Substitutes for Crystal and Caramel Malt That You'll Thank Me for
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- čas přidán 19. 07. 2024
- Tired of Using Crystal or Caramel Malt? Well any of these substitution malts can help make your home brew beer that much better!
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0:13 Special X 120L - pro-rata addition to match colour. E.g. 1/2 amount of C60.
0:56 CaraPils / Dextra Pils. Sub with Chit
1:40 C30 or below. Sub with Caramel Pils. Similar to CaraHell. Honey like sweetness.
2:14 Red X 20-25L. Closer to Munich than crystal. Adds more colour than flavour.
2:50 CaraVienne. Some caramelisation, with bready/toased flavours. Similar to crystal 20-30, but adds biscuit / Munich complexity.
3:15 CaraSteam. Low crystal character for its colour level.
3:52 CaraMunich. Sub for C60-C75. Combines biscuit notes and sweetness.
Why the objection to crystal malts?
I would have liked more of a discussion on this as well
Talked a lot about it in our last live stream - I don't hate crystal malts like people think - but I aggressively want brewers to explore more options :p
For me it was the cloying sweetness. It wasn't even a conscious decision. Over several years I drifted over to caramunich and roasted malts to add depth/color because I knew they wouldn't give that distinct crystal character.
I actually used C for the first time in a couple years last weekend. 4 oz patagonia c90 to go with 11 ibs of patagonia pale. That was the entire bill. FG turned out to be 1.007 so I really hope the c90 balances out the 50 IBU's.
@@GenusBrewing i use dextrin malt yet you replace this too? Why is this
Thank you for sharing! I'm going to use this!
As someone who lives in Europe, I‘ve never brewed with American crystal malts. I have brewed with British crystal malts, and I definitely see their point: in the right amounts, they make British bitters taste exactly like they‘re meant to. A lot of brewers here in Germany try to substitute them with German caramel malts, but they‘re very different: German caramel malts still have a floury endosperm, while in the British crystal malts I‘ve used, the inside of the kernel was essentially dark, crystallized sugar. I‘d never use crystal malt for any non-British styles though, their place are firmly the British styles where they can shine.
I, too, don't understand the prejudice against crystal malts. In proper amounts, they add distinctive flavors as well as color - and do not all add cloying sweetness. All malts are simply ingredients that have their proper use in proper proportion (except, perhaps, for Black Patent Malt, unless you like the taste of freshly brewed ashtray.)
But what I thought was really strange is that you didn't suggest the use of plain Munich or Vienna malts as substitutes (although you did suggest Caramunich and Caravienne.). Both of them can impart the color of some crystal malts, and they also add good flavor without "cloying sweetness." They are also good base malts - which crystal malts are not.
I thought about including munich and vienna in higher portions as base malts, but for a 5 minute video thought that would be more difficult to explain as a "substitution"
Great information. I have been making a series of very light yellow beers lately with cara hell and cara beige. My choices are a bit limited as I am an American brewing in China. Really love your posts. Highly instructional and really appreciate the time you put into them. Brew on.
Thanks for the feedback! Cara Hell/Beige are great
I brewed a Beer with 86,67% Chit malt and 13,33% High Diastatic Malt with triple Decoction. Looong loooong Protein Rests and looong looong mash boil times, gives a golden colour and a very clear beer. I am suprised how good it works with the right mash technique.
Great video, definitely some options to play around with some interesting malts, thinking of red x in an Irish red in place of the normal crystal malt components.
If you use red X for the color I would prolly also double down on a more flavorful base malt like Halcyon!
Excellent block of information
Well done
Good info! Will definitely be swapping some of this in.
Do it! lemme know which ones you like :)
Hi from belgium! Great content! Keep on!
Great video, will be keeping this in mind in the future.
Is it possible to get a sheet with a table of these substitute options linked in the description?
Ill have to look for some of that. But we dont have a lot of choices here in the philippines.
Nice head retention in your beer, btw 👌
I really like your Malts series. Would you have a recommendation about how to get a feel of the flavors and taste of a specific malt without brewing a full batch beer. Also, a best side by side comparison. Would a "tea/mini-mash" of the grain would do it? It seems like the sweetness of the wort would hide much.
Great video! What about Munich in general? Or even cara-amber?
i sort of accidentally discovered that it was the crystal malts making my ambers and reds too sweet, these are great subs, thanks!
I make a very nice pale ale with about 1/2 lb of crystal 40 and have played around with other crystals and amounts and find this works best for me. I'm not sure it would be as good with anything else but I guess I could try some of these one day. I don't have a problem with them though.
Agree. Very happy with C40 and Victory in a US NW Pale. The sweetness balances the bitterness and accentuates the flavours for me. Not sure the hate on here. Also, did a batch with C15 and Munich and turned out quite nice.
praise
I use chit in most brews-anywhere from giving body to a NEIPA to head retention in basically any other brew. Just get a big bag and split it with friends.
Don't mind crystal as long as it's below 10%. Anymore and it's sickly sweet.
I never use them in a stout or ipa, that's madness. But in a English style you'd want a mild sweetness and some crystal does that very well
A grain bill with 9% of Chit malt in any IPA will give superior head retention.
You might be my soulmate
Hey there. In this video you refer to other videos in which you explain your aversion to crystal malts. Where can I find these videos? I would like to hear about your reasons. Thanks!
Hi - late to the game with this question. But, I am trying to make a lighter bodied IPA. I am trying to substitute caramel malt 20L for something else. it is a total of 6% of my total bill. My local shop does not have caramel pils. They do have Carahell. Should I switch to this? Does it matter since it is only 6%? Or is there any other alternative to switch to?
When swapping carapils for chit, how do you compensate for the reduced extract % (75 for carapils vs 50 for chit, 30% drop)?
I too have no love for Crystal malts (in part biased from watching your channel I'm sure), but if you get a chance, check out Voodoo by a craft maltser here in Aus called Voyager. Description calls it a combination of Amber/Munich/Medium Crystal. I really really like the colour and the sweetness is similar to a spec like vienna or Munich.
OoOoO - that sounds like something I'd love to try out
Red x is so good. It is actually a blend of malts. It gives red tone with slight biscuit tone i fine to be best with 25% grain bill for American ipa or American pale ale. Or any other red ale. Even red lager. Redx is not a smash it is several malts and the go to for red color.
I only liked the video, because of your stache
It's working!
He’s getting old.
Any chance you can throw these comparisons down in the description for reference?
Praise
How about special B? Like it in certain beers. Great info will try some of those.
Special B is actually a blend of crystal and roasted malts. I really like the stuff but if removing crystals is the point, using Special B misses it.
Good information, I gather your aversion to crystal/caramel malts is the sweetness it adds?
It's supposed to add sweetness
Great vid,although I feel like Barts dog lol. Keep up the great work boys !
I don't get the reference!
I find that Caramunich III is a good substitute for C60.
I've been playing with caramunich I & 2 in place of crystal. they arent quite 1:1 sub. how do you guys approach this?
I'm trying to drop the crystals malts. Is carafoam the same as chit?
I like a lot of people actually like crystal and caramel malts in beer so I understand if you dont but the rage against crystal is a bit bizarre. I just dont get any cloying sweetness from even 10-15% caramel. Maybe youve had too many sours and have f#$kd your palate?
I don't actually hate crystal malts like I make it seem - I just make aggressive stances against it because of how I see a lot of people brew (keep in mind I see thousands of brewers and their recipes every year) - a good brewer can make great beer with most recipes, but when I see new brewers who have good processes put 2# of crystal malt in every beer for the first 50 batches they make I want to open up their world to more complex flavors they can develop in their beer :)
@@GenusBrewing I understand! Ive made a Pale with a light munich style malt and with biscuit malts as well. I do love a bit of crystal in a Pale though especially when its hitting the 30-40 IBU range (not that IBUs are even real! 😆)
There is nothing wrong with caramel malts! Just don't use them too much. I use .25lb of 40 and 60 along with a .5lb of Victory in my house American IPA 10 gallon batch I brew once a month. I tried a few other ways to get the color and slight sweetness but found the flavor wasn't there with the crystal subtracted.
I don't actually think that crystal malts are bad - I just see them misused in 80% or more of the recipes I get at the shop so I wanted to put out something to help encourage people to make substitutes. :p
I've heard floatings around the website of you disdain for crystal. To me at least, is just to be different and/or not needing to use it for anything. Similar to reinheitsgebot purist brewers never adopted other useful things. And the reason why a lot of "craft brewers" had issues with adjuncts like rice, sugar, etc. Different malts/adjuncts have different reasons for usage. Just have to do it in the right way. Also, Caramel/Crystal are the same thing.
Cara Munich - a caramel/cystal malt - www.brewingwithbriess.com/Products/Caramel.htm
Cara Pils - depends on which "carapils" your talking about. Briess Carapils is a very light caramel malt. Wayermann Carafoam/Carapils is an undermodified Pilsner (like a Chit malt).
Cara Vienne - a caramel/crystal malt.
This is a very accurate comment - To be clear I am trying to be divisive for the purpose of pushing people to explore malt options - not actually to hate on these malts. A lot of our content comes from interaction with our customers - and how we see them brewing.
As for the briess caramunich and caravienne - those are blended malts (with their caramel malts) so definitely have caramel malts in them - but if you use those at least it's half as much!
All love with this video - Just want to push the bubble a little bit with how people think about malts :p
@@GenusBrewing Absolutely agree! People need to try new things and not be stuck in a rut w grain selection. I think what threw people was the sensational title within the video ;)
@@MegaStamandster Sensational titles get people talking! :)
@@GenusBrewing the next one should be f*ck homebrewing
When Americans say biscuit do you mean bready southern biscuit and gravy taste? I use biscuit malts in the U.K. and when we describe biscuit we mean sweet biscuit (cookies) flavour (we have a lot of different types of biscuits). I try to use this as if I add biscuits to a malt the fats get in the way.
I hate crystal malt. Love this video.
Yazz!
What's difference between carapils and caramel pils
I wanted to make a herbal coffee, which Crystal Malt should I use.
NO!
although I do like the CaraMunich
:p
Wait what's wrong with crystal malts?
Why would I want to avoid crystal? Never ran into your channel before this video, so I am a little confused.
Good luck subbing out caramel malts in a Quad (Special B is a caramel/chrystal malt) or in an English Barleywine where you want the flavors imparted by those malts. I tend towards Mecca Grade Opal 22/44 (cara-hybrid malts) or a touch of Patagonia Black Pearl when I want color without the sweetness.
I mean... besides caravienne, none of these are readily available to me. Would be interesting to test them though. I think it is hilarious that caravienne is marked as "caribbean" in the video parts.
I like your earrings ;)
What is wrong with crystal malt that you like to avoid it? Asking out of ignorance as a newbie.
Curious as well.
To quote Denny Conn, "Use whatever you like, but use it wisely." In other words, everything in moderation, including moderation - and DON'T fear Crystal malts! As homebrewers, it’s up to us to choose whatever ingredients we want in order to get the beer we want, including the ones presented in this video. But even more important is to ask ourselves, “What part does each ingredient - and the amount - play in the final outcome?” Since you’re new to the hobby, check out this article, it'll shed some more light on what I mean. Cheers & Happy Homebrewing!
byo.com/article/recipe-design-our-six-philosophies-to-beer-construction/
I drank a C40 SMASH beer at a homebrew club meeting once. It was actually okay, despite all preconceptions that it would be completely terrible.
In IPA's it can make the beer too sweet and some people say that aged crystal contributes off flavours.
Read all about it! www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/do-brewers-use-crystal-malt-in-the-ipas-anymore.558160/
@@Skid-Baxter EXACTLY THIS!
would you not even use crystal malt in a stout?
Hi Aisha. I've moved away from crystal malt in my stouts by substituting the base pale malt with Weyermann Munich II and 5% WEY Melanoidin malt. Flaked oats a roasted barley complete the recipe. The Munich malt gives great flavour depth without lingering sweetness.
With stouts I love building out malty middles with aromatic malt and munich/melanoidin malts like Thomas suggested. There are very few stouts I would even consider crystal malts for.
A malty middle! Brilliant, I'm going to own that... beer belly no more 😄
Never ever used crystal in a stout. Stop doing it 😁
What's wrong with crystal malts?
Nothing, just alternatives, sorta
@@MegaStamandster Well he starts out by saying they avoid them like the plague, so they must have a qaulity that's a big turn off. Wish he would have just said it.
@@wildkeith agreed!!
Actually nothing wrong with them - we do avoid them, but a lot of that is just because we like the complexity of our substitutes better. We like pushing people to make those subs because we see them dramatically overused in homebrew recipes (probably 80% of recipes we see come into the shop use more crystal malt than they should) - the only off flavor they'd give would be too much sweetness.
absolutely nothing.
I'mma try again: 'Hey there. In this video you refer to other videos in which you explain your aversion to crystal malts. Where can I find these videos? I would like to hear about your reasons. Thanks!'
No LHBS in my area carries chit malt...just saying.
Always great to have the crap closet in the background.
teespring gang!
Bout to pull up on some Printify kids with my Glock!
I really hate the flavor of crystal malts
So....Crystal malts bad?
Mmmmmmmmmmm
So, how do you smoke crystal malts? This video sucks.
Well you need a spoon and a lighter...
BS