Is Marris Otter all it's cracked up to be? What is your favourite base malt?

[Ralph]

I stumbled across this blog post the other day, and it got me wondering what people around here prefer to brew with? I know a lot of people think MO is just thing for english style ales... but I hear things like Golden Promise getting high praise too.

http://brewstersbrewery.wordpress.com/2011/07/24/sacred-cow-gets-it...

[Richard Deeble]

I do quite like Maris Otter for more malt forward English styles, but prefer Golden Promise or another malt that has a cleaner malt profile in most hoppy beers. I would probably just use plain old "two row" and munich for most beers if homebrewers over here had  easy access to a reliable malt - I find the Malteurop Pilsner malt is a bit too grainy and continental for Pale Ales, while I have had very inconsistant results with the Ale Malt ( I suspect this is because it is often out of spec...) . I am looking forward to finally trying Gladfield Ale Malt to see how it tastes. As much as I like Golden Promise, it would be nice to have a cheaper local malt to use.

[Crusader-Rob]

I'm a fan of Maris Otter, but never used Golden Promise, so it's hard to comment on other malts, I find it adds that extra bit of something when I use it, although still not often enough.

[Ralph]

Yeh, I regularly use Gladfields as we have been able to source it straight from the maltings down here. It does seem pretty consistent. I have half a sack of MO lined up to brew with so I will be interested to see the differences. I might try some Golden Promise or something as well.

I have previously brewed with both the Gladfields and Malteurop pilsner malts as well.

[Grant R Baker]

MO is a good base malt... but GP is probably my favorite.

If a recipe calls for a Pale malt, the MO will get the nod.

[Mark]

I love brewing with MO and the flavour it gives, definitely a go-to ale malt for me. Just bought a sack of GP so can't wait to compare the two.

[Tilt]

Agreed - Horses for courses. 

Bairds MO is great for English styles when I'm wanting more complexity with simple grists.  

Bairds Golden Promise is probably my all time fave as it can be used for most ales and pseudo lagers, gives a high extract, as well as being is really consistent, reliable and easy to manage. 

After reading English and Australian forums I'm keen to try Thomas Fawcett floor malted base malts too but haven't seen them here much.

I like Gladfields malts as a local option but it takes a bit more work to get the best out of them (adding some Munich to fatten the flavour up, pH management to prevent haze, and adjusting the crush to prevent stuck sparges)

 

Not intending to go OT too far - but I've just noticed two new Gladfields malts and this looks like the place to talk about them.

Aurora - looks like it could be a Dark Munich.

Redback - possibly Biscuit/ Victory- esque

Has anyone tried these?

[Grant R Baker]

Nope, but those sound interesting... plus I like using NZ malts if I can.

 

I have to put a shopping list togther... where did you see those two..?

[Tilt]

Yeah - me too. and its great to see Gladdies developing up their range.

Check out the Gladfields website

[Grant R Baker]

Cool site... the Toffee, Red Back and Biscuit have my interest .. so I might try and do a bulk order later in the year.

Just checked a few HB sites and they seem to stock the Base malts from Gladfields but not the Specialty malts.

[Tilt]

Yeah -  their range has gradually been expanding over the last year or so.  Toffee is unbelievably sticky and sweet - I could almost eat it for breakfast.  They're great to deal with and I love being able to call them and order direct.  Its worth getting a few people together for a bulk order so they aren't mucking about with piddling amounts. 

[Grant R Baker]

hear that... luckily I can take the wifes punches and bulk order. I am about 2/3rds of the way through the last 25Kg sack of their Pilsner malt.. and I will buy it again.

Maybe If our local HB shops are reading this they might want to get a slice....(HINT!)

[Tilt]

Why should it be either/or? 

The concern I have is HB shops placing restrictions/ conditions on the direct sale of their products as part of a retail distribution arrangement - much as we've seen with NZ hops. 

What's stopping HB shops buying and selling smaller amounts with a 'small order/ convenience' retail premium attached and leaving the producer to sell direct in larger amounts?