Playing Favorites

[system]

In order to get an idea of what the more experienced members here have concluded, I’d like to know the following from any or all of you:

List your favorite:

Pilsner malt -
Pale malt -
Munich malt/Vienna malt -
Other Base malts (MO/GP) -
Specialty malt(s) -
Bittering hops -
Aroma hops -
Flavor hops -
Adjuncts -
Sugars -

[jonhughey_att.net (HoosierBrew)]

Honestly depends on what I’m brewing. I just try to use the right tools for the right job. Having said that, I do like pils and Vienna malts quite a bit, all things equal. As for hops, I love good hop aroma and flavor.

[alestateyall (tommymorris)]

I think the OP might have meant favorite brand, at least for the malts.

I’ll pass. I am not experienced enough to have tried multiple brands of all of those.

[stpug]

It’s probably easier to just list those items/ingredients/brands we don’t like

[denny]

In order to get an idea of what the more experienced members here have concluded, I’d like to know the following from any or all of you:

List your favorite:

Pilsner malt -
Pale malt -
Munich malt/Vienna malt -
Other Base malts (MO/GP) -
Specialty malt(s) -
Bittering hops -
Aroma hops -
Flavor hops -
Adjuncts -
Sugars -

That’s like picking a favorite child…

[klickitat_jim]

Lately…
Best Malz pils munich and vienna
Simpson golden promise
Magnum for bitterness
Anti adjuncts, according to AB they are course and cause stupidity

[jonhughey_att.net (HoosierBrew)]

@alestateyall

I think the OP might have meant favorite brand, at least for the malts.

Yep, my bad.  Best and Dingemann pils, Best Vienna, Dingemann pale, Best or Avangard Munich, Fawcett MO, Simpsons GP.  Bittering - Magnum or Columbus. Aroma and flavor - I agree with Denny, it’s like picking a favorite child. Adjunct - D180, great stuff.

[denny]

In order to get an idea of what the more experienced members here have concluded, I’d like to know the following from any or all of you:

List your favorite:

Pilsner malt -
Pale malt -
Munich malt/Vienna malt -
Other Base malts (MO/GP) -
Specialty malt(s) -
Bittering hops -
Aroma hops -
Flavor hops -
Adjuncts -
Sugars -

Pils, Vienna, continental Munich - Best
Domestic Munich - Great Western
Pale - Rahr, followed closely by Great Western
GP- Simpson’s
MO - don’t use it
Sugar - D180 syrup
Adjunct - chanterelle or matsutake mushrooms

[system]

Good stuff everyone. Keep it coming.

[fchenette (Frankenbrew)]

In order to get an idea of what the more experienced members here have concluded, I’d like to know the following from any or all of you:

List your favorite:

Pilsner malt -Weyermann
Pale malt - Crisp
Munich malt/Vienna malt - Weyermann/Briess
Other Base malts (MO/GP) -?
Specialty malt(s) -Carastan
Bittering hops - Magnum
Aroma hops -Centennial/Cascade/Amarillo
Flavor hops -Citra
Adjuncts - hardly ever use
Sugars -Belgian Dark Candi syrup

See above quote

[system]

The reason I’m interested is I am going to be moving back near my hometown next year and will be leaving three pretty solid LHBSs behind. I will be going the mail order route and would like to get an idea of what the big guys are selling compared to what people like. I have been using primarily Dingemans for everything. My local place has their entire line.

[erockrph]

I haven’t done enough experimentation with base malts to have a strong opinion, but here’s what I got:

List your favorite:

Pilsner malt -
Pale malt -
Munich malt/Vienna malt -
Other Base malts (MO/GP) - Red X
Specialty malt(s) - Aromatic
Bittering hops - Magnum, if I use something different than my aroma hop
Aroma hops - All of them But depending on style I lean towards Nelson, Citra, Meridian, Motueka, EKG and Sterling. This list is likely to change in a few days once this year’s test batches finish carbing up.
Flavor hops - See Flavor hops
Adjuncts - Torrified Wheat
Sugars - D45/D90/D180 Candi Syrup

[morticaixavier]

I’ll preface by saying that I restrict myself mostly to organic ingredients so that limits my selections on most things but…

In order to get an idea of what the more experienced members here have concluded, I’d like to know the following from any or all of you:

List your favorite:

Pilsner malt - Weyermann for crackery, great western or gambrinus for grapey
Pale malt - great western
Munich malt/Vienna malt - Wetermann for dry dark toasty, great western or gambrinus for dark fruity
Other Base malts (MO/GP) - rarely use them but I think Thomas Fawcett is available organically
Specialty malt(s) - I use a lot of munich in place of most crystal malts. I order great western or briess specialty malts for roasted and the occasional crystal/cara. I use Weyermann for rye malt because they are the only one doing that organically. usually great western or gambrinus for wheat malt
Bittering hops - I used to like bravo but I don’t see it much anymore. Magnum is good, centennial
Aroma hops -  mix it up a lot here because I just don’t go a lot of hop forward beers but I like to include an herbal/spicey hop with some fruity/piney hop
Flavor hops - not a real hop head, don’t really have favorites. although sterling is nice and hallertaur mitt is a favorite for german beer
Adjuncts - Raw grains come from the local food co-op bulk bins
Sugars - co-op again, or family for honey, neighbors for maple syrup

[braufessor]

Pilsner malt - Weyerman
Pale malt - Rahr
Munich malt/Vienna malt - I tend to use Weyerman mostly… but, don’t have a lot of experience with others.
Other Base malts (MO/GP) - Simpsons Golden Promise.  In almost all of my ales I use a GP/Rahr blend 50/50 for base portion

Specialty malt(s) - I use Honey Malt in small percentages (1-3%) in a lot of my APA’s, IPA’s, Blondes, etc  I go very low on crystal in these beers and this provides some color (25L) and flavor.  I like Briess Ashburne Mild malt for Dark Milds. 
Bittering hops - Warrior (I also like Liberty for less hop forward styles styles)
Aroma hops - Citra, Mosaic, Galaxy
Flavor hops - Citra, Mosaic, Galaxy (In hoppy beers I generally just bitter and then everything else is flameout, whirlpool, dry)
Adjuncts - Flaked Barley and Flaked Oats.
Sugars - Rarely use.

[blatz]

List your favorite:

Pilsner malt - Best (though using Weyermann more lately due to availability)
Pale malt - Rahr
Munich malt/Vienna malt - Weyermann
Other Base malts (MO/GP) - Crisp or TF
Specialty malt(s) - Crisp or Simpsons range of Crystals, Crisp RB, Chocolate
Bittering hops - Apollo or Magnum
Aroma hops - Simcoe, Amarillo, Cascade, Columbus, Centennial
Flavor hops -Simcoe, Amarillo, Cascade, Columbus, Centennial
Adjuncts - occasional oats
Sugars - table sugar for double IPAs

[dmtaylor (Dave Taylor)]

In order to get an idea of what the more experienced members here have concluded, I’d like to know the following from any or all of you:

List your favorite:

Pilsner malt -
Pale malt -
Munich malt/Vienna malt -
Other Base malts (MO/GP) -
Specialty malt(s) -
Bittering hops -
Aroma hops -
Flavor hops -
Adjuncts -
Sugars -

Great question(s).  I have few answers but I am curious how others will answer.

One favorite malt is Special B.  I love malt and this one takes the cake.  Also love Vienna and Pilsner malt.  I am still playing around trying to find favorite brands for my malts.  I want to play with Gambrinus honey malt some more as well, it’s interesting.

I love to use my homegrown hops for bittering.  The flavor and aroma never seems to be too stellar, at least mine growing here in the shade.  But for bittering they are great and reliably in “normal” range for alpha acid.

Love to use Hallertau for bittering, whether homegrown or not.  Believe me, you can taste them after a long boil.

I want to run more experiments using low alpha hops for bittering.  Everyone uses high alpha.  Yawn.  Why not get some flavor out of your boil hops, for those styles where you want subtle hop flavor.  Not every beer needs to have the term “IPA” in its name.

Curious to see what others are doing.

[pete_baker (pete b)]

@morticaixavier

I’ll preface by saying that I restrict myself mostly to organic ingredients so that limits my selections on most things but…

In order to get an idea of what the more experienced members here have concluded, I’d like to know the following from any or all of you:

List your favorite:

Pilsner malt - Weyermann for crackery, great western or gambrinus for grapey
Pale malt - great western
Munich malt/Vienna malt - Wetermann for dry dark toasty, great western or gambrinus for dark fruity
Other Base malts (MO/GP) - rarely use them but I think Thomas Fawcett is available organically
Specialty malt(s) - I use a lot of munich in place of most crystal malts. I order great western or briess specialty malts for roasted and the occasional crystal/cara. I use Weyermann for rye malt because they are the only one doing that organically. usually great western or gambrinus for wheat malt
Bittering hops - I used to like bravo but I don’t see it much anymore. Magnum is good, centennial
Aroma hops -  mix it up a lot here because I just don’t go a lot of hop forward beers but I like to include an herbal/spicey hop with some fruity/piney hop
Flavor hops - not a real hop head, don’t really have favorites. although sterling is nice and hallertaur mitt is a favorite for german beer
Adjuncts - Raw grains come from the local food co-op bulk bins
Sugars - co-op again, or family for honey, neighbors for maple syrup

Jonathan, I try to get organic or otherwise healthy/sustainable ingredients when cooking and brewing when I think there may be an issue with a conventional version of an ingredient. Is there anything about malt that concerns you? it really hasn’t been on my radar that malts are a problem but I’m interested in what’s out there for research.

[morticaixavier]

@morticaixavier

I’ll preface by saying that I restrict myself mostly to organic ingredients so that limits my selections on most things but…

In order to get an idea of what the more experienced members here have concluded, I’d like to know the following from any or all of you:

List your favorite:

Pilsner malt - Weyermann for crackery, great western or gambrinus for grapey
Pale malt - great western
Munich malt/Vienna malt - Wetermann for dry dark toasty, great western or gambrinus for dark fruity
Other Base malts (MO/GP) - rarely use them but I think Thomas Fawcett is available organically
Specialty malt(s) - I use a lot of munich in place of most crystal malts. I order great western or briess specialty malts for roasted and the occasional crystal/cara. I use Weyermann for rye malt because they are the only one doing that organically. usually great western or gambrinus for wheat malt
Bittering hops - I used to like bravo but I don’t see it much anymore. Magnum is good, centennial
Aroma hops -  mix it up a lot here because I just don’t go a lot of hop forward beers but I like to include an herbal/spicey hop with some fruity/piney hop
Flavor hops - not a real hop head, don’t really have favorites. although sterling is nice and hallertaur mitt is a favorite for german beer
Adjuncts - Raw grains come from the local food co-op bulk bins
Sugars - co-op again, or family for honey, neighbors for maple syrup

Jonathan, I try to get organic or otherwise healthy/sustainable ingredients when cooking and brewing when I think there may be an issue with a conventional version of an ingredient. Is there anything about malt that concerns you? it really hasn’t been on my radar that malts are a problem but I’m interested in what’s out there for research.

Not in particular beyond a general feeling that any time we can leave oil in the ground it’s probably for the best. Barley is a pretty low input crop. Hops can be pretty heavily sprayed though. Other than that it’s a voting with my dollar situation I guess. I will choose local over organic often because my impression is that the energy used in transport is greater than any fossil agricultural inputs. I don’t want to get off on a political tangent though.

[AmandaK]

List your favorite:

Pilsner malt - Best for ze Germans and Dingemans for my Belgians
Pale malt - Rahr 2-row
Munich malt/Vienna malt - Best Munich II is my favorite for it’s depth of flavor, but it’s not appropriate in a lot of things
Other Base malts (MO/GP) - I’ve used a bunch of Crisp, but I’m now loving the TF Maris Otter
Specialty malt(s) - Does Carafa II count?
Bittering hops - Herkules for ze Germans, Warrior for pretty much everything else

I don’t have strong opinions on the others.

[pete_baker (pete b)]

@morticaixavier

@morticaixavier

I’ll preface by saying that I restrict myself mostly to organic ingredients so that limits my selections on most things but…

In order to get an idea of what the more experienced members here have concluded, I’d like to know the following from any or all of you:

List your favorite:

Pilsner malt - Weyermann for crackery, great western or gambrinus for grapey
Pale malt - great western
Munich malt/Vienna malt - Wetermann for dry dark toasty, great western or gambrinus for dark fruity
Other Base malts (MO/GP) - rarely use them but I think Thomas Fawcett is available organically
Specialty malt(s) - I use a lot of munich in place of most crystal malts. I order great western or briess specialty malts for roasted and the occasional crystal/cara. I use Weyermann for rye malt because they are the only one doing that organically. usually great western or gambrinus for wheat malt
Bittering hops - I used to like bravo but I don’t see it much anymore. Magnum is good, centennial
Aroma hops -  mix it up a lot here because I just don’t go a lot of hop forward beers but I like to include an herbal/spicey hop with some fruity/piney hop
Flavor hops - not a real hop head, don’t really have favorites. although sterling is nice and hallertaur mitt is a favorite for german beer
Adjuncts - Raw grains come from the local food co-op bulk bins
Sugars - co-op again, or family for honey, neighbors for maple syrup

Jonathan, I try to get organic or otherwise healthy/sustainable ingredients when cooking and brewing when I think there may be an issue with a conventional version of an ingredient. Is there anything about malt that concerns you? it really hasn’t been on my radar that malts are a problem but I’m interested in what’s out there for research.

Not in particular beyond a general feeling that any time we can leave oil in the ground it’s probably for the best. Barley is a pretty low input crop. Hops can be pretty heavily sprayed though. Other than that it’s a voting with my dollar situation I guess. I will choose local over organic often because my impression is that the energy used in transport is greater than any fossil agricultural inputs. I don’t want to get off on a political tangent though.

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapa

Its not political.
I’m actually getting 9/10 of my malts from Valley Malt, locally grown and malted and a fair amount of my hops is homegrown. I did think from my own experience growing barley and hops that barley doesn’t take much input but hops needs lots of nutrients and has a lot of pests. Any sources for organic or low spray hops?