MO in pilsner/kölsch

The Homebrew Forum

Help Support The Homebrew Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

fury_tea

Landlord.
Joined
Nov 17, 2018
Messages
799
Reaction score
508
I have about 300g of Maris Otter left over from a brew I did in December, is it a terrible idea to throw it into a pilsner/Kölsch (the rest of the grist will be 4-5kg pilsner malt with a few % of carapils)? It's been in a thick plastic bag in a plastic box under my bed for the past few months. Any ideas how long malt keeps in a dark/dry environment?

Ta
 
Well...anything I order from Malt Miller comes with 12 months on it...my part bags get resealed and are kept in the shipping box indoors and all have been fine.
 
Try tasting a few of them, if they're crunchy you're good to go.
300 g is not that much. Use it and get a little bit of extra complexity.
 
I keep my grain and it is crushed for months and months and never have had a problem. I store it in the plastic bins you use under the bed type thingies infact there is a brewer on you tube that ferments in them. I am not going to say that it does not lose some of its efficiency but in my use it has been very small even after 6 plus months . It is obviously better to use fresh milled grain but and this is the but I think some people are anal regards this as they are with over sanitising everything to the enth degree. I have many years of brewing behind me and it works for me and I bet I am not alone. Too much scare mongering on things that do not matter too much which can frighten newbies. You have done the right thing asking on this forum to get a balanced answer and yes some people will say it is a must to use fresh milled grain listen to other views and make up your own mind but I would say as long as its dry and crisp its good to go
 
This is the label from my current sack of grain. Muntons are pretty confident about their products shelflife.
DSC_0070-03.jpeg
 
I just had a taste... pretty good! Like I could pour some milk on and eat it for breakfast.

Just weighed it and it's 230g, I just found 20g of crystal which is getting thrown in as well. Don't know if they will make much of a difference but it's better than throwing them out!
 
I've used malt that's years old. As long as it's been kept dry for the whole time, ie, in a tied plastic bag, you'll have no trouble whatsoever.
 
I just had a taste... pretty good! Like I could pour some milk on and eat it for breakfast.

Just weighed it and it's 230g, I just found 20g of crystal which is getting thrown in as well. Don't know if they will make much of a difference but it's better than throwing them out!
If they're sound, chuck 'em in. If in doubt, chuck 'em out.
 
Cheers for the advice, they're going in.
Here's the final recipe I'll be brewing tomorrow, if anyone is interested:

Pilsner/Kölsch


Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 22.00 L
Boil Time: 60 min
Equipment: ROBOBREW

4.00 kg Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (3.5 EBC)
0.50 kg Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (3.0 EBC)
0.23 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC)
0.02 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (39.4 EBC)

35.00 g Saaz [3.40 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 14.1 IBUs
21.00 g Saaz [3.40 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 7 3.1 IBUs
5.00 g Cryo - Citra [25.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 8 5.4 IBUs

Gravity, Alcohol Content and Color

Est Original Gravity: 1.048 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.1 %
Bitterness: 22.6 IBUs
Est Color: 6.6 EBC

:cool:
 
Good to see you are using it up and not being skeptical.My grain is always crushed,be it that base malts get used within three months but I still have speciality grains close to 12 months and shall get used whenever...
 
Maris Otter is a variety of barley, Pilsner malt is one of a number of barley varieties, kilned to a certain specification. Traditionally English maltsters would have kilned MO to a different specification to that done by German maltsters, but there appears to be differently kilned versions of MO on the market these days. I wonder if Meantime use one of the extra pale versions of MO, that would be closer to Pilsner. Similarly, a number of UK maltsters make Lager Malt, which I suspect is a cheaper (than MO) UK barley variety kilned as a Pilsner malt.

I think the difference between Pilsner and standard MO would be difficult to pick out, unless your palate was tuned to drinking a good variety of quality lagers.
 
Interesting, I think I've seen that in Tesco or Sainsbury's but never tried it. Might see if I can find it. I'd imagine 100% MO to be quite heavy in a lager but with the right process and mash temps n that it could be a winner, maybe.
If you do get a bottle, I'd recommend drinking as cold and fresh as possible for best flavour.
 
Cheers for the advice, they're going in.
Here's the final recipe I'll be brewing tomorrow, if anyone is interested:

Pilsner/Kölsch


Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 22.00 L
Boil Time: 60 min
Equipment: ROBOBREW

4.00 kg Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (3.5 EBC)
0.50 kg Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (3.0 EBC)
0.23 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC)
0.02 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (39.4 EBC)

35.00 g Saaz [3.40 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 14.1 IBUs
21.00 g Saaz [3.40 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 7 3.1 IBUs
5.00 g Cryo - Citra [25.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 8 5.4 IBUs

Gravity, Alcohol Content and Color

Est Original Gravity: 1.048 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.1 %
Bitterness: 22.6 IBUs
Est Color: 6.6 EBC

:cool:
The MO in this recipe is insignificant. You won't even notice it.
 
The MO in this recipe is insignificant. You won't even notice it.

Yeah but it didn't go in the bin and it added a little bit more alcohol to my brew so that's something, right? I think you should have some faith in my little bit of Maris Otter. We might all be insignificant little drops in the ocean but with a little bit of belief in ourselves (and others), we could really be something. Spread some positivity around, man.
 
Maris Otter is a variety of barley, Pilsner malt is one of a number of barley varieties, kilned to a certain specification. Traditionally English maltsters would have kilned MO to a different specification to that done by German maltsters, but there appears to be differently kilned versions of MO on the market these days. I wonder if Meantime use one of the extra pale versions of MO, that would be closer to Pilsner. Similarly, a number of UK maltsters make Lager Malt, which I suspect is a cheaper (than MO) UK barley variety kilned as a Pilsner malt.

I think the difference between Pilsner and standard MO would be difficult to pick out, unless your palate was tuned to drinking a good variety of quality lagers.

Yeah I've seen that Pale MO, been tempted to do a SMaSH with it to try it out. London Lagers don't actually specify that they use 100% MO, do they? Could be the cynic in me but it just be a marketing ploy, they are leaning on the London brand but I think any grain grown in London would probably taste like petrol and cocaine. Not necessarily a bad thing if you're into that, like.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top