Author: Marshall Schott

According to some accounts, English maltsters developed the process for making Crystal malt sometime around the turn of the 19th century. Unlike standard base malts, Crystal malt is left wet after germination and allowed to sit at saccharification temperatures for a few hours before being roasted to varying degrees of color. Originally intended as a means to add depth of flavor to ever weakening British beers, Crystal malt usage grew rapidly and soon became a staple in English breweries for its ability to contribute toasty, toffee, and biscuit-like character to beer.

As maltsters began taking root across the pond, new versions of this malt began to hit the market, which due to proximity, provided American brewers a more affordable option. Caramel malt, as it’s called some in the US, is purportedly made using a similar process to produce a product that rivals the quality of English Crystal malt. While Caramel and Crystal are used interchangeably these days, I feel it’s prudent to clarify that Briess, one of the largest US manufacturers of Caramel malt, says they are in fact different, explaining, “Caramel malt is applied to both kiln and roaster produced caramel malts, but the term crystal malt is normally reserved for caramel malts produced in a roaster.”

As is often the case when multiple options of a similar product are available, opinions and preferences regarding Crystal malt are held by many. I’ve heard from some brewers who swear that UK Crystal malts impart a more robust and authentic character to their beer, while domestic varieties are generally lacking in depth and contribute a more sugary sweet or even somewhat tart component. Of course there are also those who view such regional differences as minutiae, relying on whatever is available or cheapest.

Confession: prior to this xBmt, I’d never knowingly used UK Crystal malt, not once in the 13 years I’ve been brewing. Because of this, I never developed an opinion either way on the matter, though recent comments I’d heard claiming that authentic English styles demand the use of UK Crystal malt made be wonder – is it really all that different?

| PURPOSE |

To investigate the differences between UK and US Crystal malts when used in beers of otherwise similar recipes.

| METHODS |

When considering a recipe for this xBmt, I knew I wanted to keep it very simple in order for any differences between the batches to be noticeable, so I opted for what I might call an old school Pale Ale with a grain bill of just pale 2-row and crystal malt. The UK and US Crystal malts used in this xBmt were from Bairds and Briess, respectively.

Crystal Pale Ale

Recipe Details Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV 5.5 gal 60 min 43.5 IBUs 8.8 SRM 1.053 1.011 5.6 % Actuals 1.053 1.009 5.8 % Fermentables Name Amount % Pale Malt, 2 row (Gambrinus) 10 lbs 90.91 UK Crystal Medium OR US Caramel 60L 1 lbs 9.09 Hops Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha % Magnum 14 g 60 min Boil Pellet 11.2 Mt. Hood 21 g 25 min Boil Pellet 5 Citra 28 g 10 min Boil Pellet 13.4 Miscs Name Amount Time Use Type Calcium Chloride 5.00 g 60 min Mash Water Agent Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) 5.00 g 60 min Mash Water Agent Lactic Acid 4.00 ml 60 min Mash Water Agent Yeast Name Lab Attenuation Temperature Safale American (US-05) DCL/Fermentis 77% 59°F - 75°F Notes Water Profile: Ca 79 | Mg 1 | Na 10 | SO4 89 | Cl 73 | pH 5.27

I used Safale US-05 American Ale for this xBmt because it’s clean and I was too busy partying over Thanksgiving weekend to make a starter, which is also why I didn’t prepare things the night before brewing like I usually do. I started by collecting the full volume of strike water for each batch, as I used the no sparge method, then adjusting each to the same target profile with minerals and acid. I hit the flame under what would become the UK Crystal batch 20 minutes before the second batch to make the brew day more manageable.

While the water was coming to temperature, I weighed out the grains and took note of any differences between the UK and US Crystal malts. They looked pretty damn similar to me.

Each set of grains was milled into its own marked bucket.

Once each batch of water was heated to a few degrees above the strike temperature recommended by BeerSmith, it was transferred to a MLT for a brief period of preheating before I added the grist, both batches settling at the same mash temp.

Each mash was left to rest for 60 minutes with brief stirs every 15 minutes.

At 10 minutes into either mash, I pulled samples for color comparison and pH measurement.

Although they shared the same color and pH, in tasting them, I felt the US Crystal wort had a slightly more tart character to it, albeit I sampled them 20 apart from each other. At the conclusion of each hour long mash, the full volume of wort was collected, transferred to a kettle, and boiled for an hour.

Once the boils were finished, I hastily chilled the wort to a bit above my annoyingly warm groundwater temperature of 72°F/22°C.

A refractometer measurement at this point revealed a slight OG difference between the worts that I’m doubtful had to do with the variable.

I transferred 6 gallons of each wort to separate fermentors that were placed next to each other in the same cool chamber to finish chilling to my desired fermentation temperature.

Before cleaning my kettles, I collected two 500 mL sets of leftover wort in sanitized flasks and sprinkled 1 pack of Safale US-05 into each for vitality starters.

Both worts had stabilized at 66°F/19°C 4 hours later so I pitched a starter into each. Unlike my experience pitching rehydrated or sprinking on dry yeast, I noticed airlock activity less than 4 hours after pitching. The beers fermented for 5 days before I ramped the temperature up to 72°F/22°C to encourage complete attenuation and clean-up of any fermentation byproducts. I left the beers at this warmer temperature for another 5 days before taking hydrometer measurements showing FG had been reached for both.

The beers were cold crashed, fined with gelatin, and kegged 2 weeks after being brewed.

I placed the filled kegs in my keezer and burst carbonated them overnight before reducing to serving pressure. When it came time to collect data the following weekend, both were brilliantly clear, nicely carbonated, and seemingly the same color.

| RESULTS |

In total, 22 people of varying experience levels participated in this exBEERiment. Each taster was blindly served 1 sample of the UK Crystal beer and 2 samples of the US Crystal beer in different colored opaque cups then asked to select the unique beer. At this sample size, at least 11 accurate selections (p<0.05) would be required to achieve statistical significance, though only 9 (p=0.29) accurate selections were made. These results indicate tasters in this xBmt were were unable to reliably able to distinguish a beer made with medium UK Crystal malt from a beer with the same amount of 60°L US Crystal malt.

Despite failing to achieve significance, I thought it’d be interested to share the preference data gathered from only those who were correct on the initial triangle test. Still blind to the variable and comparing only the two different beers, 5 tasters said they preferred the UK Crystal beer, 2 liked the US Crystal beer better, and 2 felt there was no difference.

My Impressions: During a data collection session in my garage, I asked a participant who had completed the survey to pour me samples for a triangle, keeping my eyes closed while she handed me each cup. I was right! Of course, I went on about how I was able to tell them apart and what I perceived as being different. Then a few days later, I did two more triangle tests served by my neighbor Tim. Confident in my ability, I swiftly selected the beer I knew was unique… and I was wrong. Tim mixed them up and served me again, this time I got it correct, my first attempt an obvious fluke. Finally, during a recent video chat with our Patreon supporters and the other contributors, I performed 4 more blind triangles, each time failing to select the unique sample. It was at this point I accepted the beers were far too similar in every respect for me to reliably tell them apart.

| DISCUSSION |

With all I’ve heard about how much better UK Crystal malt is than its US equivalent combined with the significant results from our xBmt comparing Maris Otter to US Pale malt, I was pretty well convinced these beers would be easy to distinguish and even expected to prefer the uniquely English character of the UK Crystal malt beer. At the same time, I didn’t find it terribly surprising participants and I were unable to reliably distinguish the beers, partially due to the fact I’d never used UK Crystal malt and hadn’t formed strong opinions on the matter. Furthermore, as important as proprietariness may be, I can’t help but wonder if the process variations between maltsters simply aren’t vast enough to create a huge qualitative difference in the finished product.

One limitation to this xBmt is that we used malts from only two maltsters, perhaps other brands of UK Crystal malt would have produced a different outcome. Similarly, we used only one of a plethora of different colors of Crystal malt, leaving me curious if lighter or darker Crystal malts from either region might be more disparate. Finally, it’s possible either malt might have presented differently if used at different rates.

In the end, I plan to stick with the less expensive and readily available US Crystal malts, though I’m far from believing those who choose otherwise are doing so pointlessly and I look forward to continued exploration of regional ingredient differences.

If you have thoughts about this xBmt, please share them in the comments section below!

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