Finally brewed that lager

[Bryan R]

I won't knock you for the flaked barley, its the american equivalent to chit (you could use a dextrin malt as well, carafoam, etc). I think you will be impressed with the beer.

[Roachbrau]

Weyermann CaraFoam is the same basic thing as Best chit. It's NOT a caramel malt, it's an undermodified base malt.

I, like just about everyone else, thought it was the super light crystal/dextrine malt, but it isn't. Thanks, American homebrew community

[Brody]

Wait, really? Can't seem to find kolbach on it.

[Owenbräu]

[lhommedieu]

[Bryan R]

"Weyermann's Carafoam is a different beast. It's kind of an hybrid between base and crystal malt. It is around 2.5% glassy (so quite far from crystalline, and this is why many say that it is not a crystal malt). You can cut Kernels and see that mealy kernels have a white powdery appearance while glassy kernels (like in crystal malt) will be hard and shiny like glass. If you go on Weyermann website you can see that Carafoam is not that different that their regular Pilsner Malt (they say it themselves): http://www.weyermann.de/usa/produkte...269&sprache=10 (Click on the rightend on "Specifications as PDF (zipped)" for complete product sheets). Weyermann's Carafoam has a high starch content (and enzymes) that requires enzymatic breakdown or else haze could be a problem in the finished beer (it always depend on the quantity used).

Note that the Carafoam has a lower dextrin content then Briess's CaraPils. We also have to remember that dextrine malts are used to increase body and foam stability without affecting color or flavor. In that sense Briess (1.3 Lovibond, viscosity 3.7 ) is a more efficient product than Weyermann's Carafoam (1.5-2.9 Lovibond, 1.58 ). My opinion is that they are both good product that don't affect much color and flavor and help body and foam. But bottom line, I would indifferently mash or steep Briess's Carapils but I would definitively mash Weyermann's Carafoam."

[Owenbräu]

Oh, I see from where you copied and pasted that paragraph. Are you also berucha? The link no longer works.

Weyermann lists carafoam as a caramel malt, not as a base (brew) nor specialty malt. On the spec sheet, they also list it as having "gentle notes of caramel". If that's how Weyermann labels it, then that is how the American homebrew community is going to reference it. (http://www.weyermann.de/downloads/usa/W ... 6_2015.pdf)

Nowhere on the site do they reference it being undermodified, nor do they even list it as having diastatic power for that matter. Beer and brewing did an article on it a while back. The link to it seems to be missing or corrupt, but here is a repost of the article: https://hellbach.us/blog/food-drink/bee ... tood-malt/. I later found the DP on the Northern Brewer website: http://www.northernbrewer.com/weyermann-carafoam-malt/.

It would be nice to have a scan from a sac of carafoam and see what they list for DP, kolbach, viscosity, etc.

[Owenbräu]

I looked over batch analysis sheets from all of the sacs I have scanned, and I don't see any glaring viscosity differences between FM Boh Pils (1.50) and Boh Pils (1.51), nor between Pilsner (1.50), Vienna (1.49), Munich I (1.53) and FM Boh Dark (1.56). The kolbach on all of them is 41% (±) 0.4%. I don't know why people tout it as under-modified, except that they assume too many things. Floor malting is considered the "old and traditional" method of malting, so maybe people assume that it must also require the "old and traditional' methods for mashing. This logic would suggest that maybe it is slightly under-modified, but this is purely speculative as to why people do what they do...

[lhommedieu]

Perhaps "slightly undermodified" means that beta glucanase and phytase are not entirely kilned out during the malting process?

[Owenbräu]

Would't possessing higher levels of enzymes make it over-modified?