Gladfield Specialty Malts

[Richard Jack]

So, the new Gladfield Malts have been on the market for a while, and there haven't been many discussions of results, substitutions, etc. Maybe those of us using them can post some of our experiences? 

[Richard Jack]

I've been using Toffee malt in pale beers as a light specialty, but it's quite different in taste. I reckon it's like the orange Mackintosh toffees. I'm enjoying it and it's reduced my use of caramalt, although its not a straight swap.

The dark crystal is really nice. seems to be quite a wide range of roastedness in the different grains - some are still quite pale, some quite dark. I tried it next to UK dark crystal (Bairds I think?) and preferred it in taste, although freshness obviously plays a part. Same with pale crystal, really fresh and crunchy and I'm now using these instead of UK stuff.

I have some Redback which I'm wanting to compare to cara-amber, but haven't had the chance yet. 

Gladiator sounds like a straight swap for carapils, but again I haven't used it yet.

I'm really interested to hear of any experiences with Aurora (is it a crystal or what?), Shepherds delight (special b sub maybe?) and the roasted malts.

[Peter Smith]

about 8 months ago I got 1 kg of all there specialty malts

I have been putting a small amount of Aurora in a malty lager split batch across  2124 and Munich yeast .  I doubled the amount in the current batch to 200g in a 23L volume. 

I have used over a kg of gladiator instead of carapils over last 6 months as a sub, I would use it over carapils as it just tastes more neutral to me raw.   I have some shepherds (just got a few weeks ago) and some special b at home will do a taste test tonight.

I have a stout that i bottled last night with 400g roasted barley 400g choc    its awesomely smooth, maybe the choc ?   in the past I seem to have gotten a much more burnt taste that has to age out, with other brands.

I think its awesome that this is being produced in NZ and think we should all support them as much as possible.   This stuff has got to be fresher then grains which are shipped over from Europe.

[Dan]

+1 to that. Its got to be fresher and so far I havent struck a bad one. Their Pils Malt makes the best Pilsners in my book! Almost all of my brews use Gladfields  now

[Peter Church]

Hey Pete, going back a while but what was the result of the side by side tasting between redback and special b.. reading up they seem to be close but dont have them both to do a comparison on.

[Peter Smith]

Special B vs shep delight, the best way I can describe it is that the special b is sharp and dried. like dried raisons. dried plums etc maybe because its older and dried...???   vs the shep delight which is like dehydrated fruit. super fruity , but sweater....    not sure how this translates into a beer but tastes more sugar/fruity.   go to your local HBS and munch on a few grains, I never buy grains before a munch check now.       

I am not sure gladfields are trying to make a special b in shep delight....  its way different to the gladfields redback, scarfie was with me i ask him to comment.

I think with the new Gladfields malts we will be able to brew some really unique NZ brews, I don't think you should try to sub Gladfields specialty malts with other international malts and expect the exact same results....       we need to learn what makes a great gladfields beer just like others have done with the european maltsters, and then celebrate our NZ uniqueness 

[Scarrfie]

Well I haven't been brave enough to use it in a beer yet, but I will. Trouble is I am trying to dial in a good brown ale on commercial malts for my new mash tun, which doesn't like my home toasted malts ground find through a rotary burr grinder.

Just done some "munching" side by side with Caraaroma and to carry on the dehydrated fruit theme from Peter I would say the more a light crystal sweetness and Cranberry's as opposed to the heavier treacle type sweetness and raison and plum flavours of the Caraaroma.

There is quite a tart finish to it and it is going to make amazing beers I reckon.

Edit. Just thinking about this further, I reckon a grist with base malt and 20% Shepherds Delight would make a pretty good bitter.

[Peter Church]

Thanks guys, will put in the mix for my mild/bitter and see how it goes

[Paul Finney]

I just did a Red West Coast IPA using 89% ale, 8.9% Shep D and 2.1% Acidulated. 

The beer is really red. I have not tasted it yet as it is still fermenting. But, I have done a small scale test before and it was nice and dry (as Shep D is not sweet at all) 

If you use a lot of Shep D it will cause a fair amount of bitterness. Best to aim about 10 IBU's lower than target for each 300g-400g you use. 

[Richard Rice]

I might have to try the Redback for my next Irish Red Ale.  I've been using Caraamber also, but the flavours aren't quite right and the colour is still too dark, tho I mostly just need to reduce my Roasted Barley for that.  Got me curious now, might have to be my next personal brew!

[Crusader-Rob]

Aurora is a sub for Melanoidin. similar colour and character.

Shepherds delight is very interesting. someone else down here will enlighten you on that one.

Really enjoy Toffee malt, nice an chewy.

We spent some time out there not so long ago, what a great day. Dark Choc malt is apparerntly a sub for black malt.

[Nicholas Jones]

Great thread Richard, is also good to see they have a beersmith download for all the Malts too, NZ Hops would do well to learn a thing from Gladfields here. Just tried the Toffee in an IPA, havent kegged yet but tasting nice thus far.

[Ralph]

Shepards delight is awesome if you want a vibrant red coloured beer. At 5 to 7 % you can get a very good red colour, some quite burnt toffee notes that tend to bitterness when the beer is young but these mellow out.

The freshness of the caramel/crystal malts is amazing when compared to imported malts. Big fat grains that are super crunchy and are bursting with fresh malty roasted flavours -  and that is just chewing on them before you try brewing with them!