Averagely Perfect Saison - Poll #10 - Basic Grains

First one in! Pils, Vienna, unmalted wheat.

 

Pilsner malt and flaked wheat sound good to me.

 

pils and wheat malt for me.

 

Pilsner or pale ale. If it was a fall beer I would consider a tiny, and I mean tiny, bit of Brown malt along with some Munich.

 

I'm a big fan of a little rye in my saison.

 

Not going to vote yet, because I have some questions for the experts.

I have never used unmalted wheat or rye, but I have used the malted version of both. Why would you prefer one vs. the other?

How about a little caramel malt or Special B? JK

 

Pils, Vienna, Malted Wheat, and if needed for brett.. flaked oats/wheat.

 

Pils, wheat/rye, oats for me!

 

The unmalted will give a slightly more rustic character, but the big difference is body. During the malting process the proteins in the grain are broken down (some, but not all). For Flaked the proteins are all left in tact and the process of heat rolling causes the starches to gelatinize making them convertable in a single infusion mash.

 

Pilsner malt and something unmalted. I voted for all the unmalted, but in reality, I'd only pick one. For the record, unmalted barley is not in the poll. I figure it might have been used in historical farmhouse ales, but what do I know?

 

So I get the difference between malted and unmalted as far as starches being converted, and that rolled/flaked grains are pregelatinized so you don't need a cereal mash. I guess I am looking for flavor differences/preferences from people who have tried both types. There are lots of reports online that rye malt is "stronger" vs flaked rye or something similar. But, I am curious why someone would prefer a malted vs. unmalted grain for THIS beer that we are building.

For example, I drank a bunch of saison today that was Weyerman Pils and Weyerman Rye Malt and it was pretty good, except for the Belle Saison part Why would this beer have been better with unmalted rye instead?

Right now, I am leaning towards Pils, a touch of Weyerman Munich (6L) and Rye malt, but I am happy to be talked into somthing completely different.

Who is voting for oats? And why?

 

Oats woild be extra dextrins for the brett to munch on.

 

@wspscott it is proteins that keep a better sense of body, even with a super low FG. Malting breaks down proteins in the grains, flaking doesn't, so flaked grains retain the body proteins where malted has less. Low OG, super low FG, and Brett could lead to thin body, the proteins in flaked will help with this.

 

I chose pils, as well as rye and wheat malt

 

I chose pils, oats, wheat/rye, and unmalted wheat/rye, even though I do not want any rye in a saison. I'm assuming there will be another poll about grain, or was there a reason that wheat and rye were grouped together?

 

IN MY EXPERIENCE, the difference between the flavor of flaked rye and malted rye isn't huge. They both taste like rye, after all. However, rye malt tends to give a little more of a malty, slightly sweet flavor, similar to what you get in a pale ale or Munich malt. Flaked rye has a drier, slightly sharper flavor, without being outright sharp.

Another way of looking at it is that rye malt gives a rounder rye flavor, while flaked gives a brighter crisper rye flavor. I prefer the crisper flavor and mouthfeel boost of flaked rye in the context of this beer, but I don't think rye malt would be out of place either.

 

Pils, wheat and sauer malt make up all my saisons. This was a no brainer.