Difference between Pale ale malt & MO malt.

[Monkeybrew]

I want to order some malt online, and just wondered what the difference is between Pale Ale Malt & MO Malt?

[boingy]

If a recipe says "Maris Otter" or "MO" it almost always means "Maris Otter Pale Malt". Maris Otter is just the variety of barley. Pale is the way it has been malted. The Pale Ale Malt on the website may actually be Maris Otter or it may be another variety of barley, but either way it will be fine for brewing.

[Monkeybrew]

If a recipe says "Maris Otter" or "MO" it almost always means "Maris Otter Pale Malt". Maris Otter is just the variety of barley. Pale is the way it has been malted. The Pale Ale Malt on the website may actually be Maris Otter or it may be another variety of barley, but either way it will be fine for brewing.

Cheers boingy

I was just looking at these two malts -

http://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/index.ph ... ductId=287

http://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/index.ph ... ductId=290

MB

[Spud395]

To be honest I dont bother with MO anymore, when I'm buying a new sack of malt I'll go for whatever is cheapest at the time.

Havent been dissapointed yet, but I dont try to clone beers I just brew my own recipes

[boingy]

On those links, Crisp is the company who does the malting (other common UK maltsters: Warminster, Thomas Fawcett, Bairds). One barley variety is Flagon and the other is Maris Otter. Both are pale ale malts. Both will be fine and you can use them interchangeably for most recipes.

There are those who say "base malt is base malt" and then there are those who say you can taste the difference. I think in a typical English ale that includes some crystal , choc and/or black malt you will struggle to taste the difference in the pale malt variety or the maltster. But thanks to the great choice of malts we now have available you have the power to brew with them all and see if you have a preference.

I always use Warminster Maris Otter but that's because I get it locally at a great price. I like that the Warminster maltings is only about 40 miles away from me and I like that Maris Otter is the classic variety for English ales but I'd quite happily change to a different malt and supplier if there were significant savings to be had!

And as an aside, a couple of years ago I read that if you add up all the commercial beers that claim to use Maris Otter you will find that they exceed the amount of Maris Otter that is grown. No idea whether it's true, of course.

"Never trust quotes on the Internet" - Abraham Lincoln, Washington DC, 1864.

[Monkeybrew]

Many thanks for your thorough replies