I’m sure many people have, but some like myself had not. I still see people talking about how floor malted pils is supposedly undermodified, but when you look at the specs, it’s clearly NOT. I like to rely on science more than rumors and opinions, at least in some cases.
Based on some interwebby searches, Kolbach under 38% is about the threshold from moderate to undermodified. So, at 41% Kolbach, this malt is actually pretty well modified.
There was a thread talking about it not too long ago. I think considering it’s just on the edge and could pose an issue for newer all-grain brewers, it’s wise to point it out. I used to be scared of trying it due to the mythos.
I think it’s only in the last few years that it’s become more modified, Dave. I remember a few year back that retailers ran the disclaimer that it needed to be step mashed. Pretty easy to use now.
I did not get a lot analysis on this batch of malt but Weyermann’s web site specifically says it can be used 100% of the mash and says nothing about a step mash. It may be higher in protein because I had a LOT of break material in the kettle.
I’ve concluded the same. I remember years ago looking at the “slightly undermodified” version of the Wey Floor-malted BoPils and considering a bag. More recently I’ve looked for it again and it seems to have disappeared from their lineup.
I don’t doubt the truth in that at all. We’ve come a long way here in the 21st century. Now for those who want to do decoctions and step mashes on purpose, it’s got to be dang near impossible to find anything undermodified enough to be worth the bother and not destroy body and head retention.
I’d love to try a decoction with an undermodified malt. There’s a (somewhat, 2 hours away) local malt source, Copper Fox Distillery, that malts completely by hand. They determine it’s modified enough by tasting/intuition, and I’m wondering if it would be undermodified enough to work. Only problem is they smoke their malt to dry it, doubt it’d make a good beer if used predominantly.
I suppose home malting may work, but I have neither the space, time, nor inclination to try at the moment.
I think the main concern is not that it can self convert, but it can’t carry a lot of other low Kolbach grain with it like more highly modified pilsner or other base malts can. No experience, just what I recall from the past threads on lower kolbach numbers. Does it have enough DP to convert an entire mash or just itself, that is the question to figure out
I mashed it with 5% floor malted Munich and had no problems. Granted, not like I used adjuncts of anything. I think it’s also interesting that I beat my expected efficiency by a couple points compared to best pils but I’m sure that’s from the step mash (and longer rest).
Honestly though, I thought for some reason I was trying something new that you guys would find interesting. I should have known everyone had already “been there, done that.” That’s why I love you guys!
Yeah, the helles I did recently was the first step mash I’d done in years and I forgot about the efficiency bump you get. I was about 5 points over target.
Because of the potential for the malt to be undermodified I expected lower efficiency and almost threw a few sacks of regular pils in to be safe. Glad I didn’t. I feel comfortable enough on my system that I have now that I think I can to a hockurz for all my German style lagers. It was a fun brewday.
Not quite ready yet for double batch days on flag ship brews but hopefully have equipment coming this summer to make it a reality for every beer. But for one off tasting room beers or single brew days it is completely doable.
I’m glad I did some reading here before my brew day tomorrow. Making a Kolsch style beer with 100% floor malted bo pils. Going to do a simple single infusion mash based on the info here! Thank you all!
I like the way Weyermann light and dark floor malt performs. I have used the malt since the time it has become available. In the mid 80’s I used Budvar low modified, low protein floor malt which was very expensive and it too had the sweet, wet hay scent. The wet hay is a positive as far as I am concerned, it is part of the beer style and the malt that was used to make the beer, originally. However, some may find it offensive, olfactory systems differ. I think that the scent in the air coming off of a hay field after a rain is nice, others may get hay fever. The scent reminds me of summer and good times and the scent of a field during the fall, a type of melancholy sets in because summer is ending. Perhaps, a person has to live in an area where there are fields of hay and wheat growing to be able to tune into the whole thing and some have never had that option.
It is not a bad idea to use a malt data sheet and to learn what the data means. The sheet is produced for a reason and it is a valuable tool that a brew master uses. Many home brewers do not know of its existence.
This has been a brewer friendly malt for me. I mashed this malt 50/50 with the floor malted dark malt and 2 ozs of CaraAroma and hit 1.048 on the button as predicted. Used a beta and an alpha rest to get ~100% conversion efficiency, no problem.
Unfortunately where I grew up, the air was so dry that we had to bale hay at 2am to get enough humidity so that it didn’t crumble to bits. In June that also overlapped with wheat season, so we would leave the wheat field at 10pm, eat dinner, sleep a couple hours and go back to the hayfield at 2am.
I have a Helles on tap at Yellowhammer made with this malt that is getting rave reviews if anyone local wants to try it. Made with 95% floor malted pils and 5% floor malted Munich.
