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Friday, April 12, 2013

New Malts! Amber, Brown and Pale Chocolate

I've received some unique malts, Amber, Brown and Pale Chocolate, all Thomas Fawcett & Sons.  I am really anxious to put them to use.  Here's what the Maltser has to say...

Amber90 - 110Bitters - Pale Mild
Brown110 - 140Milds and Darker Bitters
Pale Chocolate500 - 600Dark Milds - Stouts
Small quantities used for flavour and colour enhancement on dark beers

Not a heck of a lot to go on.  I turn to OBK for a more info...

Amber Malt
Colour test.  Amber Left, Brown Right.
Amber Malt. This is a very rounded, biscuit like malt. Warm, pleasant, toffee, biscuit, bready notes with subtle coffee undertones. Great addition to red ales, Belgian ales, porters, IPA's, etc.
Brown
Brown Malt. Adds a mild roastiness flavour and bitterness to a beer. Great for use in many English ales, brown ales, porters, milds, stouts.
Pale Chocolate
Pale Chocolate Malt. A milder roasted grain than the typical chocolate malt. Adds colour and smooth chocolate, coffee, and nutty flavours to your beer. Great for use in milds, porters, stouts, brown ales, barleywines.
...  Looks like I'll have some Porters, Milds and Stouts in the upcoming rotation!  With summer fast approaching, I am not sure I want to have so many dark beers on tap, I may need to work in an IPA and a Red as well.

First order of business, Dark(ish) Mild.  Here's what the recipe is looking like.


OG 1.036 / IBU 13 / SRM ~20 / ~41L

69.0% Maris Otter - Muntons
08.6% Crystal 240 (90L) - Muntons
08.6% Flaked Barley
05.2% Amber Malt - Thomas Fawcett
05.2% Pale Chocolate Malt - Thomas Fawcett
03.4% Carafa II Sp - Weyermann

4.8 AAU of Willamette @ 45 min
3.9 AAU of Styrian Goldings @ 12 min  

WLP022 Essex Ale yeast

I really want to play on the bready/biscuit flavours from the Amber and Maris Otter malts and incorporate some nutty chocolate without going roasty (ie. Pale vs standard Chocolate  Carafa vs Black Malt).  The yeast should do well to further develop bready flavours.
Flavorful British style yeast. Drier finish than many British ale yeast. Produces slightly fruity and bready character.   
While my intent is a malt driven ale, the hop selection should bring a subtle spice and earthiness to the party.

I'll use a medium-high mash temperature, perhaps somewhere in the 153-154F range since there is quite a bit of unfermentables in the purposed grist.  The WLP022 is a decent attenuator, if I can get it to finish somewhere in the 1.012-1.013 range (~3% ABV), I think that would work really nicely.  

The hop schedule isn't completely locked in, I may decide to move the Goldings closer to flame-out which would mean a slight increase to the bittering addition or perhaps an additional charge somewhere in the middle of the boil.

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