I have been reading about chit malts and might like to try some in a recipe soon, but they are not easy to find. I see that Mecca Grade Estate lists their Gateway malt as under-modified, but they don’t use the term chit malt. I can get this malt easier than ones listed as chit malt. Is it basically the same thing?
That’s the lowest Kolbach index (S/T) I have ever seen. Dozens of maltsters claim they make an “undermodified” malt. But this is the only one I’ve seen that actually is.
Chit malt is something even lesser than that. It’s like a step prior to this. I don’t know if many people would consider the terms interchangeable – I wouldn’t.
I cannot claim to be an expert on reading spec sheets, but to my knowledge, best measure of modification is Kolbach or S/T, not DP.
But I might be wrong. I have no doubt that somebody else will chime in with much more info later.
In my understanding, chit malt is basically grain that was wetted a bit and then dried. So yeah, should be real similar to how flaked barley would behave. Tastes like grass and hay (I’ve tasted it), very green.
Dave, you are pretty close, but not right on. Chit malt has been germinated a bit, while flaked barley is not germinated at all. As a result chit malt has very high enzyme content, while flaked barley has none. The protein content may be similar because chit malt has germination stopped before the proteins are fully modified, but may introduce fewer polyphenols that produce haze in beer. If you are brewing a hazy IPA then flaked grains are fine, but if you are making a brew with a lot of kilned grains and need something to boost your enzyme content without producing haze then chit malt will work and flaked barley won’t.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard the comparison of chit malt to flaked barley before, but that makes a lot of sense. It certainly explains why I get a fair amount of green/hay flavor from flaked barley.
Does Gateway have lots of the flavor that the proponents of putting antioxidants in mash are seeking to get? Might using Gateway be an easier way to achieve this?
It has lots of flavor, although it isn’t exactly the flavor you’d exact in a pils malt. If you already brew LO then I assume you’d still want to do it. There’s nothing about Gateway that would prevent oxidation.
Interesting question! BTW, I love your use of the term “proponents of putting antioxidants in mash”.
Having never tasted Gateway malt myself specifically, I’m not sure whether it could be used effectively as a “cheater” method to get different malty flavors than from standard base malt. Which is sort of like the folks who “cheat” decoction by adding melanoidin (which in my view doesn’t actually work – two totally different things). Maybe as little as 10-20% in a batch would be enough to have an impact, something like that? In any case, if you do play around with Gateway malt, please report your results!
I’ve used it several times. Pretty much has the flavor of the other Full Pint malts. In no way would I think of of it as a “cheater” malt in the way you describe.
