Crystal Malt Question

[BrewHouse]

Hi Guys,

After a few years off, I have just decided to get back into brewing and have decided to try and go the All Grain route. I downloaded a few AG recipe books which look pretty good but are from the US and many of the recipes refer to Crystal 60L or Crystal 120L etc. I understand that the number basically refers to the depth of colour/flavour but am confused as to exactly what I should be buying over here. I have already bought a load of ingredients online from The Home Brew Shop but all of their Crystal Malt is described as light/normal/dark/extra dark. Does anyone have any experience of what the UK terms relate to in L? As a beginner AG brewer I may be getting a bit ahead of myself but it would be nice to know.

A great forum, by the way.

Thanks in advance

Brewhouse

[Bazz]

The L stands for degrees Lovibond, this is as i understand it roughly the same as SRM in terms of colour, confusingly ingredients are also listed in EBC and as far as i can work out there isn't a direct conversion from L/SRM to EBC, but at the lighter end it is approximately doubled, and at the darker end tripled, i.e. L/SRM X 2 or 3 = EBC.

Hope that makes some sort of sense.

[gobuchul]

There is convertors about.

https://www.brewtoad.com/tools/color-converter

The Home Brew Shop and The Malt Miller both state the EBC of their malt and that tool with convert to L and SRM.

[Bazz]

Good find, i could have used that a couple of weeks ago, will have to try and remember it, thanks.

[Jocky]

Funny thing - I always have gone by the rule that for grains the Lovibond value equates to roughly half the EBC value (and it has worked for me quite well). But then looking at the Weyermann charts for caramel malts, it seems that that EBC starts off at double Lovibond, and slides towards 3x at the darker end: http://www.weyermann.de/eng/produkte.as ... &sprache=2

With that caveat and the fact that every malt and maltster will produce a slightly different end product (or in the case of 'Amber' malt, WILDLY different), here's the conversions I use (but may reconsider in future!):

10l - use about 2/3 the amount of British Caramalt (~30EBC) and top up with base malt.
15l - British Caramalt (~30 EBC)
20l - Mix of Caramalt and Pale Crystal
30l - Pale Crystal (50-70 EBC)
40l - Pale Crystal with a touch of standard crystal
60l - Crystal (120-140 EBC)
120l - Dark Crystal (~240 EBC)
160/170l - Extra Dark Crystal (340-400 EBC)

[BrewHouse]

Thanks very much,
I think I understand. I have just spent the whole day making sure that all the fittings on the boilers and mash tun are watertight ( been through every conceivable washer B+Q have to offer and got there eventually.) and am now ready to fire up the burners and get brewing.

I am a big real ale fan and will typically drink Doombar, Speckled Hen, Abbot Ale etc etc.I started brewing from kits 30 years ago but am only now starting to take it seriously. If there are any bullet proof real ale recipes for any AG novice, I am all ears.
All and any advice appreciated.

[Monkeybrew]

Thanks very much,
I think I understand. I have just spent the whole day making sure that all the fittings on the boilers and mash tun are watertight ( been through every conceivable washer B+Q have to offer and got there eventually.) and am now ready to fire up the burners and get brewing.

I am a big real ale fan and will typically drink Doombar, Speckled Hen, Abbot Ale etc etc.I started brewing from kits 30 years ago but am only now starting to take it seriously. If there are any bullet proof real ale recipes for any AG novice, I am all ears.
All and any advice appreciated.

On the subject of washers, I resorted to buying silicon bakeware in the 99p shop, and cut my own ones out to suit various vessels. They are food safe and can withstand high heat.

Cheers

MB

[lord groan]

My very first AG was Flowers Original using the Graham Wheeler recipe from Brew Your Own British Real Ale, often referred to as BYOBRA on this forum. If you don't already have a copy I highly recommend it, it has become my bible of brewing!
This is a simple recipe with few ingredients and makes a great beer.

On a different note I'd do a full run through first with your kit just using water, heat it up in the HLT, run off into the mash tun, let it sit for 90 mins, run off from that into the boiler, boil for 90 mins etc. It'll get you familiar with the kit and highlight any problems or issues you might find without risking a brew on brewday. I was so glad I did this.
good luck and welcome to the forum

[BrewHouse]

Good advice on washers. I wish I had heard this sooner.it may yet come in handy once I have followed Lord groan's very sensible advice of a test run of the equipment. Thanks also lg for the tip on Graham Wheeler. Sounds like a must.

[gobuchul]

As well as the Graham Wheeler book, I would also recommend the one by Greg Hughes. Very good value, with very clear instructions and lots of recipes.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Home-Brew-Beer- ... =home+brew

[Raize]

Obviously the degreesL of the crystal malt has a major effect on the colour. I wonder if the effects on the flavour are as noticeable.

[6470zzy]

http://www.simpsonsmalt.co.uk/our-malts.aspx

The Simpson's website has 2 PDFs available, one for the UK market and one for the USA, if you compare them side by side then you see the Lovibond/ EBC equivalent.

Cheers

[sbond10]

There's also Worcester hop shop where a lot of gw s recipes feature in handy recipe packs for about 11 quid

[JamesF]

Have to add my own recommendation from Graham Wheeler's book, too. I've made many of the recipes in it. Just did the Exmoor Gold yesterday with my son, in fact, and my daughter is demanding that she be allowed to assist with the Martson's Pedigree clone next weekend

James

[Matt12398]

Obviously the degreesL of the crystal malt has a major effect on the colour. I wonder if the effects on the flavour are as noticeable.

You will notice a very different flavour contribution from the different types of crystal malt.