I’m working on a robust porter recipe that calls for special B about 3% of the grain bill. I’m not familiar with this grain, and don’t have it on hand. Is there another grain I can substitute for this for flavor that it may add, say in the crystal family? looks like it ads color too, which I can get from crystal 120.
I have done some google searches, and most discuss color, not flavor.
TIA,
Dan
I think the closest I’ve come across is an Extra-Dark English crystal malt, typically about 160 SRM. Weyermann’s new CaraAroma sounds like it’s supposed to be similar, but I haven’t used it yet. Special B is pretty unique. A US crystal malt won’t be all that similar IMHO.
for a porter, color is pretty easy… you can get the srm’s a number of ways. Special B, on the other hand is pretty unique. It’s going to contribute raiseny, dark fruit, dark but not burnt malt flavor. If you have a local shop, I’d really suggest you go in a chew a little bit (good to do for ALL malts for familiarity with flavor) to get a better sense of what is ‘Special’ about this malt.
if you want to use it in your porter, I’d suggest keeping the amount pretty low. it’s intense, a little goes a long way. in the right place, it’s wonderful… imagine a Belgian Dark Strong.
If your in a pinch I think C120 will work.