[flbrewer]

I am looking at a recipe that calls for pale malt. I don't have that on hand, but do have MO and 2-row available. Can I blend these together to create a similar taste and color profile of the pale malt?

[morticaixavier]

sure can. or just use one or the other. the MO will have a more distinctive flavor and the North American two row will be a bit more neutral.

Apparently a lot of the trappist breweries blend a few different base malts to build complexity.

[dmtaylor]

Yes, I do this a lot.  Rather than doing a 50/50 blend, I like to use up one and make up the rest with the other.  Take your pick.

Randy Mosher in his book Radical Brewing also advocated blending to build complexity.  He suggests thinking about ingredients as a spectrum, much like a portrait artist would blend different hues of paint on their palette to create the hue that he or she wants, rather than just using globs of one thing and another.  Either will work but it depends what you want.  If you spread things out you also ensure you'll hit the target.  For example, a beer with just 2-row and Crystal 40 is not going to be as complex as 2-row, Maris Otter, Crystal 20, 40, and 60.  It's more the shotgun approach than the sharpshooter, but it's another thing worth trying.

[RPIScotty]

I like blending Pilsner, Pale and Munich malts from Dingemans and Weyermann in Belgians styles.


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[erockrph]

I like blending Pilsner, Pale and Munich malts from Dingemans and Weyermann in Belgians styles.

I've used Crisp MO and Castle Pils as my base for quite a few Belgian beers and have been pretty happy with the results.

[homoeccentricus]

Apparently a lot of the trappist breweries blend a few different base malts to build complexity.

Define "a lot". AFAIK Westmalle and Westvleteren only use pils, and Rochefort pils + 1 caramout.

[Stevie]

Apparently a lot of the trappist breweries blend a few different base malts to build complexity.

Define "a lot". AFAIK Westmalle and Westvleteren only use pils, and Rochefort pils + 1 caramout.

Especially when there is only 11 in the world.

[RPIScotty]

Apparently a lot of the trappist breweries blend a few different base malts to build complexity.

Define "a lot". AFAIK Westmalle and Westvleteren only use pils, and Rochefort pils + 1 caramout.

 I don't think he necessarily meant blending different malts, i.e. Pils/Pale/Munich, but rather blending say, Dingemans Pilsner and Castle Pilsner.

At least that is how I interpreted it based on what I have also heard about these breweries.




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[denny]

I am looking at a recipe that calls for pale malt. I don't have that on hand, but do have MO and 2-row available. Can I blend these together to create a similar taste and color profile of the pale malt?

FWIW, both of those are in fact pale malt.  Depending on the maltster of the MO, it might be closer to a pale ale malt.  In general, pale malt and what's referred to as "2 row" are the same thing.  And almost every barley malt out there will be 2 row.

[homoeccentricus]

Especially when there is only 11 in the world.

Plus, the ones that are not in Belgium don't count.

[reverseapachemaster]

I am looking at a recipe that calls for pale malt. I don't have that on hand, but do have MO and 2-row available. Can I blend these together to create a similar taste and color profile of the pale malt?

FWIW, both of those are in fact pale malt.  Depending on the maltster of the MO, it might be closer to a pale ale malt.  In general, pale malt and what's referred to as "2 row" are the same thing.  And almost every barley malt out there will be 2 row.

+1

[morticaixavier]

Correct

Which is to say, they bland different pils malts together.

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[dmtaylor]

FWIW, both of those are in fact pale malt.  Depending on the maltster of the MO, it might be closer to a pale ale malt.  In general, pale malt and what's referred to as "2 row" are the same thing.  And almost every barley malt out there will be 2 row.

Good point.  I fall into this same trap.  It's carryover from when we started brewing way back in the 1990s, when 6-row was very common.  Remember those days, man? 

[homoeccentricus]

Apparently a lot of the trappist breweries blend a few different base malts to build complexity.

You have a reference?

[RPIScotty]

Apparently a lot of the trappist breweries blend a few different base malts to build complexity.

You have a reference?

BLAM

EDIT: After reviewing I wasn't able to find a reference to any of the Trappists. What I remembered was the section on Duvel.

But I haven't reviewed it thoroughly yet. I know it's in there somewhere. 

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