Munich Malt Differences

[Ray1314]

Hi Guys

I’ve made a Munich Dunkel quite a few times now, and it always came out well. I’d always used Weyermann, but got a hold of some Crisp Munich.

The Dunkel made with Crisp Munich was awful, best way I can describe the taste was ‘raw’. I made the same recipe twice with Crisp malts assuming I’d messed up somewhere whilst making the first batch. The second batch was just as bad as the first.

I’ve now gone back to using Weyermann and the latest batch came out well.

I’d assumed one Munich malt would be very similar to another, which doesn’t seem to be the case.

Has anyone else found a huge difference in taste between different malt suppliers?

Ray

 

[Sadfield]

The difference is between British and German maltsters, using slightly different processes. British Munich is darker and has less enzymatic power. There's a strong possibility that different varieties or even seasons of barley are used, also.

 

[An Ankoù]

I've got both, too. The Weyerman is 15 ebc and the Crisp's is 25 ebc. As far as I'm concerned they're completely different malts and not interchangeable. 9I learnt from experience like you).
Crisp's Vienna malt is more consistent with continental Viennas at 9ebc compared with Bestmalz' 8 ebc. I haven't had a problem with that.
One of the biggest differences is with Crisp's cara gold 12 ebc and Castle Maltings cara gold at 120 ebc. Then there's Gambrinus' honey malt and Colorado honey malt.
In short, it's a minefield. I find Bestmalz very reliable.

 

[MickDundee]

Assuming you’re using Geterbrewed, I like their iReks Malta a lot if you want German malts but don’t want to pay as much as a lot of the Weyermann’s cost. Again their Munich is very slightly darker than Weyermans at 18EBC.

 

[Davvy]

Good to know about the Crisp product, as I plan a Dunkel next.....

 

[jceg316]

Hi Guys

I’ve made a Munich Dunkel quite a few times now, and it always came out well. I’d always used Weyermann, but got a hold of some Crisp Munich.

The Dunkel made with Crisp Munich was awful, best way I can describe the taste was ‘raw’. I made the same recipe twice with Crisp malts assuming I’d messed up somewhere whilst making the first batch. The second batch was just as bad as the first.

I’ve now gone back to using Weyermann and the latest batch came out well.

I’d assumed one Munich malt would be very similar to another, which doesn’t seem to be the case.

Has anyone else found a huge difference in taste between different malt suppliers?

Ray

Are you using munich as a base malt or adjunct? I made a Czech pils with Europils as base and vienna and munich as adjuncts. It was nice, but didn't taste quite how I expected it to. All of it Crisp.

 

[Ray1314]

Are you using munich as a base malt or adjunct? I made a Czech pils with Europils as base and vienna and munich as adjuncts. It was nice, but didn't taste quite how I expected it to. All of it Crisp.

Using it as a base malt, more than 90% of the grain bill.

I mostly use Crisp malts, so don’t want to sound like I’m attacking the company. Just seems to me that their Munich malt produced an unpleasant beer when used as a base malt.

 

[An Ankoù]

Using it as a base malt, more than 90% of the grain bill.

I mostly use Crisp malts, so don’t want to sound like I’m attacking the company. Just seems to me that their Munich malt produced an unpleasant beer when used as a base malt.

Crisp is ok. Nothing special. Their flagon is a good, low-cost, base malt, but I wouldn't use it if I wanted the malt to shine through. I'm beginning to warm to Hook Head from Minch Malt. Haven't tried them all, by any means, but their pale ale malt is first class- like Golden Promise, but a bit richer.
If in doubt with European malts, go for Bestmalz of Heidelberg,

 

[Sadfield]

Using it as a base malt, more than 90% of the grain bill.

I mostly use Crisp malts, so don’t want to sound like I’m attacking the company. Just seems to me that their Munich malt produced an unpleasant beer when used as a base malt.

What was the other 10%? I'm wondering, as your original post stated a "raw" flavour, whether you were getting full conversion with the lower DP of the UK Munich.

 

[jceg316]

Using it as a base malt, more than 90% of the grain bill.

I mostly use Crisp malts, so don’t want to sound like I’m attacking the company. Just seems to me that their Munich malt produced an unpleasant beer when used as a base malt.

You know what, it was actually entirely Ireks . Sorry, my bad. I usually use Crisp as that's what GEB are pushing, but decided to use Ireks as they were cheaper this time. I've not brewed a beer with munich malt as the base, but as an adjunct it's been fine.

 

[Ray1314]

Was 87.3% Munich (3kg darker, 2kg lighter)
4.4% Torrified wheat
3.5% Brown malt
3.5% Dark wheat malt
1.4% Carafa special II

Hit all my expected numbers with every batch, but the Crisp batches just tasted bad. Raw might not be the most accurate description, but I’m afraid I can’t come up with any better way to describe it.