[The Beerery]

I have been playing with trying to get the malt right for these beers for quite some time. I found the more I tightened up my system the more the malts I was using tasted wrong. Vima was giving me way to much fresh dough, even at 5%. Muma was adding a weird slight sour twang, along with a muddy flavor, and it was not what I was tasting in the beers I love. We had always previously joked about a super pima, so thats where this name came from. I did a bunch of looking into things, and determined that I wanted to blend pima with as similar a malt like it I could. I know Steve looked into blending it will pale ale malt, so I started there, but didn't have to go far, because it was a home run.

Enter the pima/pale ale super pima blend®. Which is the pima of your choice(I use Barke exclusivly), and Weyermann's pale ale malt. Working with Big monk, we came up with a really easy way to blend these malts( more on that coming soon). Personally I use a 50/50 blend of the 2 and am blown away with the results. Its like pima on steroids, with none of the other flavors I was getting with the addition of the other malts. The pale ale malts lend amazing foam properties as well.

My Pilsner is simply a 50/50 blend. Here is a sample that is currently fermenting for color


Here is a sample of an Export Helles with a 50/50 blend:



The color of the beers with the blend is pretty much spot on when comparing to commercial examples as are the malt flavors.

[Village Taphouse]

Interesting.  I made something that I called an "American Premium" lager earlier this year.  I used 50% Barke Pils (which I love and will probably use exclusively going forward) along with 50% Rahr pale ale malt.  That made up the "base malt" and then I used a pound of flaked corn and some carafoam (4 ounces) as well.  My aim was to make a light lager with an American twist but clearly not a clone of Bud Light.  I was blown away by how good it was and the splitting of the base malt was done as a way to make the beer more "American" as opposed to having too much continental pilsner character.  I did it completely off the top of my head and I'll probably do it again coming up here shortly with another lager.  How about Barke + Golden Promise or Maris Otter? 

[The Beerery]

Interesting.  I made something that I called an "American Premium" lager earlier this year.  I used 50% Barke Pils (which I love and will probably use exclusively going forward) along with 50% Rahr pale ale malt.  That made up the "base malt" and then I used a pound of flaked corn and some carafoam (4 ounces) as well.  My aim was to make a light lager with an American twist but clearly not a clone of Bud Light.  I was blown away by how good it was and the splitting of the base malt was done as a way to make the beer more "American" as opposed to having too much continental pilsner character.  I did it completely off the top of my head and I'll probably do it again coming up here shortly with another lager.  How about Barke + Golden Promise or Maris Otter?

I think its open for trials with anything, I stick to german malts and maltsters, well because.. You know 

[The Beerery]

The aforementioned Pils from above is going into lagering:

[HoosierBrew]

Gonna keep that in mind. The helles makes sense, but I'm a little surprised at the 50/50 with a pils. I'm definitely gonna try it. Thanks for the info.

[The Beerery]

Gonna keep that in mind. The helles makes sense, but I'm a little surprised at the 50/50 with a pils. I'm definitely gonna try it. Thanks for the info.

Well to be honest the helles had 3% carahell as well. The pils though was just 50/50.

[HoosierBrew]

Gonna keep that in mind. The helles makes sense, but I'm a little surprised at the 50/50 with a pils. I'm definitely gonna try it. Thanks for the info.

Well to be honest the helles had 4% carahell as well. The pils though was just 50/50.

Yeah I've been using carahell in helles as well. Excited to try it out.

[Village Taphouse]

Here's a shot of the one I made 50/50 with Barke and Rahr.

[Village Taphouse]

By the way, I am not familiar with these terms... Pima, Vima, Muma.  What is this?

[Big Monk]

By the way, I am not familiar with these terms... Pima, Vima, Muma.  What is this?

These terms are shorthand for various malt types:

Pima=Pilsner malt
Vima=Vienna
Muma=Munich
CH=Carahell
CM=CaraMunich
CS=Carafa Special
Etc.

[Village Taphouse]

By the way, I am not familiar with these terms... Pima, Vima, Muma.  What is this?

These terms are shorthand for various malt types:

Pima=Pilsner malt
Vima=Vienna
Muma=Munich
CH=Carahell
CM=CaraMunich
CS=Carafa Special
Etc.

Cool, thanks Big Monk.  Here, let me try a few:

Pama = Pale Ale Malt
Moma = Maris Otter Malt
Gpma = Golden Promise Malt
Whma = Wheat Malt

[Village Taphouse]

Another question... were you finding that a beer made with 100% pilsner malt was "too much of something" or that it was "boring" and one-dimensional?  Since pale ale malts seem to have a relatively neutral character but with some good depth, I could see it working with Pilsner malt. 

[The Beerery]

Another question... were you finding that a beer made with 100% pilsner malt was "too much of something" or that it was "boring" and one-dimensional?  Since pale ale malts seem to have a relatively neutral character but with some good depth, I could see it working with Pilsner malt.

Definitely flat and lacking flavor. It was also just a shade darker than water.

[bboy9000]

Another question... were you finding that a beer made with 100% pilsner malt was "too much of something" or that it was "boring" and one-dimensional?  Since pale ale malts seem to have a relatively neutral character but with some good depth, I could see it working with Pilsner malt.

It was also just a shade darker than water.

LOL Bud Light

Edit:  in my opinion and the opinion of many brewers blending different base malts is a good way to add complexity and depth of flavor without the cloying sweetness one risk getting using specialty malts such as crystal/caramel malts.

[The Beerery]

For serious!...