Biscuity flavour

[ryanmanchester]

How do you brew an ale to have a biscuity flavour to it?

Is it a quality that the yeast brings or is it from one of the speciality grains? Wheat maybe?

I tasted it in my last beer just as the fermentation was finishing and it tasted amazing, but as the yeast dropped, so did the biscuity flavour.

[Garth]

a certain amount of crystal ?

I was going to say biscuit malt maybe, but it seems it's mainly added for colour and not malty flavour

[ryanmanchester]

OK. I'll try upping the amount of crystal in my next brew by 30g - 40g or so and see if I notice.

Has anyone else sought this flavour and achieved it by changing things?

[mysterio]

I do it by toasting some uncrushed pale malt, maybe half a kilo up to a kilo for a 5 gallon batch. Spread out the malt about a cm or two thick on a clean roasting tray, then stick it in the oven at 180C, when its at temperature set the timer for 20 - 30 minutes. Ideally use a oven thermo for repeatable results and turn the malt every so often.

Then crush the malt and use it as normal.

Some people say amber malt gives a digestive biscuity flavour in small amounts but i've only ever used it in fairly large amounts, which gives a highly toasted flavour.

[ryanmanchester]

That sounds good but would it work with already crushed grain?

[Aleman]

Amber malt . . . Digestives Yummy

[mysterio]

That sounds good but would it work with already crushed grain?

Can't say, the reason it's supposed to be uncrushed is so the roast is more even. I've never tried it with uncrushed malt.

I would probably experiment with Amber or Biscuit malt first. I notice Hop & Grape sell diastic Amber malt at 50 EBC, I reckon that would be a good choice. Perhaps use that in place of your crystal malt?

[ryanmanchester]

Might give it a go .. 300g in the oven, wrapped in a couple of layers of foil, with a light beer - 3.5%-ish. What'd you think?

[Vossy1]

Ditto what Aleman said.
Amber malt in decent quantities gives a massive digestive taste, just like biscuits.

I tried a recipe from Ollossons book specifically to try and get the biscuity taste and wasn't let down

digestives

[ryanmanchester]

Might as well try both then

[Buzz]

mmmm each to their own. I used a small amount of amber in a brew I made up - the amber was only 7% of the total grain - and I thought it was totally overpowering. It's biscuits all right but not in a good way.

That said, I did use a different yeast on that occasion too, so it may not totally be down to the amber. I brewed the last lot at the end of Feb and still have about 3 gallons of it left. Never a good sign.

[hoppingMad]

How do you brew an ale to have a biscuity flavour to it?

Is it a quality that the yeast brings or is it from one of the speciality grains? Wheat maybe?

I tasted it in my last beer just as the fermentation was finishing and it tasted amazing, but as the yeast dropped, so did the biscuity flavour.

Regarding the buscuity flavour dropping, did you taste the beer again before bottling or kegging or after ?
I've noticed some very nice flavours at the end of fermentation which gradually reduce then all but dissappear after carbonation in bottles. It was because of this that I learned not to over carbonate because it stuffs up flavour something wicked.
Hence many British beers are consumed with lower carbonation.

I have had a little experience with Amber malt, used the first time I could just taste it at around 100 gms per 26 litre batch. So next time I upped it to 500 gms and in my opinion this was too much. I would use around 200 - 230 gms.

I believe the buscuit flavour you are seeking will be from a combination of malt selection AND yeast selection.

Here in NZ we have limited access to what I would describe as more exotic malts ... whatever that means, but I'm referring to many of the malts I see are being used by the US brew guys which I don't see here.

I think the right combination of Munich, Crystal and a little Amber would be all I could suggest, I don't think wheat is involved here.

[ryanmanchester]

Regarding the buscuity flavour dropping, did you taste the beer again before bottling or kegging or after ?
I've noticed some very nice flavours at the end of fermentation which gradually reduce then all but dissappear after carbonation in bottles. It was because of this that I learned not to over carbonate because it stuffs up flavour something wicked.
Hence many British beers are consumed with lower carbonation.

It was only while coming to an end of fermenting that it had the flavour, while it was still just a little bit sweet. It tasted more like shortbread than digestives really. I can barely taste it at all in the bottle, though sometimes I can taste it a bit.

My bottles are all carb'd to about 1.5 volumes and I've been drinking them at around 19C so I don't think I'd be losing the flavour in the carbonation. It seems like it could be the yeast?

[hoppingMad]

I think you are right.

[Dennis King]

Amber without a doubt.