Howdy all,
I've been looking into crystal grains and was wondering what the major differences between normal crystal and british crystal were. I've heard stuff about colour and sweetness, etc.
How much crystal malt would you substitute for british malt to get the correct sweetness ratio? Or are they completely different grains?
Crystal malt vs British Crystal malt
Cat,
You should be able to swap it 1:1 depending on the specs of the grain in the recipe & the grain your substituting with.
Do you know the lovibond/EBC of the grain? The colour (amount of kilning) of Crystal grain can affect the flavour in many ways. From sweet honey like flavours (produced by lighter crystals like caramalt, honey malt) through to toffee, plum, raisiny from the darker crystal types. Therefore if your trying to stay faithful to the recipe you should really try to substitute something close in EBC.
Then there's also the process of the maltster & the variety of grain they use. I tend to prefer English brands like Bairds & Thomas Fawcett (which I don't think is available in Oz anymore). I find the flavour of Bairds to be a little more richer & more to my liking than the equivilent Joe White (an Aust. Brand) Crystal. But I'll happily substitute JW if Bairds is unavailable. The Joe White Crystal is slightly lower in colour (125 compared to Bairds 140 from memory) & is pretty close in flavour.
You should be able to swap it 1:1 depending on the specs of the grain in the recipe & the grain your substituting with.
Do you know the lovibond/EBC of the grain? The colour (amount of kilning) of Crystal grain can affect the flavour in many ways. From sweet honey like flavours (produced by lighter crystals like caramalt, honey malt) through to toffee, plum, raisiny from the darker crystal types. Therefore if your trying to stay faithful to the recipe you should really try to substitute something close in EBC.
Then there's also the process of the maltster & the variety of grain they use. I tend to prefer English brands like Bairds & Thomas Fawcett (which I don't think is available in Oz anymore). I find the flavour of Bairds to be a little more richer & more to my liking than the equivilent Joe White (an Aust. Brand) Crystal. But I'll happily substitute JW if Bairds is unavailable. The Joe White Crystal is slightly lower in colour (125 compared to Bairds 140 from memory) & is pretty close in flavour.
Last edited by chris. on Sunday Oct 07, 2007 12:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
More than likely is Joe White as its cheaper than the imports. Probably not Caramalt (40-60EBC) but the regular Crystal (125EBC)
Last edited by chris. on Sunday Oct 07, 2007 12:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Chris wrote:The best way to find out would probably be to read the front of the bag.
Indeed. I'm not sure about G&G but the 3 or so HBS I order my grain from generally put the EBC (or atleast the grain type) on the bag.
Last edited by chris. on Sunday Oct 07, 2007 12:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.