Crystal malts
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Crystal malts
I've seen a few recipes that call for crystal malt and dark crystal malt.
What values would you expect in terms of ebc does 125 and 240 sound about right. I've seen both ends of the spectrum crystal as low as 30 and as high as 500
What values would you expect in terms of ebc does 125 and 240 sound about right. I've seen both ends of the spectrum crystal as low as 30 and as high as 500
Re: Crystal malts
Good Q and it makes a big difference. Some v useful information here
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=54623
It's always unsettling when it is not possible to get the right type of Crystal as it has an impact on flavour.
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=54623
It's always unsettling when it is not possible to get the right type of Crystal as it has an impact on flavour.
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Re: Crystal malts
Think I'll go for around 130 ish for normal crystal then I've got carapils in too
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Re: Crystal malts
Alot of recipes generated in America call for grain we can't get they seem to have a wider selection on malt colour but you can certainly get somewhere near.
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Re: Crystal malts
After having a talk with Greg Hughes as there his recipes he said the 130 ebc was fine
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Re: Crystal malts
Every maltster will produce a slightly different crystal, and with British barley being different from US barley you can bet their crystal will be different again. The best you can do is to compare the EBU (or convert from lovibond - EBU is about 2x at the low end and 3x at the high end).
As a generalisation though, I'd put them with the following EBUs:
Carapils/caragold 10
Caramalt 30
Pale crystal 60
Crystal 130
Dark crystal 240
Extra dark 350
As a generalisation though, I'd put them with the following EBUs:
Carapils/caragold 10
Caramalt 30
Pale crystal 60
Crystal 130
Dark crystal 240
Extra dark 350
Ingredients: Water, Barley, Hops, Yeast, Seaweed, Blood, Sweat, The swim bladder of a sturgeon, My enemies tears, Scenes of mild peril, An otter's handbag and Riboflavin.
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Re: Crystal malts
What flavours does caramalt bring to the table
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Re: Crystal malts
Light caramel, with the usual crystal body sweetness.sbond10 wrote:What flavours does caramalt bring to the table
A bit more flavour than caragold/pils which just adds sweetness really, but less than pale crystal. They all exist on a continuum of flavours.
If you've ever put some sugar in water and heated it to create various forms of solid caramel, crystal malts are much like that. Heat enough to dissolve it and you end up with a clear block of sugar - sweet but no other flavour really. This is your caragold/pils. Heat it a bit more and it starts to go golden as the Maillard reactions happen (caramelisation) and then the flavour starts to develop - syrup at first, then caramel, gradually getting more intense the darker it gets as it gets hotter, progressing through caramel to toffee to burnt toffee.
Ingredients: Water, Barley, Hops, Yeast, Seaweed, Blood, Sweat, The swim bladder of a sturgeon, My enemies tears, Scenes of mild peril, An otter's handbag and Riboflavin.
Re: Crystal malts
Is special B just a darker normal crystal or something more interesting? I've seen it referenced as "Crystal 150".
Re: Crystal malts
I think Special B is a crystal malt that's also roasted.
Re: Crystal malts
I think most crystal/caras are roasted to a degree, after being 'mashed', though Special B may be given a second roasting. From Beercolor.com:rpt wrote:I think Special B is a crystal malt that's also roasted.
"[De Wolf-Cosyns Special B] undergoes a second roasting, resulting in a cross between dark caramel and light-roasted malts, similar to a brown malt." Not sure it looks like any brown malt I've used though
I've used it in a Belgian quad and two stouts, where there may otherwise have been dark crystal. I think I like it, but need more data to confirm!
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Re: Crystal malts
I've seen other high color crystal malts described as having a roasted edge as well as the normal caramel/toffee flavors.rpt wrote:I think Special B is a crystal malt that's also roasted.
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Re: Crystal malts
Hi Ben
In terms of understanding the colour contribution of Special B, for recipe formulation, yes you could treat it as Crystal 150 (or whatever EBC it's been roasted to) ... but to understand what's so "special" about Special B you need to understand the differences between caramel and crystal malts (there's a good explanation there (link)), and then understand that Special B is a (Belgian) caramel malt that has then been roasted (as explained in the Brupak's Guide to Grains (link)) ... and that, with the variation in the kilning (caramel malt making process), there will be some grains that go into the roaster full of sugars that crystalise inside the grain, and that come out just like Crystal Malt, and there will be other grains that go into the roaster like a lightly roasted malt (Munich, say) and come out like Brown Malt ... but it's all the grains that are somewhere in between those extremes when they go into the roaster, that bring the flavours to Special B that you'd never get by (just) using half Crystal and half Brown malts ... you see, it really is "unique"
Hope that helps
Cheers, PhilB
... it's always the way ... someone, makes a good set of simplifications to make a nice generalisation to explain something really well, so everyone can get a grasp of it ... just as Jocky did above, Well Done Jocky for that ... and then someone else goes and asks a question about the "exception that breaks the rule", that makes the generalisation look like it's a complete over-simplificationBenB wrote:Is special B just a darker normal crystal or something more interesting? I've seen it referenced as "Crystal 150".
In terms of understanding the colour contribution of Special B, for recipe formulation, yes you could treat it as Crystal 150 (or whatever EBC it's been roasted to) ... but to understand what's so "special" about Special B you need to understand the differences between caramel and crystal malts (there's a good explanation there (link)), and then understand that Special B is a (Belgian) caramel malt that has then been roasted (as explained in the Brupak's Guide to Grains (link)) ... and that, with the variation in the kilning (caramel malt making process), there will be some grains that go into the roaster full of sugars that crystalise inside the grain, and that come out just like Crystal Malt, and there will be other grains that go into the roaster like a lightly roasted malt (Munich, say) and come out like Brown Malt ... but it's all the grains that are somewhere in between those extremes when they go into the roaster, that bring the flavours to Special B that you'd never get by (just) using half Crystal and half Brown malts ... you see, it really is "unique"
Hope that helps
Cheers, PhilB
Re: Crystal malts
Interesting! I did suspect it was missed out for a reason.... Every day's a school day
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Re: Crystal malts
Awesome information, I've learned quite a lot reading those links, and I'd honestly not looked into what Special B is (I've never used it!).PhilB wrote:Hi Ben
... it's always the way ... someone, makes a good set of simplifications to make a nice generalisation to explain something really well, so everyone can get a grasp of it ... just as Jocky did above, Well Done Jocky for that ... and then someone else goes and asks a question about the "exception that breaks the rule", that makes the generalisation look like it's a complete over-simplificationBenB wrote:Is special B just a darker normal crystal or something more interesting? I've seen it referenced as "Crystal 150".
In terms of understanding the colour contribution of Special B, for recipe formulation, yes you could treat it as Crystal 150 (or whatever EBC it's been roasted to) ... but to understand what's so "special" about Special B you need to understand the differences between caramel and crystal malts (there's a good explanation there (link)), and then understand that Special B is a (Belgian) caramel malt that has then been roasted (as explained in the Brupak's Guide to Grains (link)) ... and that, with the variation in the kilning (caramel malt making process), there will be some grains that go into the roaster full of sugars that crystalise inside the grain, and that come out just like Crystal Malt, and there will be other grains that go into the roaster like a lightly roasted malt (Munich, say) and come out like Brown Malt ... but it's all the grains that are somewhere in between those extremes when they go into the roaster, that bring the flavours to Special B that you'd never get by (just) using half Crystal and half Brown malts ... you see, it really is "unique"
Hope that helps
Cheers, PhilB
Personally I try not to vary my sources of grain so I know what I'm getting. You may find inconsistent results if you jump from a medium crystal by one maltster to the same product from another.
Ingredients: Water, Barley, Hops, Yeast, Seaweed, Blood, Sweat, The swim bladder of a sturgeon, My enemies tears, Scenes of mild peril, An otter's handbag and Riboflavin.