2 row pale malt

[yossarian22]

When I see a recipe call for a "2 row pale malt", is there a general standard that most of you use? Looking at Liberty, I see a couple possibilities such as these:

Baird's Pearl Pale Malt

Thomas Fawcett Floor Malted Halcyon Pale Malt

 

Is one of the other of these suitable or is there something else I should be looking for?

 

Cheers

[denimglen]

Baird's Pearl or Golden Promise are good substitutes, but have a little too much flavour, good or bad depending which way you look at it.  I prefer GP and Pearl to have as my 'on hand' grain, I'll use it to brew pretty much everything except most German or Belgian beers or lagers.

 

ADM/Malteurop Pilsner malt is also a good substitute, but a little more blander in flavour and probably a bit closer to the US 2 Row.

[yossarian22]

Thanks, that's helpful. How would you describe the difference between the Pearl and Golden Promise?

 

Cheers

[denimglen]

The pearl is kilned slightly higher so it's a little more toasty, I find it also has a slightly husky/grainy flavour sometimes.  GP is generally a bit sweeter and 'fuller', with more a of a bready flavour.

 

The differences will be subtle in most beers and probably not really noticable unless you're doing a side by side batch of the same beer with a different base malt in each.  Although, it really pays to do a couple simple blonde ale type recipes with each malt to get a feel for them.

 

Either way they'll both make great beers, I've had success with both.

 

If you buy by the sack and make more American style beers I'd say go with the GP, if you're making more UK style beers go with the pearl.

[Stu McKinlay]

Two row pale malt could be anythin greally!  That's like a recipe that calls for "mexican chillies" or "soft cheese"...

 

Golden Promise, Maris Otter, Pearl, Optic, Halcyon... they're all varities of barley that are used in malting.

Your malt selection really depends on the type of beer you are trying to brew and what your personal preferences are. Do some google searches but look also for "xyz barley" rather than "xyz malt"... the barley variety is just as important as the malting process.

In general I use Maris Otter in my smaller session beers, GP in slightly bigger beers and "Pale Malt" (usually Pearl, I believe) in the bigger or hoppier beers. That's a pretty broad rule of thumb though.

I'd have thought the ADM/Malteurop is more likely to be six-row, or at least used in recipes that call for six-row, but I could be wrong... it's worth contacting them.  I used it a fair bit in the past and have found it to be a little drier/huskier but definitely OK.  I'd probably investigate the possibility of getting some

Check out http://www.cryermalt.co.nz/index.php?id=27 for more info...

[Llew Bardecki]

The Malteurop sacks certainly say "two row" on them.  Though Stu's certainly right that they're less plump and have more husk to them than a lot of other other base malts I've seen.

 

I reckon most recipes that simply specify "two row" are probably American ones referring to ordinary US two row made up of blended barley varieties.

 

And just for the record I use Malteurop mixed with a varying quantity of Munich as my "base" for almost everything. 

[Andrew]

2 row is pretty much any pale malt you get around here or in Europe as far as I,m aware. The US tend to get 6-row which is notoriously...crap for lack of a better term. Thats why all the good breweries and craft breweries in the US import thier malt from Europe.

[Stu McKinlay]

have you tried gladfields?

[denimglen]

I reckon most recipes that simply specify "two row" are probably American ones referring to ordinary US two row made up of blended barley varieties.

 

Yeah, it's worth noting that 2-row means that the kernels grow in two rows on the stalk, six for 6-Row.

 

GP, MO, Pearl, the Pils malts from Weyermann, Malteurop, they're all 2-row malts.  

 

Golden Promise, Maris Otter, Pearl, Halcyon, and names like these you'll see around are the variety of barley.

 

The American's have a bad habit of referring to their plain-Jane base malt as '2 Row'.  This malt is usually used as a base in most of their beers.  Can be either blended or a single variety.

 

What you want if you're trying to replicate their beers is something with a similar kiln level.  The colour of US 2 Row is usually around 2 0 - 2.5 SRM (4 - 5 EBC).  On the lighter side you could go with Malteurop at about 1.7 SRM (3.4 EBC) or Golden Promise at about 2.5 SRM (5 EBC).  Pretty much the higher colour the more toasty nutty flavours you'll get.