A beersmith article (https://beersmith.com/blog/2017/08/31/harsh-zone-crystal-and-colored-malts-in-beer-brewing/) warns about harsh zone malts (in the 70 - 200L range), discussing limiting the quantities of these to avoid harsh flavors. How to Brew, E4, p 230, discusses potential problems with caramel 60: “this malt is reported to oxidize (go stale) more quickly than other caramel malts.” Together, these cover a significant number of specialty malts that may cause problems. I’m interested in opinions about these malts - have many brewers had the type of problems described?
Putting aside the whole concept of "Harsh Zone" malts for now, I completely disagree with the assessment of "Pale Chocolate" or "Light Chocolate". I don't find it "sharp" or "piercing" or "harsh" or whatever. I use it quite a bit when trying to massage some chocolate flavors (in combination with other malts).
And I let the maltster's recommendation (and experience) dictate what percentage I use.
more repackaging old (lol stale even) information. i was listening to a webinar from a major yeast company i actually use and enjoy but the speaker was repeating some old adages you would hear unquestioned a lot more 5 to 10 years ago, but are now being questioned or at least examined.
my experience with pale chocolate from simpsons is that it was very smooth, not getting any strong burnt/overroasted notes like you get (not in a bad way) from the 400L and over dark roasted malts or harsh notes, it was actually really smooth.
the crystal 60 thing was stated and it may result in noticeable staling in certain environments and under certain conditions. stuff that affects beer commercially made, stored perhaps at room temp for many months before any consumption may be at risk but IMHO ive had more oxidation problems from poor packaging/handling at times than beers with crystal 60. also - i always wondered - why just 60? is 40 or 80 more likely to have those oxidizable elements, and if 40 then is 20 an issue too? needs more explanation
oh i see the article is from 2017, probably as simple as that. a lot has changed over the years
its basically the same stuff as saying black patent malt is "acrid/burnt".
even further from the article - it says "large amounts can lead to X bad flavours" lol, i used 2lbs of brown malt once in a beer and it tasted excellent, only issue was that it left a pretty high FG