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chocolate -vs- pale chocolate

Mofo

Grandmaster Brewer
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Happy near-start of the holiday season to you! I'm researching recipes for either a Scottish Wee Heavy or Russian Imperial Stout. Many of the recipes I've come across, including those in Brewing Classic Styles, call for pale chocolate malt. It just isn't available where I live (China), but chocolate malt is. Some on the interwebs advise using half the called-for amount in chocolate (which is twice the SRM) in place of the pale chox.

Any opinions on this substitution? Other workarounds? Anybody want to ship me a few kilos of pale chox for Christmas?!
 
That may approach the SRM target.  You'll find some Aroma and Flavor differences, I think.  The pale offers some coffee and milder choco notes than fully roasted chox.
 
Hi MoFo

I'm sure you'll brew something very nice for the hols. I've been fine tuning a Wee Heavy recipe for a while now (it's on it's 3rd version) and finally it's tasting like what I want. The problem is it's not worth drinking until 3 months in the bottle (and 6 months is even better).

All the best
antiphile
 

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Anti, thanks very much for the recipe! I can get ahold of all those grains, except Golden Promise. I'd have to use two-row pale malt for the full bill of base grain ... and I'd have to switch yeasts. I came back from the States recently with a White Labs, including an Edinburgh that I would probably substitute. I'm anxious to get away from WLP001/US-05 that seems to find it's way into everything I brew. As for 3 months in the bottle, I have time; not necessarily brewing it for the holidays (though in China the holidays are in full swing at the start of February, so I might be just in time.  ;)

Will let you know how it turns out!

Dave
 
I would think Maris Otter could sub for Golden Promise and may be easier to find.
 
Howdy all

I'd agree that Maris Otter should be a really good (and close substitute). And I'm sure this will horrify most purists, but another you could use is Pearl. I bought a sack of floor-malted pearl several months ago and used it all up in English Bitter recipes, but I do recall thinking it should go pretty well in a Scotch Ale.

However, I don't see there would be a problem using standard 2-row ale malt because the advantage (in my eyes anyway) of doing a decoction brew is that really brings the maltiness to the fore. I've no idea why this happens but it just seems to.

The great thing is we all have different tastes and palates, so go ahead and experiment!

Cheers
 
I finished a sack of Maris Otter with my last batch. To make my grain bill I had to mix it with a newly-opened sack of Gladfield pale malt, which I still have 20-plus kilos of. So I'll definitely be using Gladfield for my base malt. Would like to get another sack of Maris Otter, but my last sack came through customs from Taiwan to China in a suitcase. Won't be making that trip again soon.

Bottling a double IPA this week. That'll free up space in the fermenting fridge for a first-go Scotch Ale.
 
Finally got around to brewing this the second week of January and bottled it at the start of February. It never got above 17C in the house during February and the bottles took the month to carbonate. I never did answer my Chocolate -vs- Pale Chocolate question, but I'm won over by roasted barley. I want to thank Anti again for his recipe. The ingredients I pieced together were quite different, but I'm really satisfied with he result.

Here's what I used:

8 kg Gladfield Ale Malt
800g Munich
140g CaraAroma
70g Roast Barley
45g Willamette (60 mins for 23 IBUs)
15g Fuggles (10 mins for 2.3 IBUs)
White Labs Edinburgh Ale WLP028

antiphile said:
The problem is it's not worth drinking until 3 months in the bottle (and 6 months is even better).

Given that the weather is starting to warm now I think I'll follow Anti's advice and sock it away in a cellar through the summer and fall. I may be the only man anywhere to have taken care of his Xmas gift giving in March!

Last question: I've worked with all the grains above except roasted barley. It accounted for less that 1% of the grain bill but had a significant impact on flavor. What are other styles does/can it feature even more prominently in?
 
Roasted barley is the quintessential grain used in the production of classic dry Irish stouts. Made from unmalted barley that has been deeply roasted, roasted barley adds a deep roasted flavor and aroma to beers. In addition, it can add a drying quality and roasty bitterness to beers in which it is included as part of the grist. Most notably used in stouts, it can also be used in small proportions in other dark beers such as porters, stouts, milds, dunkelweizens, and browns.
 
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