Are Golden Promise and MO easily substituted for each other in English ales? I am working with WLP030&033 so I want to make some great English styles but also Skotrat’s Traquair house clone this year so definitely want the GP for that. Was thinking about getting a sack of GP and just using it in place of MO for bitter, mild, Porter, Barelywine, stout, etc. Having never used GP before, just wanted some opinions. I have been happy with everything I’ve made with Crisp MO, I just don’t really need a full sack of both.
Those are different. MO is toasty>malty>sweet.
GP is more malty>sweet>toasty.
You need to get some of each and compare.
Perfect description. It’s why, on the whole, most Scottish ales (typically made with GP) don’t have the toasty/biscuity character of the English bitters (made typically with MO, Optic, or similar).
Thanks Jeff and Jon, exactly what I was looking for. I guess I thought GP was part of that “MO, Optic, or similar,” guess I’ll hold off on the GP and just get the MO I’m going to need in the near future rather than the GP I want to brew with but don’t have a date planned yet. Have to optimize my time with 030&033. Thanks again
Personally, I would not lump any other british base malt into the same category as Maris Otter. To me, MO is an island unto itself, although I’d lump Gambrinus ESB malt in with it. Optic, particularly, is much more like GP than MO. Same could be said for Pearl, Halcyon, and other varietals being more toast-mellow. Just one guys opinion of course.
Thanks again, glad I didn’t prepay for the sack of GP I have being held for me
That, said don’t be afraid of using golden promise in a bitter or a barley wine. The results are wonderful but very different than MO. Also a cool malt that is like 30 buck cheaper for 25kg sacks is Canada Malting Superior Pale Ale. It gives a lot of really nice toastiness that is MO reminiscent but distinctly different. Blending Superior Pale Ale with GP also gives a pretty nice result with a good complexity.
Thanks DiatasticNonsense. Don’t think Canada Malting is regularly stocked at my LHBS, but likely can order it for me in the future
That was something I was going to mention, try blending malts. To me, MO can stick out a little when used on its own. On a recent red ale, I used 50/50 MO and optic for the base malt, and was very pleased with the results.
The stout porter recipe I keep posting uses four different base malts…I wish I had the time to experiment more, as this could be overkill, but it does make for a nice “broad spectrum” maltiness…it’s like instead of just noticing toasty, or sweet/malty, you kinda smear them all together. (but in a good way.)