UK Malt tips? Which Maris Otter to buy?

[jimp2003]

The only time I've seen a noticeable difference is when I've used Belgian pale malt for an "English" brew and then the results were remarkable.

What differences did you notice Lugsy? I am considering buying a sack of Dingemans Pale Malt when I have to restock?

[kebabman]

Seymour, the only malt NOT to buy, if you don't have a mill, is Bairds as the crush is not right for homebrewers. I,along with many others, got a noticeably poorer extract from Bairds malt. Just search on this forum as there was a thread mentioning the poor extract problems.

[Lugsy]

jimp2003 - Rob (the Malt Miller) described it as "Maris Otter on steroids" and I think that sums it up pretty well! It's maltier and a bit sweeter but not in a bad way, also a bit darker at 9 EBC. I used it in this porter with great results, next time I think I'll try a nice simple best bitter or ESB to showcase it properly. I highly recommend you give it a go

[Scotty]

Seymour, the only malt NOT to buy, if you don't have a mill, is Bairds as the crush is not right for homebrewers. I,along with many others, got a noticeably poorer extract from Bairds malt. Just search on this forum as there was a thread mentioning the poor extract problems.

I had no problems with Bairds malt, even recently when it is over a year old. I'm sorry but I don't buy the crush not being right for homebrewers, after all we are basically doing the same as commercial breweries.

seymour, I would try any of them. Simpsons MO from experience produces a great beer which had a good extraction and very clear runnings from the mash.

On maybe a controversial note, the number of breweries that say they use Maris Otter malt apparently exceed the total production volumes. So are we really getting what we are paying for? Either way, any British malt will produce a good 'British' style ale for example, tipple, golden promise, flaggon etc.

[alfie09]

i used nearly 100kilos of bairds and its shite for my set up and loads of others. i usually use warminsters or thomas fawcett. never had a problem before or after bairds. so it must be a bairds thing. i bought 2 bags and had nothing but problems. went back to warminsters for anothe 25kg went through that ok, then went back to bairds another 2 bags and i hit the same problems as before. so i have left alone since. from what i can see when i put the grains together warminsters and bairds the bairds grain seem more intact than the warminsters .

[crafty john]

i used nearly 100kilos of bairds and its shite for my set up and loads of others. i usually use warminsters or thomas fawcett. never had a problem before or after bairds. so it must be a bairds thing. i bought 2 bags and had nothing but problems. went back to warminsters for anothe 25kg went through that ok, then went back to bairds another 2 bags and i hit the same problems as before. so i have left alone since. from what i can see when i put the grains together warminsters and bairds the bairds grain seem more intact than the warminsters .

I agree mate, the crush just isn't as fine and my efficiency was down with Bairds so I have gone back to Fawcett's

[raiderman]

I've got a sack of Crisps MO waiting to brew with so I can't comment whether it is different from anyone else's. My instinct is that it won't be. I 've noticed differences between other varieties of malt and MO - I never liked Halycon for instance. I'm just finishing off a sack of Crisps Flagon malt and its excellent, cheaper than Mo higher extract and I can't fault the flavour.

[ferry george]

Fawcetts gets my vote every time, then again I only live 2 miles from their place so I could be biased!
Last time I heard Pale malt works out at £16 to £17 per sack, but minimum order is 10 sacks.

[BeerBloke]

I know Muntons now distribute in the USA, I can't find the details to hand but an email to Michaela (michaela.crack@muntons.com) might help.
Phil

[far9410]

I've used bairds before without problems, i am however just finishing a bag of fawcetts golden promise, this produces good beer but has given me a stuck mash on each use of it. Now I'm not saying its the malt, but I will be trying another to see if it improves, probably crisp. I suppose though in the quantities we order, we could easily end up with bottom or top of a large amount, giving great differences in the mealiness of it.

[jmc]

Like soupdragon I use Crisp's pale malt, ceaper and better than any others I've used.

Thanks for the info. When you say "better than any others" are you saying the pale malt is even better than Maris Otter, or just better than other vague pale malts?

I've moved from using MO to Crisp's pale malt. I believe variety is Flagon.
I can't tell any difference in flavour and I'm getting better mash efficiencies, though that may be down to the crush.

[weiht]

I've tried Bairds pale malt and its ok really, no issues with efficiency but the DP is a little lower so do take note. For Maris Otter, i prefer Muntons over Simpsons by a mile. Simpsons MO doesnt have any distinct flavour over regular british pale malt which left me pretty disappointed, given how they were supposed to be a premium maltster. Muntons however had a very strong nutty flavour that is a signature of MO imo, colour seems a little darker though.

I'd like to try TF and crisp malts as well, they are supposed to be the rolls royce of british malts.. Tuckers anybody?