I have been using CaraVienne quite a bit lately. My LHBS packed me up some grain yesterday and when I went to pick it up, she gave me CaraRuby instead of CaraVienne. She said it’s the same thing. A brewer on my main board (and here too… neddles) mentioned that he thought it had a deeper, sweeter, more caramel-like character to it. I’m using it in a sort of German Amber Lager where it only makes up 5% (8 ounes in 9.5 pounds of grain) of the grist. Does anyone have any experience with it? Should I dial it back a little? I’m not looking for intense caramel character or flavor… just a smidge of that plus color like I would get with CaraVienne. Cheers and thanks.
They sold you on a similarity, and what they had on hand. They both are a 18-25ish L and both contribute sweet caramel/toffeeish flavors. I would not get to bent out of shape on it. If you don’t like it I would ask them to fix it for you on the next batch… seems fair to me anyway.
One of the oldest shops in the country operates in a similar manner. They typically carry one, maybe two grains of a similar lovibond rating. I don’t shop there often enough to care. I mean I can see a newer shop or a shop that isn’t dedicated to brewing doing this, but a very well established shop just seemed weird.
My guess is that it will be just fine in this beer. But I have been burned here and there thinking I could easily sub one thing for another and I don’t want to keep doing that. I have never used CaraRuby (17 years of brewing) so I’m just checking with anyone who has used both and give me a comparison. Cheers & thanks Beerheads.
One of my favorite beers, Oakshire’s Watershed IPA, uses CaraRuby, so I thought I’d give it a try. VERY nice alternative to crystal. Another one to look for is Great Western Sacchra 50. It’s kinda like a drier version of C50, more of a cross between Munich and crystal.
Apparently Cara-Ruby was originally Castle’s Caramel-Vienna malt. They are both very close in color rating and appear to quite a similar malt. I think you should have no problem subbing it for Caravienne. If you are concerned about it being too overpowering, then maybe you might want to consider just adding 6 oz vs 8 in your 5 gallon batch. That way you will at least get familiar with the malt, and next time you use it, you will have a better idea where and how much to add.
Thanks gang. I was just getting comfortable with this and while I was getting my grains together for my brewday tomorrow I found an open bag of CaraVienne… so I’m using that in this batch but the CaraRuby will come into play eventually and when it does I’ll consider it a solid sub based on the replies here. Cheers Beerheads.
Which shop was it, l’ve been trying to source CaraRuby to take a shot at the Watershed recipe from Denny’s book. None of my usual spots carry it.
I see you’re local to me. The shop that carries it is WHAT’S BREWING in Palatine. I’m sure they ship so check out their site and see if you can get your hands on some. Cheers.