How To Use Crystal Malt

For this reason carafoam should not be used as a steeping grain and must be mashed to convert the starches to sugars.
How to use crystal malt. Standard distiller s malt or pot still malt is quite light and very high in nitrogen compared to beer malts. The typical british crystal malt used in pale ale and bitter is around asbc 70 80. Carafoam is only about 2 5 crystal or glassy meaning it s more similar to a base malt than a crystal malt. Depending on where you are or who you are the term crystal and caramel can be used interchangeably they are the same thing. In a the november 2013 issue of brew your own terry foster of byo and myself worked on an article entitled is it crystal or caramel malt.
Since crystal malts are among the few styles that do not need to be mashed they are ideal for extract and partial mash brewers to use as steeping malts. This article takes an in depth look at crystal malts roasted caramel malts and kilned caramel mats. The first step in using crystal malt is to crush the grains. It contains a greater degree of sweetness than crystal malt and the harsher nutty roasted flavours are not present. Unlike carapils carafoam is not a true crystal malt.
However some brewers will use lighter crystal malts for up to 20 of the grain bill of certain beers. Consulting the supplier is the best way to determine proper use. Though crystal and caramel malts are used in just about every bitter today crystal malt saw very limited usage until after world war i. If you don t have a grain mill have your homebrew shop do it for you. The later adoption of crystal malts in many english beer styles was done to restore the malty flavor and dark colors provided historically by brown malt.
Be aware that the kernel size of crystal malt may be smaller than that of pale malt. I have seen the term crystal used predominantly in the uk and caramel in the us. Crystal malts have no enzymes and are used primarily to enhance a beer s color flavor body aroma and head retention. Crystal malts are a staple in almost every beer recipe. Cara malt is a very low colour crystal malt which has an almost completely glassy endosperm.
These malts are used in the production of whiskey whisky and generally originate from northern scotland. Carafoam is the weyermann version of a dextrin malt. Colors added to beer by crystal malt range from pale honey to dark copper. Barclay perkins first used it in 1942 whitbread in. It greatly improves body foam retention and beer stability whilst adding little colour.