Pilsner malt in place of maris otter

[dean_wales]

Hi Guys,

I tend to buy pale malt by the 25kg sack to save money. However I am thinking of making a few continetal styles beers for the summer and so might get a sack of Weyermann Premiere Pilsner Malt to accomodate this?

Question is; If I want to also make an ESB or other english ale, what difference will using this in place of Maris Otter make?

Just a little extra crystal etc to alter colour and is there very little in it flavour wise?

Thanks,

Dean.

[mysterio]

Hmm, not really possible. The flavour difference is quite marked. For an ESB I think it wouldn't taste quite right. You would perhaps want to add some Munich malt in place of part of the grist but it's not ideal. Pilsner malt is very sweet, grainy and light.

However a lot of breweries will use lager malt for their blonde ales/summer ales. So this kind of thing would work well. You would maybe want to get some Caramalt, carapils and some light crystal to mess around with too, and some hops that would suit that style of beer. Goldings, Cascade, Aurora etc.

You could do some pseudo-lagers with it too, using nottingham or US-05. Things like Oktoberfest/Marzen, vienna lager and bock would work quite well for that. So get a good supply of Munich malt and carafa special if you want to explore that route.

[dean_wales]

I think I prefer the idea of getting some grains rather than the extract. Seem to be a bit defeatist!

The brews I had lined up in my mind to do over the next few months were as follows (I always use brands as I am not a beer guru - recipes to be confirmed):

Leffe as its pretty much my fave!
Hoegaarden for barbeque season
Fullers ESB (1st attempt was good but want to try liquid yeast)
India Pale Ale of some form
A stout such as guiness

Im confused as to what munich malt, carafa special, caramalt and carapils are.

I have enough english hops for the ESB/guiness brews and loads of crystal.

I like to order from the malt miller all in one go you see - planning is key and making sure everything will be used up!

Was going to order some Saaz and Hallertau hops too.

Dean.

[mysterio]

OK, don't worry too much about those character grains then, I just think they are good to have on hand for 'spur of the moment' type brews.

Leffe, Hoegaarden & the IPA could be covered with the Pilsner malt. Hoegaarden is more or less half pilsner malt and half flaked wheat. There are leffe recipes kicking about the forum.

You will really need some Maris Otter for the stout and Fullers ESB though. Fullers ESB with pilsner malt would taste completely wrong.

As you're interested in different styles of beer, have a look at the Brewing Classic Styles book which will give you good starting points for the beers you mention.

[dean_wales]

I thought the ESB would be a problem and I cant live without a good 7.5%er on hand to destroy those homebrew novice guests!

Hmmmmm... what to do. Cant afford and dont need two sacks. Maybe I might go by the kilo this time but it seems silly somehow! Or I could get rob to bag and seal them up in reciepe quantities as apparently he now offers this service. I kind of like having sacks though!!

Dean.

[Bribie]

Mate you could make a killer 7% German Bock Style using the pilsener malt and a good whack of dark Munich.
Here's a brilliant malt page at my own supplier ( a bit too far away from Wales to supply you ) http://www.craftbrewer.com.au/shop/default.asp?CID=21but it's a great reference page as it describes each malt, who makes it, what it's used for and whether it needs mashing or just steeping. Click on each for more info.

[awalker]

If space and funds allow, its worth getting a bag of each

[Barley Water]

Oh hell, it's somewhat like buying dog food, you know it's going to get consumed so you might as well just buy in bulk, get both. Of course having said that I am very lucky in that my LHBS is only 10 minutes away and they have everything a brewer could want so I generally don't buy big sacks of grain. Of course, I regularly use American 2 two row, German pils, Marris Otter and German Munich malt and sometimes even American 6 row so I would have quite a bit a bulk grain sitting around.

[Rookie]

Most of the character of an ESB comes from crystal malts and the hops so I think a really good ESB can be brewed with just about any base grain.