Padalac wrote:I'd be interested to hear how the stout malt works out..
I gotta say it sounds like it might be overly modified for usage in an english style ale. Usually the best bet is going to be a maris otter or golden promise.. I'd imagine this would leave you with a comparatively less dextrinous beer, quite dried out and with little residual gravity.
So, my experience with MCI Stout Malt is the exact opposite of most brewers. Like I said before, I've gotten poor mash efficiencies each time, but I know it's my fault because a buddy using grain from the same bag got a bewilderingly high efficiency, and a commercial brewer I know specifically uses a little to increase overall efficiency. I still have to test my theory but I think I've narrowed it down to my recently replaced mash tun thermometer. If it's not calibrated correctly, I could be mashing at too high a temperature, thus reducing the enzymatic conversion. I haven't achieved the mash efficiency I want yet, but the resulting worts were extremely fermentable, and the final ESB and two English Milds have tasted delicious, so no complaints from me.
I haven't brewed any pale styles with it yet, but I've heard from other brewers that it performs well, and retains some of those desirable nutty and biscuity traits. MCI Stout Malt is even lighter in colour than most, and cheaper than the best low-colour Maris Otter malts, etc, so it might be worth trying in an "Extra Pale Ale" concept. So far, my grainbills have contained too many crystal and roasted malts (and crazy fruity hops and yeast) to say exactly which traits are coming from the base malt. Good beers overall, but missed opportunities from a strict malt analysis point of view I guess.
Last night I did a bottle swap with a friend who used some MCI Stout malt in a light, summery English golden ale. I haven't tasted it yet, but I'll let you know what I think.
. But as they only sell the Ale malt to the US home brew market the penny dropped that home brewers have money to spend and now we are their best friends with detailed visits to look at how its done
. The Lager malt goes to Heineken in Cork for Heineken,Murphy's and Beamish production and the Stout malt for Guinness. Low protein is a Guinness demand that has the Farmers not too happy because it creates lower resistance to crop disease but better extract. (and profit for the Diageo masters
). Because it is so good regarding being super enzyme charged it can convert raw barley with rumours of up to 40% used in the mash. Cheap as chips.
