So I know this question has been asked the other way round, but I'm in the UK and I'd like to make a solid American IPA, and I'm wondering what the best UK malt would be to replace US pale ale malt for this purpose. I've heard that staple UK varieties like Maris Otter don't quite work well. Does anyone have any suggestions? I should also add that I don't know of any means to get US malt in the UK, so import over the Atlantic probably isn't possible, even if I wanted to...
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well, based on a suggestion I just got on twitter (thx @PhilLowry ) I'm going to get some Mutons Optic. I'll report back as to how that turns out.– alsothingsCommented Feb 15, 2012 at 11:52
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Optic would have been my answer as well. A solid, flavorful grain but not as in-your-face as Maris Otter or Golden Promise.– HopwiseCommented Feb 15, 2012 at 14:04
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Just wanted to report back, the optic worked great. Obviously just one beer is hardly a generalized experiment, but anecdotally, I'll confirm that Optic is a good sub for 'American 2 row'– alsothingsCommented Jul 18, 2012 at 16:07
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I am not sure what you mean by "solid American IPA" - there are so many different examples of American IPA that bear very little similarity to each other that I am not sure this description is enough. It is a little like the description "English bitter". This coupled with the reality that many American IPAs are being brewed by craft brewers who have torn up any style rules that may have existed. The range of malts available in the UK made from UK barley is surely big enough to produce most beer styles without resorting to imported malts. However, some brewers will insist on a particular subtle– DoddyCommented Feb 23, 2017 at 10:54
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1 Answer
You can try Muntons Pale Ale malt - it's a good solid base that's fairly clean and doesn't bring oodles of that soft biscuit maltiness and complexity that you get with the Maris Otter malt. It's highly modified, so well suited to single infusions and has good diastatic power so you can add adjuncts to the mash also.
Being a pale malt rather than a lager/pilsner malt, you'll still get some malt backbone, just not so "in your face" as with the MO. However, since US 2-row is quite "dry/grainy", and you might want your IPA to be "just hops" then you could try using a good pilsner malt, which will contribute the least flavour from the malt. Personally, I'd go with the pale, since you need a little malt to stack the hops up against.
FWIW, all these malts are "2-row" - although barley strain does contribute something, the primary difference between the US and UK malts in how they are handled by the maltster.
I've brewed with US 2-row and Muntons, and to be honest, unless you're comparing them side by side, it's going to be difficult to discern any difference in something as hoppy as a IPA. (EDIT: My LHBS just stocks it as Muntons Pale malt - when I got the 25kg sack, I remember now it was Optic. So the suggestion you have to use Optic seems on the mark.)
For more anecdotal evidence comparing grain flavours, (source)
We did:
English 2-row pale | Briess 2-row pale | Marris Otter | Belgian Pale Ale
Generally, "flavor" increased as you moved down the list I put above. There were subtle differences in all of them. The English and American 2-row pale were nearly indistinguishable except the american had a slight "grainy" flavor.
- base malt experiment: tasting [Youtube]
- base malt experiment - blog entry comparing 5 different base malts
