exBEERiment | Impact Curing Toasted Malt Has On A Märzen

Author: Alex Shanks-Abel

Modern brewers have ample access to a wide variety of beer ingredients, allowing for the production many styles with relatively little work outside of the standard brewing process. However, some still enjoy engaging in certain DIY aspects of this hobby like, for example, making home-toasted malts, which is a rather easy way to contribute unique characteristics to beer.

While toasting malt typically requires less than an hour of time in a hot oven, it’s widely held that such malts should be cured before use, as undesirable volatile flavor compounds are produced during the toasting process. Indeed, in How To Brew, author John Palmer recommends curing toasted malt for a minimum of 2 weeks in order to allow these harsh flavors to mellow out, though he notes some maltsters cure their malt for 6 weeks or more.

I’m by no means an expert in malting, and while I usually use malt in the condition I received it from the maltster, I’ve had some success toasting my own for certain styles. In the handful of times I’ve done this, I’ve always let the toasted malt cure in a paper bag for a couple weeks, admittedly based off of the aforementioned recommendation. However, while planning a recent home-toasting session, I wondered how important the curing process really is and designed an xBmt to see for myself.

| PURPOSE |

To evaluate the differences between a Märzen made with home-toasted malt that was cured for 5 months and one where the home-toasted malt was not cured.

| METHODS |

For this xBmt, I designed a simple Märzen recipe that included a decent portion of home-toasted malt.

Marzo

My preparations for this xBmt began 5 months prior to brewing when I toasted a batch of Pilsner malt by spreading it out on baking trays then leaving them in a 300°F/150°C oven for 1 hour before placing the cooled grains in a brown paper bag for extended curing; this same exact process sans the curing step was repeated the morning of brew day.

With the toasted malts ready for use, I collected identical volumes of RO water in separate BrewZilla units, adjusted each to my desired mineral profile, then set the controllers to heat them up, at which point I milled the grains.

Once the water for each batch was adequately heated, I incorporated the grains then checked to make sure both were at the same target mash temperature.

Once each 60 minute mash was complete, I removed the grains then boiled the worts for 60 minutes, adding hops at the times listed in the recipe, before chilling and taking refractometer measurements.

After transferring identical volumes of chilled wort to sanitized fermenters, they were placed in my chamber where each was pitched with a single pouch of Imperial Yeast L09 Que Bueno.

The beers were left to ferment at 68°F/20°C for 10 days before I took hydrometer measurements confirming FG had been reached.

At this point, I cold crashed the beer overnight then pressure-transferred them to CO2 purged kegs that were placed on gas in my keezer and left to lager for 8 weeks before they were ready to serve to tasters.

| RESULTS |

A total of 21 people of varying levels of experience participated in this xBmt. Each participant was served 1 sample of the beer made with toasted malt cured for 5 months and 2 samples of the beer made with toasted malt that was not cured in different colored opaque cups then asked to identify the unique sample. In order reach statistical significance, 12 tasters (p<0.05) would have had to accurately identify the unique sample, which is precisely the number that did (p=0.02), indicating participants in this xBmt were able to reliably distinguish a Märzen made with toasted malt that was cured for 5 months from one made with toasted malt that was not cured prior to use.

The 12 participants who made the accurate selection on the triangle test were instructed to complete a brief preference survey comparing only the beers that were different. A total of 4 tasters reported preferring the beer made with the cured toasted malt, 5 said they liked the beer made with the toasted malt that wasn’t cured, 2 had no preference despite noticing a difference, and 1 person reported perceiving no difference.

My Impressions: Out of the 5 semi-blind triangle tests I attempted, I correctly identified the odd-beer-out 4 times. While I perceived both beers as having a strange nutty and bacon-like character, it was noticeably stronger in the beer made with the non-cured toasted malt. I wasn’t a huge fan of either of these beers, but I preferred the version made with cured toasted malt due to the more subtle “home-toast” characteristics.

| DISCUSSION |

There is a wide selection of malts available to brewers these days, making it easy to produce beers with a vast array of colors and flavors. While some of these malts impart notably toasty characteristics to beer, some brewers enjoy the process control of toasting their own malt to contribute an element of uniqueness, and in doing so, it’s recommended these home-toasted malts go through a curing period to reduce certain undesirable flavors. Indeed, tasters in this xBmt were able to reliably distinguish a Märzen made with toasted malt that was cured for 5 months from one made with toasted malt that was not cured prior to use.

Most recommendations for curing toasted malt are hinged on the idea that the toasting process produces volatile flavor compounds that have a rather unpleasant harsh flavor, which curing reduces. While this xBmt data provides little explanation as to what exactly tasters perceived as being different between these beers, a plausible assumption is that the version made with cured toasted malt had a more rounded, developed flavor profile.

I’ve toasted my own malt several times and always allowed them to cure for at least a month, usually longer, though always wondered if it was a necessary step. Based on both the blind taster data and my own triangle test performance, I’ll definitely be continuing to cure my home-toasted malt, as the Märzen made with freshly toasted malt was more reminiscent of a Rauchbier. While I was admittedly a bit disappointed in these results, as it’d be nice to not have to worry about curing, it’s good to know my waiting on toasted malt hasn’t been in vain.

If you have any thoughts about this xBmt, please do not hesitate to share in the comments section below!

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