Bought Lager Malt by mistake

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Biomedbrewer

Bought Lager Malt by mistake

Post by Biomedbrewer » Tue Sep 27, 2016 1:03 pm

Hi,

First post.
I've graduated from kits to all-grain over the last two years. Using cooler mash tun & kettle converted from plastic bucket with 2 cheap kettle elements.
My first few brews have turned out pretty well, friends & family enjoyed them so must be doing OK, god bless the internet!
Got a bit blase recently and bought the wrong base malt. My local home brew shop had 5Kg bags of Maris Otter stacked next to Lager Malt. Didn't check the label even when doing the brew so I ended up brewing with Lager Malt. Did a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone. The final product turned out really nice, a bit too hoppy for some of my mates. I used leftover malt to experiment with some Cascade hops. I made up a grist of 90% base malt (believed to be MO, still didn't check the label) 7% Caramalt & 3% Torrified Wheat. The beer turned out great but it wouldn't clear despite doing the usual (Irish Moss & quick cool). My question to the forum (finally!) is would the use of Lager Malt affect the clarity of the finished beer compared to Maris Otter? I've read that Lager Malt is less modified does that more proteins floating around when used in an ale recipe?

gobuchul

Re: Bought Lager Malt by mistake

Post by gobuchul » Tue Sep 27, 2016 1:59 pm

lots of discussion on this thread about the differences between the 2.

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=28909

Biomedbrewer

Re: Bought Lager Malt by mistake

Post by Biomedbrewer » Tue Sep 27, 2016 5:20 pm

Thanks for the link gobuchul.
It does look like that could be the cause of the haze.
Still getting my head round the science bit. I enjoyed chemistry at school but that was a lifetime ago.
One of the reasons i haven't signed up to a forum before now was that everything i wanted to know had already been discussed, so didn't want to be going over the same old, same old if I could help it.

gobuchul

Re: Bought Lager Malt by mistake

Post by gobuchul » Tue Sep 27, 2016 6:02 pm

One of the reasons i haven't signed up to a forum before now was that everything i wanted to know had already been discussed, so didn't want to be going over the same old, same old if I could help it.
I wouldn't worry about that! I asked loads of questions that must of been asked before and I have seen asked again by others. Nobody ever seems to get impatient with the questions. It's a laid back friendly place.

When you asked that question, it made me think because I did an IPA a few weeks ago and had to make up the grain bill with some lager malt as I ran out of pale and the beer is cloudy. So I googled it and came up with that thread which I found useful.

Anyway, hazy IPA is pretty trendy at the moment. It's on October's cover of BYO Magazine.

Biomedbrewer

Re: Bought Lager Malt by mistake

Post by Biomedbrewer » Tue Sep 27, 2016 8:14 pm

Nice to be on trend albeit by accident. I'm planning another Cascade golden/ blonde ale soon, hopefully with MO, be interesting to see & taste the difference. I guess this is what brewing is all about.

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Kev888
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Re: Bought Lager Malt by mistake

Post by Kev888 » Tue Sep 27, 2016 10:01 pm

I'm sure all will be fine. In a pale brew, you would likely notice a slight difference if comparing back-to-back with pale malt but nothing major. Lager malt, like pale malt, is something of a family rather than a specific grain - unless there was anything very specific mentioned, then it is likely to be just a slightly lighter kilning than generic pale malt.

Lots of dry-hopping can result in cloudiness, but thats normal and fine by me in well hopped beer. I like these things so you'd think I would welcome the recent/current fad towards hoppy beers. But it is mostly disappointing IMO, shed loads of hops (or in the worst cases just hop bitterness) without balance or support from a decently tasty/malty underlying beer.
Kev

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