I just bought some grain for an extract I’m brewing. The recipe called for caramalt (37 L). The store didn’t have it so I went with carastan 30 - 37. What can I expect the difference to be?
Carastan is a name brand malt from Hugh Bairds. It is basically British Crystal 40.
Caramalt:
30-37° L. Imparts a light flavor and pale red color, contributes dextrins, and adds to foam stability.
Carastan:
30-40° L. Carastan is a British crystal malt with a caramel/toffee flavor and hints of toasted bread.
Someone more experienced than I can probably answer better but it appears from the description that the flavor from carastan will be more noticeable in the recipe depending on how much is used. I have never used either malt so I cannot speak from experience.
Interesting…I was just working in a section of the book about this. I’ll confirm what Steve posted.
Carastan is Bairds trademark (like CaraAmber from Weyermann)
Simpsons Caramalt=Carastan. I use them interchangeably in my Northern English Brown Ale. Has a toffee flavor that some judges mistake for oxidation.
Interestingly, one of the qualities of crystal/cara malts is that they supposed slow oxidative reactions.
I have been reading the most recent issue of BYO, and really like the sounds of the Switchback Ale clone in the mag. The recipe calls for carastan malt. I searched here for info and found this link. My main question is that in Beersmith2, their is no grain listing for either carastan or caramber. Should I simply input British crystal 40, or is there a better option for the ingredient listing? Any thought would be helpful.
You can add the malt to beersmith. You just need to find the specs.
Thanks Steve, now that you said that, I was able to find the way to add grains and specs for it.
Do you mind posting the specs you used for Carastan in BeerSmith. I am brewing the Switchback clone myself. Wish I could get in down in NJ.
In the end, I have not brewed this yet. I tried to source the Carastan locally in the specific SRM quoted in the magazine, but could not find it. The shop employees told me they did not think Carastan was even still in production. Their thought was to use either crystal 10 or 20 for the Carastan 14 and either crystal 30 or 40 for the Carastan 34. I was not happy with either of those choices, due mainly to my newbie status I did not want to just play around with the numbers and guess, so I brewed something else. I may look into this again in the future when I am more familiar with grain substitutions, just not ready to make that leap yet. Good luck with it and let me know what you find and source, as well as how it comes out. I have not had the original, just thought the recipe and idea behind it sounded great for my not so hop-happy friends.
Carastan crystal malta are made by BAIRDS malts. Took me some time but I have found it. Name is maltster specific.
Thank you Leos, that’s what I figured, my LHBS just doesn’t carry them and therefore are not familiar with them I guess
Yes but I would say you could sub with British crystals of the same L color.
That was the main problem though: recipe called for carastan 14&34. Wasn’t sure how much 10/20 & 30/40 to sub in. I’ll figure it out sometime through experimentation though
I’d use the same amount of 20 and 40 as the original recipe calls for of the others. It’s not gonna be that big a deal. The color of any crystal malt is just an average of the various colors that make it up anyway.
Thanks Denny, I will be putting this back on my brew schedule with appropriate subs.