Best choice of barley for IPA?

[JRTurner1234]

Hi,

I've only ever brewed with a base malt of Maris Otter, but recently I've thought that the malt flavour is a bit too strong for my IPAs.

What other options should I be considering?

Cheers,
JRT

 

[doomy86]

Maris Otter is very expensive here.

I always use Weyermann Pale Ale..

 

[Brewdoug]

Hi,

I've only ever brewed with a base malt of Maris Otter, but recently I've thought that the malt flavour is a bit too strong for my IPAs.

What other options should I be considering?

Cheers,
JRT

I'm about to try Pilsner because I'm out of Maris Otter. Should be fine because some of the Mikkeller recipes use Pilsner.

 

[MyQul]

Lager malt, which is basically English pilsner malt. There are differences but plent of people say they cant taste much if any difference between the two. It's usually a lot cheaper than pilsner too.

 

[BlackIsland]

You might also try splitting the base malts - 50% MO and 50% pils/lager.

 

[johnnyboy1965]

Ive come across this before. Trying to brew a really light coloured IPA using MO still come out too dark. You can get Extra Pale Maris Otter, but never used it

 

[markcc]

No love for Golden Promise? Cloudwater's DIPAs use it as the major part of their grain bill.

I use it in all my pale ales and think it gives a great pale colour and a nice, but not overpowering flavour. 80% Golden Promise, 10% wheat malt and 10% porridge oats is a good starting point.

 

[Leo1983]

Ive come across this before. Trying to brew a really light coloured IPA using MO still come out too dark. You can get Extra Pale Maris Otter, but never used it

I've used the extra pale MO by Crisp from Malt Miller for several IPA's and they have all turned out great.

I also researched this question trying to work out which type to use a year or so ago, and read somewhere Optic malt would be good substitute for the '2 Row' malt you see in all the US style IPA recipes.

 

[chub1]

Take a look at Geterbrewed's site. Plenty of options on there and good prices. I have been using the Irish Pale malt of late and also the Pale/M/Otter mix:thumb:

 

[jceg316]

Any pale malt/pale ale malt will do, and it will have a lighter colour and flavour than MO. I have used GEB's Irish pale malt and it was great.

A couple years ago I was gonna use Golden Promise but read it has a lower extraction rate than other pale ales. I can't remember where but even if it's true I don't suppose that matters, just use a bit more malt.

As someone who loves to make all sorts of lagers, I used to get Weyerman Pils, or some other type of German pils. I switched to English lager malt (and Irish lager malt when I was living in Ireland) and there's no noticeable difference. I tried to research what the difference between the two is, and all I could find were various forum posts of people saying:

-If you want a genuine pilsner, use pilsner malt
-why is that? what makes it "genuine"?
-well, you know, pilsner...

Which backs up my experience that there is no discernible difference.

 

[MrRook]

Is the maris otter you've been using floor malted? If so any British base malt that's not floor malted would probably work for what you want.

 

[beechwood]

I've used lager malt for an IPA which turned out very nice, hoping to get going with a session IPA soon. i'll probs used marris otter for that though :whistle:

 

[Gerryjo]

I've used the Minch Pale Ale Malt from The Home Brew Company and it was great for a light golden colour and effiency.I recently bought Irish Ale Malt from Geterbrewed but have yet to try it.