Greetings!
According to your previous experience, what do you guys think are the best quality malt brands? Starting from the best, and the relation quality/price.
Best Regards,
Dave
Remember, this is objective…no, it’s not…it’s subjective!
domestic pale malt - Rahr 2 row pale
domestic Munich malt - Great Western
domestic rye malt - Briess
continental pils and Munich - Best Malz
Dingemann’s - Belgian Pilsner malt (belgian styles)
Weyermann - German Pilsner malt (german styles)
Lots of other great malts out there, but these two I use most frequently.
Is that their actual 2-row or their pale ale malt? Or both?
It’s the pale, not the pale ale. Just a bit lighter color.
I have gone through 3 sacks of Avangard pilsner malt over the past year or so, and am loving it…the flavor and the price.
I went through one for my LHBS as a tester. It was alright, but I’m not looking for “alright”. To each their own! 8)
What’s in my bins now–>
Belgian Pilsner: Dingemann’s
German Pilsner: Best
German Munich: Best
German Dark Munich: Best
Maris Otter: I’ve been using Bairds for 3-4 sacks now, but may try out Thomas Fawcett on the next sack.
Standard 2-row: Rahr
I don’t too much worry about price. Buying in bulk affords me that luxury since the difference (in my area) between a crappy sack and a great sack is ~$10. $10 spread over 3-5 batches is inconsequential to me.
There are some good ones.
It is important to brew with one until you have it dialed in on your system. If the supply changes, your beers will change. I can’t find Durst Pils locally anymore. Weyermann is good, I like Avangard a little better, and now have a bag of Best Pils to try.
Crisp Maris Otter for most British beer styles, but I also really like Simpsons Golden Promise.
Briess 6-row for CAPs and historic beers. They stopped making it. :( So I need to find the Rahr or Great Western 6 row, or just try using a 2 row and see how that works.
Trivia - Avangard malts are from Germany, but are owned by the Russian Avangard Bank. The name didn’t look very German, so I looked it up and found the ownership relation.
Best Malz here too. And I was using the LHBS Vienna but was getting a honey note from it. Found out he was stocking Gambrinus Vienna, so I made him order some Best Vienna.
You know it’s the best because it’s right in the name.
Objective or subjective?
For the price, MFB (Franco Belges) Pilsner is great and I personally can’t really tell the difference from Dingemanns. Also Great Western 2 row for American styles. These are both distributed by North Country so you may or may not see them locally.
For me (so, it’s subjective) it’s Weyermann pilsner, Crisp Pale, Great Western white wheat, and Weyermann Munich. All widely available, economical, and high quality. Along with a variety of specialty malts and grains, mostly British, I make almost all styles of beer and am very happy with the results.
I’ve had good results with Castle (Belgian Pils). I also like Simpsons for crystal malts.
These days I buy pilsner malt almost exclusively and have found Weyermann’s performance very satisfactory.
Dingemann’s Pale Malt is another favorite.
Briess 2-row…
I buy Best Malz for Pils, Wheat, Vienna and Munich I and II. Thomas Fawcett for English varieties, specifically Maris Otter, Golden Promise, Rye Malt and crystal caramel malts and roasted varieties like Chocolate Malt and Roasted Barley. For American styles I like Briess Pale Ale malt, they also make nice crytsal/caramel malts.
I’m stubbornly organic so I use weyermann for continental styles, either Great Western or Gambrinus for American styles, and I just suck it up on british styles because there is usually one or no options of MO.
Lately I’ve been focusing on locally grown/malted barley whenever possible. Jury is still out on Petersons Quality Malt out of Monkton VT but it’s pretty good. perhaps a bit neutral.
I like Best Malz for Pils, Vienna and Munich I and II. I like Thomas Fawcett Maris Otter, and love Golden Promise. For American styles I like Rahr as my base 2 Row. I would like to try some Great Western and Cargill. I can’t get any near me. I’ve not had good luck with Briess, but all the breweries around me use it. I just finished two sacks of Weyermann Bohemian Pils malt. We will see when the beers finish what I think. I picked up a sack of Rahr Premium Pils. Hope it is as nice as their 2 Row.
Right now in my bins I have Weyermann dark Munich, Best pilsner, Great Western 2-row and Crisp Maris Otter. I’ve also used Franco Belges pilsner a lot when making Belgian beers, great malt.
DOH! Subjective!