I’m using speciality grains on all 1 gallon beers I’ve been experimenting with (40L crystal). How would this compare to the same exact recipe minus the speciality grains? Taste, color?
Post both recipes so folks can see the difference
It would taste like the same beer but without the specialty grain?
Did I misunderstand the question?
So the question is what does 40l taste like? it darkens a beer slightly. And tastes of mild caramel. It leaves a small amount of residual sweetness as well.
I can’t stress enough the value of doing nano-mashes (Zymurgy, can’t remember which month). You really get a feel for what specialty grains bring to the table. I used this to design my first recipe for a brown ale. Turned out awesome and now it’s a regular on tap. So if you want to know what it’d taste like without the C40, scale the mash down to the size of a mason jar and taste it. My $0.02.
Yes, thank you that was what I intended to ask.
FWIW, here is the one gallon recipe in question. Now picture the same recipe minus the 40L.
4.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 1 16.7 %
1 lbs 4.0 oz Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 2 83.3 %
0.40 oz Cascade [6.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 3 22.8 IBUs
0.35 oz Citra [12.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 4 15.4 IBUs
0.25 oz Citra [12.50 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 5 0.0 IBUs
I’d think it would be slightly lighter color, lighter flavored, less body, and more bitter.
So it’s a good idea to use with extracts?
Depends on what you want. If you want a light colored dry beer then probably not. If you want a touch of color and sweetness to balance hops, sure
Can you try and explain what dry tastes like?
Think about dry wine vs sweet wine.
Can you give me some beer examples?
A scottish wee heavy is a sweet beer. A guinness is a dry beer
Sweet tea vs tea with no sugar. In beer and wine they call a lack of sweetness dry.
+1. Yep. I’d throw in English Barleywine vs Saison.
Trouble for him might be finding a saison or barley wine… I figured in Florida he might could find sweet tea lol
Good point . 
We have both here, no worries! Jacksonville is surprisingly a large craft beer scene. A few great breweries, a great beer bar with soon to be over 200 taps and fantastic bottle shops.
Regarding the tea thing, I was unaware but apparently in places outside of the south there is no such thing as sweet tea…who knew?
We make our own at the table. Glass conditioned with granular sediment