How To Use Crystal Malt

Colors added to beer by crystal malt range from pale honey to dark copper.

How to use crystal malt. Be aware that the kernel size of crystal malt may be smaller than that of pale malt. This article takes an in depth look at crystal malts roasted caramel malts and kilned caramel mats. Crystal malts have no enzymes and are used primarily to enhance a beer s color flavor body aroma and head retention. For this reason carafoam should not be used as a steeping grain and must be mashed to convert the starches to sugars. Standard distiller s malt or pot still malt is quite light and very high in nitrogen compared to beer malts.

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. These malts are used in the production of whiskey whisky and generally originate from northern scotland. I have seen the term crystal used predominantly in the uk and caramel in the us. It greatly improves body foam retention and beer stability whilst adding little colour. The typical british crystal malt used in pale ale and bitter is around asbc 70 80.

It contains a greater degree of sweetness than crystal malt and the harsher nutty roasted flavours are not present. Barclay perkins first used it in 1942 whitbread in. 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. Crystal malts are a staple in almost every beer recipe. 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.

Cara malt is a very low colour crystal malt which has an almost completely glassy endosperm. Though crystal and caramel malts are used in just about every bitter today crystal malt saw very limited usage until after world war i. Light crystal malt like c 20 is used in pale ales the darker c 120 can be used in stouts and every recipe in between calls for some variety of crystal. 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.

Carafoam is only about 2 5 crystal or glassy meaning it s more similar to a base malt than a crystal malt. If you do have a mill the simplest way is to crush the crystal malt along with any other grains you are using. Typically crystal malt is sold by colour either labelled with the lovibond rating or as either dark light or medium. The first step in using crystal malt is to crush the grains. Unlike carapils carafoam is not a true crystal malt.