I typically by 50 pound sacks of malt for my brewing so I always have some on hand when I want to brew. I have a limited selection where I live (Fairbanks, Alaska) and tend to have to get whatever is available (frequently gambrinus or great western 2 row). I just found a source with a selection of malts that has inexpensive shipping for me and I was wondering what people liked.
I tend to brew a variety of ales ranging from blondes, red ales, IPA’s, Stouts, Belgians, you name it…but I do tend to like malty beers. This survey has a list of some of the malts I have to choose from and I just wanted to see what people liked
I don’t know that I can vote since I don’t consider any of those malts interchangeable. I will say that both the GW Pale Ale and the TF Maris Otter are great malts, in my experience.
I never know what I’m making until the spirit strikes me. It looks like the new supplier also has some basic 2-row also but I’m interested in something with a little character. I brew fairly frequently but not enough to keep two different types of base malt on hand.
I haven’t brewed with Golden promise for years, could be interesting to try. I think I’ve only ever used it for Scottish ales.
I regularly use both Thomas Fawcett Maris Otter and Great Western Northwest Pale Ale (Washington Select) and really like both. I often blend them as well, using more or less of one or the other depending on what I’m going for. If I were you I would get one or the other and then alternate sacks when you start to run low. Best of both worlds
More than anything else I use GW california select and/or munich (weyermann when I am feeling wealthy and not careing overly about environmental impact and gambrinus otherwise) I’ll grab a sack of pils (again, weyermann for the richie rich days and gambrinus or GW others)
I use Thomas Fawcett Maris Otter and Best pilsner as my base malts most of the time. My choices for domestic 2 row are Briess and Canada Malting. The Briess is OK, but I’m not a fan of the Canada Malting 2 row.
Depends on what I’m brewing. For most of my house beers I go with a Maris Otter. They are generally English styles. For American and really light styles it is normally Rahr 2-row.
I use the Fawcett MO for some styles, but usually I’m using inexpensive 2-row pale(Rahr or Breiss) or Weyermann Pilsner or Munich. Rahr wheat is also a great base malt.
I generally only use MO in English-style beers. I usually use continental pale malt for Belgian beers but anything else gets domestic stuff. I don’t think you could go wrong using MO for everything if you were willing to suck up the extra cost over a US or Canadian maltster.
I like to use a house blend for almost all my recipes, unless I’m going for a truly traditional take on a beer (ESB, pils, Bock).
40% Rahr 2-row
40% Wey. Pils
20% Munich
I can increase the Munich for “malty-ness” and color, the Pils for delicate beers, or the 2-row if there is a lot of specialty malts or total fermentables (which drown out the pils anyway).