I couldn’t find where the name “Otter” came from, “Maris” was the name of the lane where the institute was located in Trumpington, Cambridgeshire, England.

It is a winter barley which means it is sown in autumn and germinate before winter. The malt was bred to brew cask conditioned ales. Many sources stated how forgiving this malt is in the brewing process. I am not sure what that means but it’s probably a commentary on how it handles mash temps or duration.

Flavor:  Brings a nutty flavor to your beers.  Other sources claimed a biscuity flavor.

Color: 3.5- 4.5°L

Body: N/A

Use:  Base malt for all English style beers.  It could be a good experiment to brew 2 beers – one using American 2-row and the other using Maris Otter and compare/contrast the tastes.

In the September 2011 issue of BYO magazine, there was an article profiling new malts available to homebrewers.

The first one that I decided to research more was Midnight Wheat Malt.

Originally part of Briess Maltster’s Reserve Series, this malt is now available all year round.  It’s made from Wisconsin wheat kilned at high temperatures like black malt.  Briess describes it as black wheat malt and can be used like debittered black malt.

I am guessing roasting wheat malt to carbonization must result in an even less bitter malt than debittered black barley malt.  Here are some more details:

Flavor:  No bitterness – Smooth milk chocolate – Some roast in the background  - some coffee

Color: 550°L – Bring in the darkness.

Body: N/A

Use: In beers where you want the dark, black color but no bitterness like a Schwarzbier or a Black IPA.  I think you can start making black versions of a lot of beers using Midnight Wheat Malt.  Black Hefe, anyone?

Since I am using Vienna Malt for the first time in the Brew Dudes’ First Annual O-fest Brew Off, I thought I would research it and put up a profile post about it.

Historically, this malt variety is the foundation of the Vienna lager, which has a pretty interesting history in itself…but that’s another post. The developer of that beer style was named Anton Dreher and he spent time studying brewing around Europe including England. Once he got back to Austria, I read that he implemented his knowledge of English malting techniques into his beer brewing – which leads me to believe this knowledge birthed Vienna malt.

This variety is similar to Munich malt where it can be used as a base malt, but most recipes pair them with a Pilsner malt.

Because it is kilned at higher temperatures, Vienna malt will bring a little more flavor and color to your beer than a Pilsner malt would. Let’s get into the specifics:

Flavor: Fuller, deeper malt flavor – more grainy

Color: 3 to 3.5°L – Provides a nice golden color to your beer.

Body: N/A

Use: Typically, it’s used as a base malt for Vienna or Märzen style lagers or as a percentage of the base malt total.

The key word in this post’s heading is “need”.

I think there is a some confusion about which malts need to be mashed and which ones do not.  We Brew Dudes have come up with this working definition for malts that need to be mashed:

“Grains that contain unconverted starches, from which you require their contribution as a fermentable sugar source, require mashing.”  

Malts that fit into this definition are your base malts.  They make up the majority of your grain bill and they are going to produce the majority of your fermentables.

Malts that have been processed in a way so that the enzymes that would break down starches into sugar in a mash have been denatured entirely would not fit this definition and would not need to be mashed.

Now there are malts that have been processed where their enzymes haven’t been totally denatured.  We feel that if you are using these malts in amounts that are small percentages of your total grain bill, these can be safely steeped rather than need to be mashed.

Of course, we would need to conduct some side by side brewing sessions to see if this statements stands up to a taste test. 

Discuss.

Mike and I have been chatting about malts lately.  One group of malts we were talking about are high kilned or high temperature kilned malts.

I think we found some confusion in what we read (online and offline) of what malts belong and don’t belong in this group.

I went to some maltster websites to get more information, a definition, and examples.

High kilned malts are dried at higher temperatures for a longer time, but not so long that they no longer have any enzymatic power to convert their starches into sugars.  Yes, they have less diastatic power than a base malt like 2-row, but they should still be mashed.

These malts include:

Munich Malt

Vienna Malt

Mild Malt

Aromatic Malt

It is interesting to note what malts fit into this category and which malts do not.  For example, Victory.  We’ll continue this train of thought in the next post.