Brewday went as smooth as I’ve had in a long time. Prepping the brewhaus hardware last night was a significant contributor.
In addition to going so smoothly, I exceeded expected gravity points. I’ve been brewing the same Pale Ale recipe except the aroma and flavor hops while also using different maltster’s base malt to see which I like best. I’ve used Rahr 2-row and Mecca Grade Lamonte in the past. Today, I used Briess’ Full Pint Brewer’s Malt which taste great. The first two brews were very closely aligned within a cpl points at each step throughout the mash which made me think my process is consistent. But today I exceeded the first two mash’s gravity readings by 5-7 points throughout the mash. With Mecca Grade also being Full Pint, I did not expect such a significant difference with the Briess. If anything, the difference should have been between the Rahr and both Full Pint barleys (Mecca Grade and Briess) but it wasn’t. Since one data point doesn’t make a trend, I’ll brew with the Briess again next brew to see if the mash data is consistent. …but early indications are the Briess Full Pint Brewer’s Malt is good stuff.
Yep. Both barley and maltster matter. The local malthouse I’m currently gaga about is using Ohio-grown KWS Scala. It’s some of the best malt I’ve ever had, surpassed only, possibly, by an import or two, but nothing domestic in my experience (I haven’t tried either of the two in question here.) OTOH I had previously tried some malts from another startup in the area, using the exact same barley variety also Ohio grown, and you couldn’t pay me to use their malt again. Another surprise is that the good maltster is using a modern, automated, German drum malting system, and the one with such poor results is doing “traditional,” manual floor malting. Then again, the one maltster went to school in Germany to learn the trade, and the artisanal guy is self taught. Anyway, seeing a particular variety advertised, or tags like “floor malted,” doesn’t mean a lot. You have to try the product to find out how it performs. A good maltster will get the most out of any raw material, and the finest barley can be sub-optimally processed.
Which is why in the 1880’s until long after the World Wars all the barley used by brewers in England was imported but they never imported malted barley. They did all the malting themselves.
What all this is suggesting to me is something that I would have dismissed out of hand just a couple of years ago: that Briess may potentially be really good maltsters. Worth a second look, though of the main line products I never really cared for their brewers malt in comparison with, say, Rahr.
I like Briess 2-row Brewers Malt. I have seen Denny say it has a grainy flavor. I think I know what he is talking about and I like that flavor (if we talking about the same flavor).
I do get often get lower mash efficiency with it and sometimes the kernels look skinny. I think the skinny things may have been from a drought a few years ago. My recent experiences have been with medium size kernels. I have noticed European Malts are often more plump.
I’m very happy with this new local maltster for my base malt. But I’m eager to source all my ingredients as locally as possible , at least not imported. I think I’ll go back and try Briess for my specialty malts.
EDIT I think I know that flavor too. It’s a matter of preference I suppose, not bad or good. To me there’s a bit of what I can’t find a better word for than (raw?) graininess, while Rahr is a bit richer and sweeter, almost like a handful of Munich was thrown in. My impression at least. Someday I’ll try the regular and Full Pint maybe.
They stopped using 6 Row several years ago. They bought a grain handling and storage facility in Wyoming. They are sourcing malt from Wyoming, not Wisconsin or Minnesota.
Breiss also switched to poly bags. One local brewery thought the paper bags were prone to stsling.
Hadn’t used Briess in years, bought a bag of 2row Brewers malt recently. That was because I don’t see Rahr or Malteurop in any local Homebrew shops. The first taste on the beer I brewed is really nice, so the Briess didn’t detract.
The Pilsner and Pale are available by the pound/ounce or by the sack at Grape and Granary and Vine n Hop. Products seem to be rolling out sequentially, as they’ve only been in operation for a little over a year. Vienna and Munich have apparently not been released yet, but I was at Vine n Hop recently and she showed me samples with lab analyses, as well as of another product or two in development. Most of the production, it seems, is going to breweries, but the price to homebrewers is shockingly low for a craft malt – cheaper than Briess or Rahr by the bag at the shops – in part because these shops don’t have to pay shipping, I guess. V n H is practically next door to the malthouse, and Randy drops off at G&G on his way to Akron breweries (can’t recall which ones I’ve been told are using this.)
