An experiment in taste - what do malts actually taste like?

Ceejay · Mar 11, 2011

Bear with me on this :lol:

I was thinking about all the different types of grains and what they add in terms of taste, mouthfeel, colour etc. There's various literature on this, but what is a good way to get a really good appreciation of it all?

I'm going to do a load of mini-mashes in cups! A few grams of each speciality grain I have in "stock" mixed with a 1/3 cup of Maris Otter in a cup of 68 degree water in a normal tea mug. The mugs go in my mash tun to keep the heat in as much as possible and after 45 minutes the resulting wort in each cup is separated with a sieve and tasted.

Am I crazy? Or does this sound like a worthwhile thing to do? :wha:

Muddydisco · Mar 11, 2011

You can do that, or just chew on them, dry of course. That was the way I got taught :)

pjbiker · Mar 11, 2011

I think thats a worthwhile idea, perhaps you can extend it to tasting them after they've been boiled and fermented. Very scientific :geek:

Ceejay · Mar 11, 2011

There's an idea :hmm:

Not so keen on chewing on the grain tbh - especially roasted barley :sick:

markp · Mar 11, 2011

Good idea.
If you are not up for chewing them, I would just mash each grain seperately....I wouldn't bother putting pale malt in there as well.
You probably only need to soak a teaspoon full in little hot water for a few minutes to get the tastes.

Have fun and please take some notes and post up your thoughts :thumb:

Ceejay · Mar 11, 2011

I was thinking of including the pale malt so it converts some of the starches in the speciality malts - and also to give a sort of "base" and to give the flavour a kind of "context". I might try it both ways to see the difference.

I will of course present my findings! :whistle:

luckyeddie · Mar 11, 2011

pjbiker said:
I think thats a worthwhile idea, perhaps you can extend it to tasting them after they've been boiled and fermented. Very scientific :geek:

What a brilliant idea. You could call it something like 'cheer', or 'fear', or 'tear', or, er, something beginning with 'b'. 'Bromsgrove'. I'd like a pint of Bromsgrove, please. Do you think it'd catch on? We could then set up a website in order to celebrate the virtues of making Bromsgrove.

:lol:

An experiment in taste - what do malts actually taste like?

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