Let’s talk about you new hop and malt of this 2016!. I’ll start:
Hop: Vic Secret, recently brewed a Pale Ale using this hop and it turned out great!, kind of similar to Galaxy.
Malt: Brown Malt, I’ve just tried this malt for first time on my English Porter and it really makes a difference, i see why Denny advice using this malt on his Bourbon Imperial Porter.
Favourite hop - Galaxy. Never used it until a couple of months ago, but I love the flavour this hop gives beer.
Favourite malt - Rauchmalt. Was going to go for brown malt too, but decided to plump for this smoked malt. I’m not a fan of rauchbiers, I find them far too phenolic, but love what this gives to porters.
If the theme is killer malts and hops not tried before until this year-ish :
Hops - Saphir, Cleopatra, and latter half of last year - Equinox/Ekuanot, Mandarina, Azacca, and Lemon Drop.
Malts - Barke Pils, Barke Vienna, Barke Munich. Just fantastic malts, worth every penny.
I have old (lame?) tastes, my favorite malts are Maris Otter and Weyermann pilsner. This year I have also been using a lot of Aurora Styrian / Super Styrian (same hop, different names). Pretty pungent spicy noble type hop that has been around for along time but doesn’t seem to appear anywhere, and with flavor that I find nice. Yeah…I know, not exciting.
Every beer I’ve brewed this year has included either Vic Secret (for hoppy styles) or Kazbek (for styles that normally call for noble hops). Vic Secret is my new Citra, and Kazbek is my new Sterling.
As far as malt goes, Aromatic malt is still my go-to specialty malt, and has been for years. I like how a small amount can just subtly kick up the malt character a notch or two.
Where did you get the Aurora. I got a pound and found they taste really muddy.
favorite hop has been Comet.
Malt: special B
Hop: Equinox, Galaxy
Malt - Carafa special
Hop - palisade
Malt - Not one malt really, just the concept of blending British base malts instead of just using Maris Otter.
Hop - EKG. Probably always will be. Saaz is runner up.
Crisp Ale malt and Centennial.
I tried making and using torrified wheat for the first time this week and really liked what it delivered. Otherwise I’m not terribly exotic with my grain choices.
I found using a huge amount of nugget in an amber delivered a great peach and woody flavor. I’m obviously several years behind on hop exploration so nothing too exotic there either.
I’m a huge fan of Aurora; it’s my secret weapon for a lot of continental styles. I find it has a great balance of spice, floral and fruit notes that work well by itself and in combination with a lot of hops. For me it’s the perfect glue in a mix of hops for lagers, saisons, etc. much in the same way people use centennial and simcoe in IPAs and pale ales with other hops.
I don’t think Aurora tastes muddy; it’s possible you got a poorly handled pound of hops.
OTOH you may just taste the flavor of that particular hop that way. Styrian hops and Fuggles are related. Much in the same way people find Fuggles’s earthy flavor to taste like straight dirt, you may find earthy elements of Aurora overwhelming.
Phil, would you share your thoughts on blending British base malts?
Malt - I’ve been using ESB malt as my base instead of 2 row
Hop - I’m one of those Citra puppets, hate if you must.
malt - Loughran ale malt
hop - too many to choose
Malt: I tried Simpsons Heritage Crystal for the first time in 2016. I use it in an all Maris Otter Pale Ale and love it.
Hops: I reviewed all my 2016 grain bills and didn’t see any new hops. Pretty pedestrian stuff.
I’ve only done it once myself, but it’s a big enough difference that I’m going to experiment with it more. It just broadens the flavor out.
Though I haven’t tried a blend with MO yet, this is probably the easiest way to explain how I feel. You ever notice how a MO based bitter is just really intensely bready/toasty? Blending kinda cuts that intensity down a bit, while bringing some other “surrounding” flavors up to a noticeable level.
I plan to try it with a bitter in the near future, so far I’ve only done it in a stout.
Malts for this year would be British crystal/cara malts, Simpson’s and Crisp. I find the flavor in the UK malts adds more then American crystal. The dark Munich from Avangard 15* L is my favorite Munich, very rich and malty, great in dark beers. Hops would be Amarillo, Centennial and Citra in American styles. EKG and Willamette in English styles. Might be boring to some but I am a traditionalist and don’t brew many exotic styles.
Due to warmer weather in England of late, Maris Otter has high protein levels some years. It is blended with other varieties to drop the protein so that haze is not a problem. Muntons calls their MO a blend.
http://www.muntons-inc.com/craft-brewery-products/
At a club event I got a bag of Muntons that is all MO, it was donated by a club member who went pro (Becker Brewery in Brighton, MI), and it was said to be a premium price over the blend. Brewed an English IPA last Week.