Is there a good cross-over, or substitution list for malts?? Is Belgian Munich malt the same as munich, or cara munich? Is vienna close enough to belgian biscuit?? Seems everytime I find a recipe I'd really like to brew, you can't get the malt at the LBS.
I just check the lovibond ratings and make sure they are similar. Then I read descriptions of them and make sure they are similar or just use some logic to determine if it is indeed the flavor I'm shooting for. Unless it is a large percentage of your grain bill I would not sweat it. There are so many crystal type malts, british, belgian, US, etc. I find it hard to buy that a small percentage of them used in a recipe is going to make much difference.
This is a good reference if you're looking for substitutions. http://www.beersmith.com/Grains/Grains/GrainList.htm Clicking the link for some of the specialty malts will list aka's. Sometimes the difference is just brand name i.e. carapils vs carafoam.
Thanks for the replies. Leedorham, nice link, I copied n pasted to word for a nice printing version. Great reference material, thanks.
Shameless self-promo -- hope it can be of some use, though: http://www.unicornjuice.net/grain/index.html
