I was going through the BrewDog DIY Dog recipe book and many of their recipes call for Extra Pale Malt. It appears pretty hard to find around here. What is the US equivalent of this? I recently brewed a couple of the recipes. I ended up using regular Pale Malt for their Electric India recipe and Golden Promise for their Punk IPA recipe.
My guess is Pilsner malt. After that I got nothin’
I can’t answer what it is but the Patagonia malt you see around is “extra pale”. The color is very pale.
Probably low color malt. There is a 2L Maris Otter that some British breweries really like. Don’t get it much here.
Right. I have actually used Munton’s Extra Pale Maris Otter once.
https://bellsbeer.com/store/products/Muntons-Maris-Otter-Extra-Pale-Malt-%252d-1-lb.html
A couple of recipes specify Extra Pale Maris Otter so I’m not sure if they mean they are different malts or not. Sort of makes me wonder what grains they will use once they open their local brewery here in town if they use a lot of malts not traditionally available in the US.
Lower colour pale ale malt, often sold in the UK as “lager malt” and used for golden ales or lagers. Not quite the same as continental pilsner malt - the damp British climate gives lower protein. If you want US substitute any very pale 2-row or lager malt with low protein would probably be OK.
Simpsons Golden Promise is only around 2+ Lovibond, and would be a good choice.
The naming or labeling of malt should not be used as an indicator of what the malt is and how it should be mashed. The reason for this is that as more and more maltsters have emerged on the market they attempt to distinguish their product with names that they believe reflect the intent of the malt but which may confuse the consumer.
The average homebrewer doesn’t want to consult an analysis sheet they simply want to buy the malt based on description.
The malt analysis sheet should be consulted to determine:
Lovibond - what is level of kilning of this malt? Is it the level I’m looking for?
BetaGlucan levels - is a protein rest needed for this malt? do I have to account for a sticky runoff? will my levels of extract be reduced?
S/T ratio - how modified is this malt? has it been under or overmodified? do I need to do a decoction?
Diastatic Power - how many enzymes are left after kilning and will it be enough to affect the rest of my grain bill
Assigning a name to a malt and expecting it to communicate a malt analysis is flawed logic. Assigning a name and getting in the ballpark, perhaps…
I completely agree. Sadly, often grain is just sold as “x” without any more info. I’ve bought grain that whose packaging didn’t even list the maltster. Yeah, the webpage listed who made the malt, but if the packaging doesn’t, can I trust it’s what I ordered?
We really don’t know what we’re brewing with. Yeah, the beer will turn out fine, but is it too much to ask for lot/batch info to be passed on to the consumer?
On that note, I also wish more attention was paid to barley varieties as well.
I would be happy if I just had a LHBS with employees who could answer basic questions about what they have on the shelves, never mind the level of info mentioned above.
You’re on the right track. British maltsters like Muntons typically produce a Pale Ale malt that is around 2-3L and an Extra Pale Ale malt that si 1.5-2.0L. These are malts designed for bitters, pale ales, IPAs, or any ale. Muntons produces a few Pale and Extra Pale malts with different barley varieties like Propino and Maris Otter. Even a lot of the commercial brewers I talk to in the US aren’t aware of the difference.
Most LHBSs will only carry the Pale. If you are brewing a recipe that calls for Extra Pale, the Pale will likely be fine.
Pilsner and Lager malt are two different types of malt and both are distinct from Extra Pale.
this stuff:
Just use ordinary maris otter or your standard pale ale malt.
Extra Pale is equivalent to Pils malt with respect to kilning and color. It only differs with respect to the barley cultivar. Extra Pale malt will have significant SMM content and higher potential for DMS formation.
I have elected to classify base malts with respect to color rating. I refer to all base malts with color between 1.2L and 2.2L as Pils malt. All base malts with color between 2.3L and 4L are called Pale malt. Pils malts tend to have sweeter or honey flavor and pale malt tends to add nutty notes to their flavor. Extra pale malt is a pils malt. Vienna malt typically falls in the pale malt range.
Pils malts have significant SMM content and minor DMS content and therefore require more boiling time to convert that SMM to DMS. It then takes some time for the converted DMS to volatilize.
Pale malts typically have low SMM content and have more significant DMS content. Since DMS is easily volatilized from wort, they don’t have to be boiled as long as pils malts do.
Unless you’re brewing a very pale colored beer, there is only minor reason to employ pils malt (obtaining that honey sweet malt flavor). If your beer is intended to be darker than about 3 or 4 SRM, then most brewers would find that a pale malt would work very well and there would be fewer problems with DMS.