Have you brewed with Caracrystal® Wheat Malt yet? I like it because it’s so different than other Briess caramel malts. It’s complex—sweet, smooth, malty, bready, subtle caramel, dark toast—and finishes very clean. I decided to brew an Abbey Ale to showcase the malt. After tasting this beer you see how it would work well in small quantities in lighter-flavored beers and larger quantities in full, rich flavored beers. It’s a fun malt.
This recipe appeared as a tear-out recipe card in the Jan-Feb issue of Brew Your Own magazine, because January is normally when this Briess specialty malt becomes available for six months. This is an all-grain beer recipe, but extract brewers can get great results with Caracrystal® Wheat using standard steeping techniques. Happy brewing!
Caracrystal® Abbey Ale
- Type: Ale
- Style: Abbey Ale
- Batch Size: 5 gallons
- Recipe Type: All Grain
- Recipe Contributed By: Briess Technical Services Team
Ingredients
- 8 lbs—Briess Pale Ale Malt
- 1 lb—Briess Caracrystal® Wheat Malt
- 0.5 lb—Briess Aromatic Malt
- 0.25 lb—Briess Carapils® Malt
- 1 lb—Belgian Candi Sugar
- 1 oz—Spalter Select (5.0% AA hop)—60 minute boil
- 0.5 oz—Spalter Select (5.0% AA hop)—10 minute boil
- 0.5 oz—Galena (12.0% AA hop)—10 minute boil
- 2 vials—WLP530 Abbey Ale Yeast
- 1 capsule—Servomyces Yeast Nutrient—10 minute boil
Procedures
- Mash at 148-152ºF for 60 minutes
- Heat to 170ºF
- Lauter
- Boil with bittering hops for 50 minutes
- Add second hop addition and sugar. Boil for 10 minutes.
- Cool to 70ºF. Oxygenate wort.
- Pitch 2 vials WLP530 Abbey Ale Yeast
Fermentation
- Primary Fermentation: 2 weeks at 70ºF
- Secondary Fermentation: 4-6 weeks
- Fermentation Notes: Bottle condition or force carbonate
Stats
- Original Gravity: 1.061
- Final Gravity: 1.013
- Alcohol by Weight: 4.9%
- Alcohol by Volume: 6.2%
- IBU: 24
- Color: 13 SRM