Crystal Wheat 3L: A brighter day for IPA… and other styles

By: Living a Stout Life

 

MMC (Malteurop Malting Company) recently added Crystal Wheat 3L to its Specialty Malt line-up. What’s the big deal about adding a new crystalized malt to the line-up? Plenty.

 

Crystal malts are often added to a recipe to impart sweetness and some color to a beer. This sweetness typically presents itself as flavors ranging from golden honey to rich caramel to dark toffee. Used sparingly so as not to overwhelm the palette, they also add depth and complexity.

 

By contrast, MMC’s Crystal Wheat 3L is a unique, low color crystal wheat that brings a lightly sweet character to beer with hints of honey and subtle fruit notes, while maintaining a clean finish. Crystal Wheat 3L improves head retention and helps maintain both flavor and colloidal (haze) stability, making it a brewer’s dream.

 

As beer styles like New England IPA increase in popularity, making them the best they can be, takes innovation. MMC is constantly pushing the boundaries of innovation with a strong team of researchers led by Dr. Yin Li, MMC’s North America Innovation & Research Senior Manager, who sees Crystal Wheat 3L as a revolutionary development in the craft beer world.

 

“Colloidal stability and flavor stability are the trickiest portions for New England IPAs,” said Dr. Li.

 

“Once haze loses its colloidal stability, flavor stability no longer exists. New England IPAs no longer taste as they are supposed to, especially since more and more craft brewers are putting beers into cans.”

 

Crystal Wheat 3L solves these issues and more, making it particularly suitable for New England IPAs. It’s also a valuable tool in the brewer’s quiver when it comes to styles as diverse as American IPA, American wheat beer, Belgium styles, German Weizen/Weissbier, Saison, Berliner Weisse, Gose, Weizenbock, Wheat Wine, Sour Styles, or whatever you care to create.

Key Characteristics of MMC Crystal Wheat 3L Malt

There are several key characteristics of Crystal Wheat 3L. But flavor and color are only part of the story.

Light, Clean Sweetness

Even most lighter malts have a biscuit or bread-like flavor to them, but Crystal Wheat 3L provides a light honey, lightly fruity sweetness that doesn’t compete with the hops and the yeast in a beer. In fact, this light sweetness provides a stage upon which hop and yeast character can dance across your tongue.

 

“It’s really clean. I love the way it presents itself in the aroma. I feel that it adds such a clean candy-like sweetness to the hop aroma.” said Big Timber Brewing’s Matt Kwasniewski, who was an early adopter of Crystal Wheat 3L.

Colloidal (Haze) Stability

“Where does the haze come from? Haze is made by protein-polyphenol complexes (protein from malts and polyphenol from hops). Crystal Wheat 3L provides some haze to a New England IPA, but the haze created by Crystal Wheat 3L and dry-hopping is more stable (slowing haze drop out from suspension),” Dr. Li explained.

 

Crystal Wheat 3L improves this colloidal stability, providing for a more consistent haziness over the life of the beer. With the high crystallization of Crystal Wheat 3L, it provides a haziness that glows when compared to the milky haze of a more typical wheat malt.

Consistent Quality, Consistent Color

Tight production controls create a highly crystallized and uniform malt for dependable results. That’s a great sales line, but what does it really mean?

 

It means that Crystal Wheat 3L is going to provide consistency from flavor to color to crystallization. This adds up to knowing that you are going to get that same light sweetness each and every time. And the color is light enough and consistent enough that you can use it in larger percentages of the grist bill, even in lighter colored beers. It won’t create that opaque milky cloud, but more of a hazy glow in the beer.

Mouthfeel and Head Retention

In addition to stabilizing the flavor and appearance of the beer, Crystal Wheat 3L also improves head retention and provides for a more structured body and velvety mouthfeel. It’s perfect for a beer that imparts a lot of flavor during the drink, but finishes clean.

Crystal Wheat 3L Malt applied in the brewhouse

 

New England style IPAs aren’t going away anytime soon. The Brewers Association notes that not only is the style here to stay, juicy and hazy IPAs are forging new inroads into key demographics for craft beer brewers.

 

According to Bart Watson, the Brewers Association’s Chief Economist, “This IPA sub style is being driven by numerous demographics. In our annual survey, female drinkers and drinkers ages 21-25, 21-34, and 35-44 all said they were more interested in this style. That’s a recipe for continued growth.”

 

We have talked a lot about New England IPAs. That’s in large part because it is the perfect platform for Crystal Wheat 3L to maximize its effectiveness. It’s also an important style for a brewer’s business. But there are many more beer styles that benefit from this unique specialty malt.

 

Any wheat beer would benefit from the colloidal stability of Crystal Wheat 3L for a more consistent haze. And any style can benefit from the light sweetness that allows the other elements of the beer to shine through.

 

Yeast is a strong flavor component for Belgian beers and for styles like hefeweizen and saison. Crystal Wheat 3L doesn’t compete with those flavors, but amplifies them, while still providing stability, body, mouthfeel, and head retention.

 

“Crystal Wheat makes the hops shine through as more juicy, like adding sugar to a piece of fruit, it makes the flavor pop a little more,” said Big Timber Brewing’s Kwasniewski.

 

“I am excited by how versatile Crystal Wheat 3L could be, propping up the sweetness in beers when you’re trying to avoid the extra flavor components.”

 

Trends also indicate that many craft drinkers, particularly in the younger demographics, are seeking lower alcohol, lower calories, and more sessionable beers. With no enzyme activities, Crystal Wheat 3L can be a tremendous malt to impart sweetness, bolstering the flavor of sessionable beers which can fall a little flat on the flavor front, without amping up the alcohol content.

 

Let the Crystal Wheat 3L revolution begin!

There is always room for the newest, wildest style developments in craft beer. After all, craft beer is renowned for pushing the envelope of what a beer is and what it can be. But as the craft beer community matures, so do the palettes of drinkers.

 

That means that we, in the craft beer industry, have to refine our approach to the styles that these more educated drinkers demand. So while Crystal Wheat 3L can easily be used in any style a brewer can dream up, it is the perfect malt to aid in making the beers we know and love better.

 

MMC innovates to make the brewer’s job easier. Crystal Wheat 3L is a milestone in specialty malts that provides a unique product that delivers on color, flavor, colloidal stability, head retention, mouthfeel, and quality.

 

Whether you are brewing your best New England IPA, creating a line-up of Belgian styles, brewing the perfect wheat beer, or creating a complex wheat wine, Crystal Wheat 3L is a revolutionary malt for any brewer.

 

Crystal Wheat 3L Technical Specifications

• Moisture: 6.5 maximum
• Color (Lovibond): 2.63 to 3.37
• Color (SRM): 2.8 to 3.8
• Fine Grind Extract, Dry Basis: 83.0 minimum
• Total Protein: 12.5 maximum
• Crystallization: >95%
• Flavor: Light honey, light fruity, clean