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Author Topic: pleasant surprise  (Read 6335 times)

Offline dbeechum

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Re: pleasant surprise
« Reply #15 on: May 14, 2012, 02:10:25 pm »
You look a lot older in your forum pic than on the BS Podcast.

I think I'll take that as a compliment! Of course that pic was taken 5 years ago, so... maybe I've gained Dick Clark's powers! :)

As for styles - I would say anything that you'd want some caramel flavor to - a dubbel? A Belgian Dark? a Bock? etc. etc. Just be careful.. reduced malt (it's not really caramelized) does have reduced fermentability as well.
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Offline denny

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Re: pleasant surprise
« Reply #16 on: May 14, 2012, 02:12:12 pm »
Excellent. I will no longer sweat running out of crystal. Yet another technique for the arsenal.

Diane, while I love and use the boil down technique, I certainly wouldn't call it a substitute for crystal.  The results are quite different.  IMO, each has it's place and they are not interchangeable.
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Offline bo

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Re: pleasant surprise
« Reply #17 on: May 14, 2012, 02:20:41 pm »
You look a lot older in your forum pic than on the BS Podcast.

I think I'll take that as a compliment! Of course that pic was taken 5 years ago, so... maybe I've gained Dick Clark's powers! :)

As for styles - I would say anything that you'd want some caramel flavor to - a dubbel? A Belgian Dark? a Bock? etc. etc. Just be careful.. reduced malt (it's not really caramelized) does have reduced fermentability as well.

Do you really want Dick Clark powers? Too soon?

Offline nateo

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Re: pleasant surprise
« Reply #18 on: May 14, 2012, 02:44:57 pm »
Diane, while I love and use the boil down technique, I certainly wouldn't call it a substitute for crystal.  The results are quite different.  IMO, each has it's place and they are not interchangeable.

Yeah, you'll get different results. Think about the difference between a malty, but relatively dry North English Brown (Like Sammy Smith's) vs a typical sweet American brown ale.

Reduced wort will provide depth-of-flavor and color, and will provide more malty/caramel flavors the darker you cook it, but you'll never get the sweetness you'll get from crystal malt. I agree with Drew. It's appropriate whenever you want a more robust malt flavor, or flavors in the same "class" as crystal malt, but don't want the residual sweetness.

I don't want to get into a semantic argument, but the difference between a caramel reaction and a Maillard reaction are often confused in food industry literature because of their similar chemical/sensory characteristics. There is a ton of flavor overlap between the two. 

Chemically speaking, caramelization: sugar + heat = sugar loses water, undergoes further dehydration. Maillard reactions: sugar + heat + amino acids = sugar loses water, undergoes further dehydration, plus some other stuff happens.

I make a lot of caramelized sugar syrups for my Belgian beers, and I've gotten lots of crazy flavors out of them, including crackers, toast, roasted almonds, and other things that don't taste like what we typically think of as "caramel" flavors.
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Offline Alewyfe

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Re: pleasant surprise
« Reply #19 on: May 14, 2012, 03:02:01 pm »
Thanks for the input. I will keep all the caveats in mind when I use this technique.

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Offline denny

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Re: pleasant surprise
« Reply #20 on: May 14, 2012, 03:12:49 pm »
I detect more sweetness from a boil down than I do from crystal malts.  Tastes is funny....
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Offline nateo

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Re: pleasant surprise
« Reply #21 on: May 14, 2012, 03:21:37 pm »
I detect more sweetness from a boil down than I do from crystal malts.  Tastes is funny....

That is really interesting. I have an ESB at home I made with the reduced wort method, and an IPA I used dark crystal (100 SRM, IIRC). Color-wise they're practically identical. Same water. Both used US-05. ESB finished at 1.022 and the IPA finished at 1.020. I would describe the IPA as noticeably sweeter than the ESB. The IPA obviously has more IBUs and more hop character, but even so it seems sweeter to me. 
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Offline redbeerman

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Re: pleasant surprise
« Reply #22 on: May 15, 2012, 07:59:53 am »
I detect more sweetness from a boil down than I do from crystal malts.  Tastes is funny....

I do as well.
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Offline DrewG

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Re: pleasant surprise
« Reply #23 on: May 16, 2012, 08:50:00 am »
Back to the OT for a second:

On the dry finish:

1st scoresheet: Mouthfeel 3/5. "Very thin and dry, could use more body"
Flavor: "low caramel, could use more dry roasted malt flavor. Clean finish. Slight metallic flavor throughout. Astringent or tanic finish, but minimal"
Overall: "drinkable beer with pleasant flavor, true to style. Minor off flavors"



2nd scoresheet: Mouthfeel 4/5. "Nice body, nicely carbonated. Dry finish."
Also on Flavor: "malty and sweet up front, maybe a little too hoppy, dry finish"
Overall; "very well to style, nice overall beer"

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