Low extract from WHS's Maris Otter

[Dave S]

Hi Guys

I've done 2 brews this week - a TTL clone and a Guinness clone. For the TTL I used Golden Promise and the extract was higher than calculated. The calculation was 1044, but it ended up at 1046.

The Guinness clone used WHS's Maris Otter, which is presumably Baird's. The extract was a couple of degrees lower than the calculation - 1039 or 40 instead of 1042.

I have found this to be consistently the case when using MO and have read a couple of posts here regarding poor extract from Baird's. I am inclined to think my mash/sparge regime is OK, given the Golden Promise results.

Has anyone had similar experiences?

[kebabman]

There was a long thread a while ago about the poor extract from Bairds MO.
I was way down in volume for a repeated grist so for the same amount of brew day time I got less beer, so IMO its a waste of time and money.

[Dr. Dextrin]

I've had the same experience (low extract from the Baird's malt) but given that it was very cheap I reckon it was still reasonable value. The main downside was getting a few recipes wrong until I sussed it out.

However, I've recently been using Crisp MO from the Malt Miller and been getting higher than expected extract. Since this is also fairly cheap at £23 for 25kg (a lot cheaper than the Fawcett MO, for example) I reckon this is probably currently the best value, given that you might get around 15% more extract* from it compared to Bairds.

*My current best guess (YMMV).

[Dave S]

Yeah, I'm thinking of using the Malt Miller next time for grain, though for hop prices I reckon the WHS is unbeatable.

[Rookie]

Hi Guys

I've done 2 brews this week - a TTL clone and a Guinness clone. For the TTL I used Golden Promise and the extract was higher than calculated. The calculation was 1044, but it ended up at 1046.

The Guinness clone used WHS's Maris Otter, which is presumably Baird's. The extract was a couple of degrees lower than the calculation - 1039 or 40 instead of 1042.

I have found this to be consistently the case when using MO and have read a couple of posts here regarding poor extract from Baird's. I am inclined to think my mash/sparge regime is OK, given the Golden Promise results.

Has anyone had similar experiences?

Are you sure it's the malt? Being a bit off on the volume of water could make it a couple of points off.

[weiht]

Pre crushed?

[Dave S]

Don't think so. As I said, I consistently get this kind of result when using MO. I checked with my other supplier and they too only stock Baird's. So next time I'll try Crisp or Fawcetts from the Malt Miller and see if there's a difference.

[Dave S]

Pre crushed?

Yeah, pre-crushed. I know that could make a difference, but every time? I couldn't be doing with the hassle of crushing it myself