Seth from Mecca Grade kindly responded to my email. Here's his description of the Opal 44.
Thanks for sharing this with me and for the kind words! Hopefully I can answer your questions about our Opal malt.
Opal is a “toffee” malt, something that we came up with. It’s not a caramel or a crystal malt, which are two different products and are oftentimes used interchangeably by brewers (even though they probably shouldn’t be). Crystal malts are made in giant roasting machines with green malt being blasted by extremely hot temps to crystalize the starches within the kernel. Caramel malts are similarly bombarded by high temps to bring grain beds up to saccarification temperatures, stewing the grain and essentially creating a mash step within each kernel.
We steep, germinate, and kiln within one vessel…a giant machine we designed that we call a “mechanical floor malter.” Because we do all the processes of malting in one machine, it is called a “uni-malter.” This gives us a ridiculous amount of control over the entire batch, but limits us from being able to roast in the machine. We can’t exceed applied air temps of 240 F because we will start warping the plastic guides and even stainless steel.
What we do instead is close up both the intake and exhaust ports in the machine and turn it into a giant sweat box for 24 hours. Hot and sticky air is allowed to recirculate, bringing the grain bed up to near sacc temps of 140 F. We then switch to a more normal high kilning schedule, with the hot air browning those precursors we formed during the stewing process.
I figured the best word would be “toffee” malt to describe the flavor. I sought to make a super-melanoiden malt that wasn't syrupy-sweet like conventional caramel malts. You get all the richness of flavor, but the malt will dry out in the beer. For this reason it’s been very popular in replacing caramel malts in traditional recipes for pale ales and IPAs.
Yes, you can use Opal at 100%, but this is something that distillers are playing with more than brewers. The diastatic power on both Opals we make is above 40, so they will self-convert. Most of the enzymes in caramel and crystal malts are destroyed by the extreme heat. I’m hoping to make a 100% Opal 22 barleywine this week and I will keep you posted on my efforts
Thanks for sharing this with me and for the kind words! Hopefully I can answer your questions about our Opal malt.
Opal is a “toffee” malt, something that we came up with. It’s not a caramel or a crystal malt, which are two different products and are oftentimes used interchangeably by brewers (even though they probably shouldn’t be). Crystal malts are made in giant roasting machines with green malt being blasted by extremely hot temps to crystalize the starches within the kernel. Caramel malts are similarly bombarded by high temps to bring grain beds up to saccarification temperatures, stewing the grain and essentially creating a mash step within each kernel.
We steep, germinate, and kiln within one vessel…a giant machine we designed that we call a “mechanical floor malter.” Because we do all the processes of malting in one machine, it is called a “uni-malter.” This gives us a ridiculous amount of control over the entire batch, but limits us from being able to roast in the machine. We can’t exceed applied air temps of 240 F because we will start warping the plastic guides and even stainless steel.
What we do instead is close up both the intake and exhaust ports in the machine and turn it into a giant sweat box for 24 hours. Hot and sticky air is allowed to recirculate, bringing the grain bed up to near sacc temps of 140 F. We then switch to a more normal high kilning schedule, with the hot air browning those precursors we formed during the stewing process.
I figured the best word would be “toffee” malt to describe the flavor. I sought to make a super-melanoiden malt that wasn't syrupy-sweet like conventional caramel malts. You get all the richness of flavor, but the malt will dry out in the beer. For this reason it’s been very popular in replacing caramel malts in traditional recipes for pale ales and IPAs.
Yes, you can use Opal at 100%, but this is something that distillers are playing with more than brewers. The diastatic power on both Opals we make is above 40, so they will self-convert. Most of the enzymes in caramel and crystal malts are destroyed by the extreme heat. I’m hoping to make a 100% Opal 22 barleywine this week and I will keep you posted on my efforts
Are these foreign-language words?
. It makes me want to get some Opal 44 and give it a try. I think the toffee character would be nice in a Mild or Brown ale.
