I just sunk 75 plus shipping into a big sack of Maris Otter. I plan on keeping it for English bitters only and using domestic pale or pils for other stuff. But here’s my question…MO can run nearing twice as costly as domestic pale malts…I haven’t done enough side by side experiments to really know, but is it really worth it? Is there a significant difference between a bitter brewed with, say, 7 lbs of MO versus 7 lbs of Rahr two row? I would anticipate that there would be, and I am a lover of good, subtle bitter, hence my actually buying it. But we as homebrewers often do things out of superstition, too, so I could also see a possibility of the MO not having a big difference in beer flavor, even though I think it unlikely.
MO malt is a great malt for all beer styles except Pilsner type styles. I use this for english style ales and american pale ales. MO gives a nice malty background to compliment the hops. After finding out how nice MO works for American Ales I stop using dimestic pale malt completely.
I don’t know where you are, but $75 plus shipping seems a little high. North Country Malt has Thomas Fawcett MO for about $40 uncrushed 50# sack. I thnk shipping brings it up to around $60-$65.
I think the price difference for me is around .92/lb for 2 row American and .98/lb for Marris Otter. I don’t bother with 2 row American pale malt any more.
+1 - and this isn’t one of those superstition things. there is a significantly different type of maltiness with MO vs. 2 row pale.
[quote]I don’t know where you are, but $75 plus shipping seems a little high. North Country Malt has Thomas Fawcett MO for about $40 uncrushed 50# sack. I thnk shipping brings it up to around $60-$65.
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+1 - I live in South Florida, perhaps as far away from any of the distribution sites as you can be (mine comes from Champaign, NY) and it costs $66-$70 depending on FedEx at the time to get a sack of MO.
IIRC, you live in Missouri, I would think that would be close enough to the Midwest branch to be at least as cheap.
Another vote. While both make good beer, I can definitely tell the difference and as soon as I can use up the 2 sacks of Rahr I have it will be 100% Marris Otter here as well.
You say you went over to pick up a few sacks? Is it hard to get to from Burlington, VT? I’m in Southern NH but go up to Burlington once in a while and wondered if it is worth the hike over.
Glad to know I wasn’t overestimating its value…as mentioned, I LOVE a good bitter and the day I can truly nail something like Marston’s Pedigree will be a fine day indeed, so for that style it sounds like a good Maris Otter is in order. I had a bulk bag of Optic malt and to be honest couldn’t tell you how different it was from domestic two row, but it sounds like Maris Otter is a bit more dramatic in flavor.
I would also agree with Denny in that styles have a big part in it. The bag of Rahr pils malt is going to likely give me pilsners that are more to style at least, and I bet most breweries in America that define the classic American Pale Ale are likely using domestic pale malts (plus specialties) for economy, although homebrewers can of course come up with very clever and often tasty inversions of traditional practice. I remember reading about a stout recipe using all munich as a base malt. That’d be interesting! So, I’ll still use and stock cheap domestic malt, but bitters seem to warrant something richer.
Nic- I think you’re gonna be very happy w/ your MO purchase. I love bitters and ESBs. I’ve strayed from MO and tried Simpson’s GP and I was disappointed. I gotta brew me up an ESB this weekend now ;D
I’ve used Optic a few times, but don’t buy it anymore - IMO, its more muted in richness than MO and has a sublte raisiny maltiness that I did not care for in the ESB I did. I would agree - not much more umph over 2-row in this case. YMMV.
You probably were talking about something else, but I make a munich based stout once a year or so that I discussed several times on the NB forum - if you ever want the recipe, let me know - its killer and always goes over well!
I think I have to agree with Denny. Some brews aren’t as clean tasting if you use MO. Jmo.
But I do like MO in the right recipes. On the other hand… maybe its just me and I can’t brew worth a shit? I’m not a master of brewing thats for sure, I still don’t tamper with my water so that tells you something right there. I just learn as I go and as I can afford to experiment.
