Post
by Barley Water » Mon Aug 27, 2007 4:45 pm
Carafa is very different than say caramunich or caravienna. The latter two malts are both effectively crystal type malts while carafa is rather like a black patent malt that has been "debittered". You can use cafafa as a color adjustment malt that will darken up a beer quite a bit without introducing the roasted flavors that say black patent, roasted barley and to a lesser extent chocolate malt do. Carafa will not make your beer sweet or add mouthfeel like Caramunich or caravienna.
From personal experience, I just got done drinking a keg of vienna lager which had a little chocolate malt included in the formulation (trying for a Negro Modella type effect). The beer was ok but had a slight bitter, roast note in the back of the mouth which greatly detracted from the effect I was after. If you use chocolate malt in a wheat beer, you will not have the hops to cover up any problem like this and I think you will be disappointed in how it comes out. Hope that helps.
Drinking:Saison (in bottles), Belgian Dubbel (in bottles), Oud Bruin (in bottles), Olde Ale (in bottles),
Abbey Triple (in bottles), Munich Helles, Best Bitter (TT Landlord clone), English IPA
Conditioning: Traditional bock bier, CAP
Fermenting: Munich Dunkel
Next up: Bitter (London Pride like), ESB
So many beers to make, so little time (and cold storage space)
