Amber Malt

[Tippler]

I was thinking of trying GW's recipe for Fullers London Porter. It calls for 665gms of brown malt, but I only have amber malt in stock; would that be a fair substitute?

[Rookie]

I was thinking of trying GW's recipe for Fullers London Porter. It calls for 665gms of brown malt, but I only have amber malt in stock; would that be a fair substitute?

What percentage of the total grain bill is the brown malt?
If it's only a few percent it probably wouldn't make a big difference.

[Tippler]

It's actually quite a chunk of the total, about 15%.

[Spud395]

Have you used Amber before, it's quiet strong distinct flavour.
I like it, but at that level will be distinctly not brown malt, prolly nice beer but different from the recipe

[leedsbrew]

Brown malt has quite a distinct flavour and with such a high % in the grain bill I'd say you would notice!

Cheers

LB

[barney]

I have read somewhere that 500g in 5 gallon will render it too bitter to drink, undrinkable were the poster comments for his brew, his recommend was max 100g,

[leedsbrew]

I have read somewhere that 500g in 5 gallon will render it too bitter to drink, undrinkable were the poster comments for his brew, his recommend was max 100g,

Nah! I've used 500g in adry stout and I thought it could have used more! Then again I like the taste of it, coffee, biscuity roastness!

[barney]

I have read somewhere that 500g in 5 gallon will render it too bitter to drink, undrinkable were the poster comments for his brew, his recommend was max 100g,

Nah! I've used 500g in adry stout and I thought it could have used more! Then again I like the taste of it, coffee, biscuity roastness!

I think he put it in a bitter.

[Spud395]

Yeah I used 500g in a mild and loved it.

[HighHops]

Amber is a great malt for dark beers. I'd say go for it!

[barney]

I have just bought a sack of amber I was hoping to swap it in and out for biscuit malt. Looks like I may have that wrong.

[Tippler]

Well, it looks as though this is a question of taste more than anything else. I have tried a similar experiment in the past with mild ale malt and for the first time a 23 litre batch seemed an awful lot to get through! I think will search out an established recipe which uses amber malt and see whether I like the taste or not.

So, thanks for all the advice and encouragement, and any recipe suggestions?

[borischarlton]

barney,

In the States Aromatic malt is marketed as Amber, this may be where any confusion has come from.

Rob