Crystal - Why the hate?

Shit, early morning got my confused....I was thinking of Caramel malts as opposed to crystal. I don't remember using crystal much.

 

Caramel Malt is just another name for Crystal Malt.

Cheers!

 

Because this forum (IMO) is West-coast IPA Hop-Bomb-Centric. or at least it tends to be.

Love me some West-coast IPA Hop-Bombs but there are how many styles of beer out there?

 

I really like crystal hops....oh wait....

 

Damn, learn something new every day! Thanks!

 

I can understand why you state that.

In my opinion, there were a number of posts which basically stated that crystal malt has a useful place in many beer styles. Since the original post made no mention of beer style, I was curious to see whether the aspects of crystal malt use in IPAs was going to be discussed and lo and behold it did come up.

I would offer up that there are a contingent of BA homebrewers who recognize that you can indeed make a tasty beer, even an IPA, while utilizing some crystal malt. There are indeed a vocal few who like to emphasize that no (or just a small percentage) of crystal malt should be used in making IPAs. In the past, these people were referred to as the “crystal police”. I have no data to support it, but in my opinion the crystal police are a minority (but they are sure exuberant in vocalizing their opinions!).

Cheers!

 

TOO MUCH CRYSTAL NOT ENOUGH CITRA!!!!

 

There are distinctions between the two terms, but we can happily and safely ignore them. I'm not even sure if all the maltsters pay attention to them when naming their malts.

 

Here>
http://www.homebrewersassociation.o...itle=5-tips-on-brewing-ipas-from-mitch-steele

And Here>



http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pages/community/news/show?title=zymurgys-2013-best-beers-in-america

 

I am pretty sure that CaraMunich is a crystal malt. Weyermann lists it as a caramel malt.

 

In the December 2008 issue of BYO there were 6 clone recipes for Stone Brewing beers (provided by Stone Brewing). The grain bill for Stone IPA clone:

· 12.75 lbs. two-row pale malt

· 14 ounces 15L crystal

That Stone IPA recipe has 6.4% crystal malt.

Using about a pound of crystal malt in an IPA sounds about right to me.

Cheers!

 

FTFY

 

I love Mosaic hops... Ill agree with that FTFY

 

I didn't mean to imply that CaraMunich isn't a crystal malt. It tastes different than an equivalent lovibond US or English crystal though, more so than the difference between the latter two IMO.

 

In American IPAs, crystal just oxidizes way too fast. I have a particular aversion to the cardboard flavor, which seems inevitable in that style, especially beyond the first few weeks...

 

I don´t see any benefit on hating crystal malts, thanks God we have these ingredients to get beer flavor complexity,I use them as much as I need to get the beer flavor profile I would like to achieve.You can ignore them if you want but you are not going to get the same results using other ways to add color and/or body.Think of Trappist beers like Chimay, I think a big part of its complex flavor comes from the use of crystal malts besides low hops addittion and a noble yeast.

 

Pro-primary, pro-hop, anti-secondary, anti-crystal. p.p.p.h.a.s.a.c? No, RDWHAHB.

 

For the record, I really like Crystal Hops!

 

What's a noble yeast? Something tells me that it is more about distinguishing itself from "unnoble yeast"...kinda like how "noble hops" have managed to do the same thing with plebeian hops that kick their ass

Kinda funny also how a grain like Meladonin (sp) also gets a bad rap from purists who think decocting is the only way to go...just sayin. Whatever works and tastes good. Cheers

 

´Something tells me that it is more about distinguishing itself from "unnoble yeast".´(Right)


´kinda like how "noble hops" have managed to do the same thing with plebeian hops that kick their ass´ (Wrong)


It is very easy to distingish a ´noble yeast´ from an ´unnoble yeast´, one is useful to brew beer whereas the other it is not.