Crisp Pale malt

[a-slayer]

It is interesting to hear people's opinions on this grain. I know the use of varieties other than Maris Otter is nothing new but like a lot of homebrewers I have been a little bit caught up in the MO Hype. When I finally get through my backlog of grain I think a bag of Crisp Pale Malt will be worth a try..

On different types of grain malt, one of my favourites was Pipkin which I haven't seen around for ages. Anyone else used to like Pipkin malt?

[Beer O'Clock]

It is interesting to hear people's opinions on this grain. I know the use of varieties other than Maris Otter is nothing new but like a lot of homebrewers I have been a little bit caught up in the MO Hype. When I finally get through my backlog of grain I think a bag of Crisp Pale Malt will be worth a try..

On different types of grain malt, one of my favourites was Pipkin which I haven't seen around for ages. Anyone else used to like Pipkin malt?

I too was obsessed with MO. When I was in Australia, I had a long discussion with my Brother-in-Law (he is a director for a major malting company). His take was that it's really only a handfull of full scale British brewers and home brewers that are sticking strictly to MO (though some breweries claim to use it, yet buy other malt). It's an 'old' variety that has been surpassed in all areas of efficiency, consistancy and price. MO's flavour is not that distinct, so others are as appropriate or even preferable.

I have since tried Golden Promise and Halcyon. I choose GP at the moment but my next order will be for Flagon. So far the differences have been minimal (my additions make the base malt almost indistinguishable).

[barney]

I have not been brewing long and saw recipes listed all the time as using Maris Otter as the base malt so naturally thats the one you get, I have since used a couple of sacks of Golden Promise and to my taste buds that has a flavour that I prefer, it seems to have more caramel flavours and appears less grainy.
I also have a sack of Pearl but have not used any of that yet, it was the cheapest malt on offer so I expect its what millions are generally drinking each weekend.

[WishboneBrewery]

If I am totally honest I think you could get away with using Lager Malt for everything, I actually considered this a while back so I wouldn't have to stock a sack of Pale & Lager, you can add a touch of Vienna / Munich / Crystal to add back some maltiness and a touch of sweetness.

Its only convention that says you have to make a Pale Ale with Pale Ale Malt, and a Blonde beer would assumeably just be Lager Malt.

[jimp2003]

If I am totally honest I think you could get away with using Lager Malt for everything, I actually considered this a while back so I wouldn't have to stock a sack of Pale & Lager, you can add a touch of Vienna / Munich / Crystal to add back some maltiness and a touch of sweetness.

Its only convention that says you have to make a Pale Ale with Pale Ale Malt, and a Blonde beer would assumeably just be Lager Malt.

I was wondering about that for later in the year and notice that Rob at Maltmiller now has sacks of Crisp Lager Malt for £19.50.

[leedsbrew]

If I am totally honest I think you could get away with using Lager Malt for everything, I actually considered this a while back so I wouldn't have to stock a sack of Pale & Lager, you can add a touch of Vienna / Munich / Crystal to add back some maltiness and a touch of sweetness.

Its only convention that says you have to make a Pale Ale with Pale Ale Malt, and a Blonde beer would assumeably just be Lager Malt.

I was wondering about that for later in the year and notice that Rob at Maltmiller now has sacks of Crisp Lager Malt for £19.50.

Aye, and it's also Flagon variety according to TMM web site, same as the crisp pale malt. So presumably it's just kilned off slightly cooler to develop less colour?

[Kinley]

I too went for the cheaper Crisp MO instead of the usual MaltMiller MO. I have found a distinct huskiness to the flavour of the beer that I'm not too keen on and will be going back to the £30 MO. That said Rob's GP has given the smoothest flavour so far so I suspect it'll be a sack of that next.

[orlando]

I love it when old threads are revived.

But on the subject I would be amazed if I noticed a big difference in one base malt from another unless I was using just the base malts in say a summer blonde style beer. I'm talking here of course about taste, I can see that there may be differences experienced in the process but I'm only really interested in what I drink. Introducing other grains and different hop profiles must make it virtually impossible to confidently say one pale malt is better than another.

[Kinley]

Not a big difference but certainly a consistent and noticeable flavour through a number of different brews with no significant alterations to the process of brewing and fermentation.

[weiht]

I love it when old threads are revived.

But on the subject I would be amazed if I noticed a big difference in one base malt from another unless I was using just the base malts in say a summer blonde style beer. I'm talking here of course about taste, I can see that there may be differences experienced in the process but I'm only really interested in what I drink. Introducing other grains and different hop profiles must make it virtually impossible to confidently say one pale malt is better than another.

Oh, i do get to taste the difference between different base malt, some more than others. I used to use simpsons MO in the past and have always felt the difference in flavour is just that little from joe white pale malt (Aussie). I changed to Muntons MO this year and its really wonderful!! It has that famed nuttiness that I would expect from a MO. Bairds pale malt was not bad as well.

Definitely noticeable to me, unless ur using it in a stout.

[orlando]

Interesting that you rate Munton's. I had a sack of it previous to my Crisp MO and was told at the time of the Crisp purchase that Munton's had actually "blended" that sack so it wasn't strictly 100% MO. Haven't started drinking the new stuff yet so will pay more attention when I do but to be honest I don't believe I could pick out a beer blindfolded where I could comfortably and consistently tell you which was which. Must obviously practice more

[weiht]

The current batches of Muntons are blended with 70% MO and 30% tipple due to haze issues.. My previous muntons were all MO, gonna pick up a sack of blended ones soon.

Ah Crisp is apparently a premium brand, and Fawcetts is supposedly the rolls royce? Simpsons are also premium in its pricing, but.....

[jonewer]

I used Crisp MO for my recent brews. While none have come into drinking yet, I have no complaints about the quality of the grain and my efficiency is better than usual.

[fatbelly]

Although we are only on AG4 the Fawcetts MO has served us well.

[Mckelvie20]

Interested in something mention earlier on in this thread love my traditional real ale and looking to get into lager could i say myself some hassle by just buying lager malt and using this for both? will this effect the flavor of my ales?