denny
August 11, 2010, 3:33pm
52
gordonstrong:
Didn’t Kai say something about that recently, along the lines of the German malt character that seems elusive to create on the homebrew level is some kind of small-scale oxidation of melanoidins (or Maillard reaction products)?
Seems plausible to me since darker beers will have more Maillard products/melanoidins, and those are the types of beer that develop those desirable oxidation flavors, where paler beers just seem to get papery.
Don’t know the chemistry behind it or if it’s been researched; I have my doubts since defining “that rich German malt character that homebrewers can’t seem to reproduce” is hard to describe and quite subjective.
Anyone else see what I’m describing?
Yeah, he posted that here after a discussion we had at NHC after tasting a doppelbock of his that had that “elusive German” quality to it. I agree that it seems plausible, but I don’t know of any research, either.