Base malt advise/help please!

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Clint

Clint

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Hello all
Earlier I received my order of based malt and other stuff to part mash some single kits and malt extract.
However. .....I ordered lager malt ..my planned brews are 2 wheats, and American pale, two stouts,Mexican style lager,a cali common and a bitter. I have the other malts required..Vienna, choc, roast barley,carapils,crystal and tinned dark,light and amber. Am I going to muck it up using the lager where the book *greg hughes, says pale?

Cheers

Clint
 
Very little difference IMHO between lager malt and 2 row/pale, however if using lager malt as a base then go steady with specialty grains as lager malt doesn't possess the mashing power that pale malt does.
 
imho the only differences will be a slightly lighter colour and perhaps a slightly thinner body, of the beers you have listed i would be quite content substituting a lager malt for a pale, perhaps add a higher percentage of crystal (extra 5%? of the bulk) with the bitter, and perhaps the stouts too.

Its just this sort of ordering cock up that can lead you to discover a magic combo of ingredients that makes a brew really special..
 
Phew! Thanks. ...thought I'd dropped a proper conker! My plan was to sub approx half the main Base in any recipe with my ,now, lager malt, plus the other malts for the mash then make up the difference with liquid malt extract. I've put all through brewers friend and they seem to work out,barring any cock ups my end! I do have a kg of maris otter which I might do one of the stouts with.
I'm sure it'll all be drinkable but as said..a cock up...spent ages working out what I needed to go with what I had and putting it all through the calculator then ages on the computer sorting my order as the thing was taking for ever. ..then managed to lose it...then ordered the wrong stuff!!

Cheers

Clint
 
Pawlo7671 said:
Very little difference IMHO between lager malt and 2 row/pale, however if using lager malt as a base then go steady with specialty grains as lager malt doesn't possess the mashing power that pale malt does.
Click to expand...

You know I didnt know that. I use lager malt all the time. I've been grinding it pretty fine and wondering why I didnt get the big boost in efficiency your supposed to get when you grind your own - I get 73% efficiency btw so fine really
 
Clint said:
Hello all
Earlier I received my order of based malt and other stuff to part mash some single kits and malt extract.
However. .....I ordered lager malt ..my planned brews are 2 wheats, and American pale, two stouts,Mexican style lager,a cali common and a bitter. I have the other malts required..Vienna, choc, roast barley,carapils,crystal and tinned dark,light and amber. Am I going to muck it up using the lager where the book *greg hughes, says pale?

Cheers

Clint
Click to expand...

If you brewed most of what you have planned with lager malt and another batch with pale most people would be hard presses to tell which was which. If you were brewing a very lightly hopped SMASH beer it would be noticeable, but you'll be fine
 
I'd use the Maris Otter in the bitter. I think it will have the most impact there. I think in the stout it will be hidden behind all the roast grains so you won't pick it up.

Also depending on how much you have, the Munich malt will help boost the malty character if added to the lager malt in a recipe.
 
MyQul said:
You know I didnt know that. I use lager malt all the time. I've been grinding it pretty fine and wondering why I didnt get the big boost in efficiency your supposed to get when you grind your own - I get 73% efficiency btw so fine really
Click to expand...

Gee, Sh!ts about to get scientific

Diastatic power is measured in °L ( Linter )
Now, lager malts tend to have a lower diastatic value, around 25°L - 50°L compared to Maris otter ( 120°L )
Special malts like crystal have absolutely no diastatic power but they do have a yield in terms of starch to sugar but they depend on the base malts having a higher diastatic power to do the job for them.
So if your using all lager malt it will have just the right amount of diastatic power to self convert but beyond that nothing much more, so your efficiency will drop off.
If using lager malts on there own, fine, if however you intend on ale-ing up a recipe with some crystal malt then I would substitute 1kg of your lager malt for Maris otter to boost the over all diastatic power.

I read this, I didn't make it up, it may well be ********, it may well not be.
I suppose different crops of malt will have different values. I my self am not in to efficiency when i brew, I mash, boil, and hope for the best.
If some one wants to try my advice and see if it does indeed yield a better efficiency then please let me know.
 
Depends on the supplier, but most uk lager malts are sufficiently modified.

Muntons Lager malt DP is min 220 WK or 67 Lintner

Bairds London Lager Malt is 68 Lintner

Crisp Europils is min 66 Lintner

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk
 
I recently brewed Punk IPA with Pale malt instead of Extra Pale thanks to my supplier sending the wrong stuff. Beer came out Orange instead of looking more like a Lager. Did not have the crispness i was looking for and would not try to use it again.
 
The flavour may be a bit different. Lager malt can have a bit of a corny taste whereas pale is often more nutty or bready. If you're making hoppy beer you might not notice as much.

Sent from my E6653 using Tapatalk
 
Clint said:
..looking through my brew box....another kilo of maris otter! So a bit more to spread about.
Thanks all for the replies!
Cheers
Clint
Click to expand...

It's not just me has a brew box then! Three to be precise, one for Dme's sugars syrups treacles and unopened hops and yeasts, one for all the speciality grains and the third full of paddles, strainers, bungs, jars, additives, air locks, scales, cleaners and all the other gubbins that we use when we brew.
And woe betide anyone who interferes with the brew boxes!
 

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