Homemade amber malt

[Fuggled Mind]

Hi

It's not necessary in the UK as you have plenty, but have any of you ever tried Graham Wheeler's method for making your own amber malt?

He recommends spreadying mild malt (or pale ale malt if you can't get that) on a baking tray and putting it in the oven at 140°C for 1-2 hours (and yes, you need to spread and turn it).

If you have done it, does it compare favourably to the real thing? I've used light and dark amber malt in the past and I used up the last in a brown ale not long ago. Would love to have more at either end of the colour spectrum but can't get hold of it in Switzerland.

Cheers

Jason

[PeeBee]

Over on THBForum there's a chap (Cwrw666) who does make his own amber malt to very similar instructions (in the Durden Park Beer Circle's "Old British Beers" booklet). He is most impressed with it because it captures fresh roast (toast?) flavours.

The "real" stuff is so variable between makers is there any point copying any one brand? You have various continental types that could be used as direct replacements: Lt & Dk Munich malts, Aromatic, etc., which are made slightly differently but I'd be giving them a go.

[EDIT: I also make (fabricate) my own "amber malts" but for a quite different reason ... you probably won't want to go there!]

[f00b4r]

It looks like the Malt Miller deliver to Switzerland:

https://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/delivery/

[IPA]

It looks like the Malt Miller deliver to Switzerland:

https://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/delivery/

Works out very expensive. 10 kg delivery £24.25.
Try Braumarkt when their site is back up

[Fuggled Mind]

Over on THBForum there's a chap (Cwrw666) who does make his own amber malt to very similar instructions (in the Durden Park Beer Circle's "Old British Beers" booklet). He is most impressed with it because it captures fresh roast (toast?) flavours.

The "real" stuff is so variable between makers is there any point copying any one brand? You have various continental types that could be used as direct replacements: Lt & Dk Munich malts, Aromatic, etc., which are made slightly differently but I'd be giving them a go.

[EDIT: I also make (fabricate) my own "amber malts" but for a quite different reason ... you probably won't want to go there!]

I've often thought about aromatic and biscuit but I always had my supply of amber. I've used melanoidin a few times but have yet to try dark munich. I think Ron Pattinson recommends this if you can't get imperial malt for Truman's pale ales.

I've been using amber in two recipes - a vintage beer recipe (see link below)
http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2015 ... stout.html
I used amber in this but having no mild malt, I used vienna. This is a great pint. It looks more like a porter in the glass but who cares when it drinks well.

and a Cigar City Maduro brown ale
https://www.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/co ... own_clone/
The recipe states victory. No chance of finding that. I had dark amber malt and it worked a treat.

It's hard to believe that I absolutely hated the taste of amber malt but once it's mellowed, I've come to believe it really adds something. In fact, I now enjoy the taste even when it's still fresh and assertive.

I'm going to go ahead and brew using the homemade stuff. I'll take your advice peebee and try substitutes. I'm sure they'll all taste pretty good as I love dark beers

Cheers

Jason

[Fuggled Mind]

It looks like the Malt Miller deliver to Switzerland:

https://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/delivery/

I think my amber malts were from here. I've had them for far too long. The last time I was in the UK was in 2019 and I had them from before them

The price for the postage is a bit steep but I can see there's three different types available. I'll probably get all three next time I'm back.

Cheers

Jason

[Fuggled Mind]

It looks like the Malt Miller deliver to Switzerland:

https://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/delivery/

Works out very expensive. 10 kg delivery £24.25.
Try Braumarkt when their site is back up

Thanks for the tip. I'll definitely check that out. I have a mailing address in Germany so this could work out quite nicely

Cheers

Jason

[f00b4r]

If you have a mailing address in Germany then you may want to try this shop, as they have dirt cheap delivery to Germany: https://twojbrowar.pl/en/informations/delivery

The are Polish and have a decent selection of UK malts and other items but only deliver to the EU (Switzerland, despite its various treaties with the EU still seems to be an outlier with respect to ordering form a lot of places).

[Fuggled Mind]

If you have a mailing address in Germany then you may want to try this shop, as they have dirt cheap delivery to Germany: https://twojbrowar.pl/en/informations/delivery

The are Polish and have a decent selection of UK malts and other items but only deliver to the EU (Switzerland, despite its various treaties with the EU still seems to be an outlier with respect to ordering form a lot of places).

That's F00b4r,

Will definitely check that out. As soon as Brexit became reality, I thought there would be problems with postage on deliveries. Despite Switzerland being next door to Germany and France, if you want to order something, the postage costs means it's just not worth it. That's why I got myself a mailing address in Germany. Only used it once before the pandemic kicked in but it could be really useful for getting UK malts

Cheers

Jason

[PeeBee]

... I've been using amber in two recipes - a vintage beer recipe (see link below)
http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2015 ... stout.html
I used amber in this but having no mild malt, I used vienna. This is a great pint. It looks more like a porter in the glass but who cares when it drinks well. ...

Ha! I thought you'd hit the "reason" I make my own amber malts there ...

... [EDIT: I also make (fabricate) my own "amber malts" but for a quite different reason ... you probably won't want to go there!]

... but you're quite safe with a 1950 recipe. During the latter half of the 19th century brewers may have still been using the old way of making amber malt. But the resulting malt would be quite different to what is found now. The old-style brown malt was even more different to "modern" brown malt, and the old stuff was still being made in the early 20th century (despite crippling insurance premiums 'cos malt houses making it had a habit of burning down). You can see some of my attempts at fabricating these old malts >here<.

[EDIT: Don't worry about using Vienna malt to replace mild ale malt: I frequently do it with Crisp malt as there is some suspicion that from them it's the same stuff. But some Continental Vienna malt is as light as our pale, and their "pale" dark like our mild malt. ]

[Fuggled Mind]

[EDIT: Don't worry about using Vienna malt to replace mild ale malt: I frequently do it with Crisp malt as there is some suspicion that from them it's the same stuff. But some Continental Vienna malt is as light as our pale, and their "pale" dark like our mild malt. ]

Vienna is definitely a weird one. Weyermann Vienna looks lighter than Best Malz pale ale. I'm guessing it's all in the taste. I used Vienna whenever I brew a mild and to be honest, I wonder if I'd notice the difference it had been pale.

But no matter what type of amber malt you use, you can definitely taste it

[IPA]

It looks like the Malt Miller deliver to Switzerland:

https://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/delivery/

Works out very expensive. 10 kg delivery £24.25.
Try Braumarkt when their site is back up

Sad news for Europeans. I have just found out that the parent company of Braumarkt has gone into liquidation.
Hope they can save the the homebrew part. Luckily I received my order of 100 kilos of pale malt a couple of weeks
ago.

[f00b4r]

It looks like the Malt Miller deliver to Switzerland:

https://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/delivery/

Works out very expensive. 10 kg delivery £24.25.
Try Braumarkt when their site is back up

Sad news for Europeans. I have just found out that the parent company of Braumarkt has gone into liquidation.
Hope they can save the the homebrew part. Luckily I received my order of 100 kilos of pale malt a couple of weeks
ago.

That is a shame, hopefully someone picks up the homebrew part.

[Lederhosn]

https://www.hopfen-der-welt.de/

is also worth a look.

[IPA]

It looks like Braumarkt are nearly back up and running