So, I've been toying around with some different base malts. My previous favorite, used in most styles, was Fawcett Golden Promise. Love the stuff. Dont love the price per bag.Ouch. I see that Optic seems well received (and may be used for heady topper?), but there is very little information I can dig up. Likewise, the description for Schill Kolsch malt seems positive, but I can't find any folks that hav actually used it. As far as specifics, I'll be using these most likely across a broad spectrum of American/European non-pils based recipes. I like a bit more characterful base malt, particularly in hoppy beers, and using less specialized malts. Aaaand, the questions are: Any body used these? Impressions of character? Comparison to TF GP or Maris Otter? Thanks!
I haven't used either (and the lack of responses suggests I’m not alone), but I say give it a shot! It is always tough to trust other people's palates anyway. Brew recipes you’ve done before and see if the flavors those base malts contribute work for your tastes. Let us know how it goes too!
Optic is one of the British malts that is in use, along with Pearl and other new ones. There still may be some Halcyon available. Never have tried Optic, but have a bag of Pearl to try for English ales. Edit - do really like Golden Promise.
Today I kegged a Blonde made with mostly Golden Promise as base. Precarbonated sample was pretty tasty. I think this was my first GP beer. I generally use a lot of Crisp M.O., but thought it might be a little too biscuity for a Blonde.
GP is more Sweet/malty/toasty, while MO is Malty/toasty/sweet to my taste. Did a Wee Heavy yesterday that was 99% GP and 1% black patent (cold steeped). 30.5 lbs in the mash tun, and it did not stick.
Thanks guys. Looks like I'll be biting the bullet soon. Grabbed some more GP in the meantime. It really is great stuff if you haven't tried it. I'll update some time down the line if I get the opportunity to do a comparative recipe. Would love to run an IPA with each as the base and see what, if any, discernible difference they make.
You could try it in a more malt forward beer, or even the Koelsch to tell the malt differences. But if you want to brew IPAs, do it.
Yeah. Understood that malt focused would better show the grain. Looking at throwing this into a fair number of hop centric styles, so primary concern is what it brings there. When he next Heavy or such comes up, well...
TF GP has been my base for over a year now as well, looking forward to hearing some results. Also, I like the idea of piloting the new base malts in an IPA, it'll let you know if the differences in the malts will come through even with another flavor.
