Alternative base malts for stout

This is an important point. That DP is variable and differs between maltsters and brands, that is.

What did you do to get those low DP mashes to convert well? Did they convert completely?

 

Longer mash times and thinner mashes. I suspect the former was more important than the latter. Yes, no problems getting the predicted OGs, and attenuation results were as expected, implying that the starches were fully converted to sugars/dextrins.

 

The Irish Stout Malt is an awesome base malt for not only stouts.

 

I have no personal experience with this maltster, but I have spoken with several brewers who have used it and they were ridiculously satisfied with the results. Haven’t heard that much praise for a malt in a while...
For that reason alone, I’m excited to get my hands on some.

 

That's pretty neat. Wouldn't have thought you'd have been able to do that with the DP so low. Were these mashes all Munich?

 

Yeah, I'm interested! Just bought a sack of L10 and never made a pure or mostly pure Munich beer. How long and thin a mash would you recommend?

 

So, no difference in mash time or lb grain per volume of water and a 60 minute mash?

Perhaps an Irish stout with 50% Munich unless you have a different idea which I would like to hear.

 

The very low DP mashes were not 100% Munich, but they did have Munich as a base malt. I've also done 100% Munich beers, but didn't do anything unusual with those, i.e. I just selected mash lengths (and temps ) to target the attenuability I wanted.

For a 100% Munich beer, if the DP of your Munich is at least about 30 Deg L, I would just use the mash length you need to try to get the attenuability you want. If the DP is lower than that, I'd consider extending the mash to at least 60 minutes and mash somewhere around 1.75 quarts per pound, maybe thinner. As I mentioned before though, I'm not very sure about how important the mash thickness is. And arguments can be made for thicker mashes with a low DP grist (because there some tradeoffs). I believe the key is really time. In a low DP beer, it takes longer for the enzymes to find/process all the starches/dextrins. The reason low DP mashes are more risky (and recommended against by just about everything I've read) is that the enzymes are denaturing (as with any mash), so the race between full conversion vs. denaturing is now tilting in denaturing's favor. But that doesn't necessarily mean denaturing will win.

 

Would Pilsner malt with a small percentage of Victory added (say 3%) bring with it some of the flavor of Maris Otter or Golden Promise?

If nothing else, this quantity of Victory should boost the color of Pilsner malt to the color level of Maris Otter.

 

If I were trying to simulate M.O., I'd probably try adding some Munich rather than Victory, but I haven't experimented a whole lot with Victory, so maybe that could work as well. But really, the best way to get the flavor of M.O. or G.P. is to use M.O. or G.P.

 

I brewed a stout with only Pilsner (75%) as the base. It was all I had at the time. Added a bit of melanoidin and Special B. You never would have guessed that it was a Pils base. Turned out great.

 

You could try brown malt. If you can find a diastatic version. That's what the original Stouts used as base malt.

 

Do they even sell that any more? Maybe some of the newer boutique maltsters are making it?

 

I've never seen that on this side of the pond. Do they have it over there?

 

I think Valley Malt might make it.

 

I've seen it around. You can also toast your own otherwise. BYO mag has provided instructions several times over the years.

 

You've seen diastatic brown malt? Do you recall where?

 

I doubt that any maltsters current 'Brown Malt' offering (in the range of say 45-70L) is diastatically active to any usable degree, such that it could be mashed "stand alone".

https://mashmadeeasy.yolasite.com

 

I don't know about diastatic, but here for example is some of 60-70 L.

https://www.morebeer.com/products/crisp-english-brown-malt.html

And I found an article on how to make your own, BYO, November 2011, page 68. Terry Foster says not to expect any enzymes to remain afterward. He recommends using at least 33% pale malt for some enzymes.

 

My LHBS has some from Crisp I believe.