Light crystal malt

[spearmint-wino]

Has anyone used this before? I was thinking of adding it to a golden ale style recipe in order to build body and complexity without adding too much colour. Is this the normal application or is it normally used for different purposes?

[Aleman]

Thats the reason I've used it in my beers this year. For a completely golden ale I would go with Carapils or possibly a Light crystal / carapils blend as the Crystal still has a darkening effect.

I Also find that you can use more of it in a grist than the darker crystal as it is less cloyingly sweet.

It is nice to use

[steve_flack]

Or maybe try a bit of Munich to add body/maltiness.

[spearmint-wino]

Good tips, thanks

[mysterio]

I use it more than any other crystal. It still adds a fair amount of colour so use it sparingly if you're wanting to keep the colour pale. I like it because you can use quite large amounts in Scottish ales and porters.

If you're wanting to add body and flavour to a golden ale try caramalt or carahell, or even caravienne if you want to be fancy, these are lighter than light crystal but darker than carapils (around the 20-30EBC range I think).

[Aleman]

try caramalt or carahell, or even caravienne if you want to be fancy, these are lighter than light crystal but darker than carapils (around the 20-30EBC range I think).

Thanks Mysterio, I couldn't remember the name of the other crystal malts. Just to say that Carapils is a trade name, and the malt I was talking about is Caramalt which is the British equivalent of the brand name Carapils . . . Which is NOT the Carapils supplied by Weyermann, but some odd maltster in the US.

[steve_flack]

The UK Caramalt is a lot darker than either the German or American (Briess) carapils - it's around 30EBC. The US Carapils is around 3EBC. Weyermann's Carapils/Carafoam is 3-5EBC and Dingemann's (Belgian) is around 10EBC.

[mysterio]

Yeah, caramalt isn't equivalent to carapils. You get a light caramel/sweet type of flavour with the caramalt, carapils just adds mouthfeel basically.

[steve_flack]

Caramalt is more like Carahell if you're looking for it's German equivalent.

[flytact]

I was just reading an old issue of BYO last night and they were talking about using a Cara.... product (sorry about the lack of memory) to make a Pilsner Urkel (sp?) clone.
They used a pale malt with this Cara... addition and boiled for 2.5 hours to get a light and full bodied 6-7 EBC beer.

[RabMaxwell]

I have some Caramalt to use up does anyone know the proper extraction figure to add to promash