Permalink Reply by JR on April 15, 2010 at 11:12am
Is that for 60L?
Is the Golden promise MO mix just what you happened to have or is that a strategic decision? (I have never used GP so I'm not sure what it brings to the party.)
on an irrelevant note - I think I just got a whiff of sweet boiling wort, must be brew day at speights which is a block or two away.
Permalink Reply by vdog on April 15, 2010 at 11:29am
It was for 70L, and I guess it was sort of strategic - we've used the same grain bill on a few other beers and liked the profile we got. You could do it without the MO but I think it adds a bit of malt beefiness to the grist. Golden promise is great, we use it for all our hoppy pale ales now - tend to use MO for more malt-focused beers (porter, bitter etc).
Bairds GP is quite a bit lighter in colour to Bairds MO (though the specs might call me a liar for me it's noticeably lighter).
I use either depending on what Mike (Brewers Coop) has in stock when I go to buy a sack.
My preference is for Maris Otter but Martin Bridges has a habit of beating me to the last sack!
So I guess I get about 50/50.
Maris is my preference because I lean towards English styles. For hoppy pale ales though you can't beat that Golden Promise.
Maris is maltier, nuttier, chewier. GP still has a bit of nutty, but some honey and straw characters too, less full on malty than maris but still with a good solid backbone for some serious hoppage.
I am brewing my lager with 50/50, MO and GP (see previous post). It is a repeat brew, which is rare for me. I find them to be an excellent combination, with NZ hops.
The Baird's versions generally seem be about the same colour according to the specs. They're malted the same way so the the difference in flavour is more likely to be from their biological difference and growing conditions. Ask David Cryer next time you see him at Galbraith's... for that matter, just ask Keith!
I prefer MO for all my low gravity beers... vary between GP and Pearl for everything else. I've not really got a preference between the latter two.