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New German Maltster in Town, Avangard

Mashing
#1

I heard theres a new German maltster distributing in the US now, they are called Avangard. They’ve been in business since 2006 and claim to be the largest maltster in Germany, with four locations. apparently they are just coming into the US because nobody I know had heard of them before this month. They are pricing competitively here at first, so if they are producing quality malt then it is something to consider alongside with Weyermann, Best, and Durst. The only down side I saw is they are owned by a bank, and I have an aversion to an outfit that makes their decisions solely based on money. Not saying this is the case here, we’ll find out soon enough if the quality is there.

So, anyone used some of this malt? I see they have a pils, a light Munich and some crystals. I’ll probably get sacks of the two base malts here in the next couple of weeks.

#2

I’m betting you won’t get many responses. I saw the thread on the AHA forum. I’ll probably stick with Weyermann or Best for the time being. I wish Northern Brewer carried Durst, would like to try it sometime.

#3

Yeah this mostly just a heads up for people. LD Carlson is carrying it so a lot of small LHBSs will be selling them soon.

#4

I’ve been by the plant in Koblenz, Germany.

They supply malt for the nearby Koblenzer brewery as well as a few small brewpubs in the city.

The way I see it, has anyone ever come across a bad German malt?

#5

That’s kind of how I feel about our host being owned by a venture capital firm.

#6

OK I placed my order for a sack of pils and a sack of Munich (55lb). $45 apiece from the LHBS, this is even cheaper than the price they get for Briess base malt and its much cheaper than any of the other imported malts. Also ordered a pound of Hallertau, so it’ll be German lager time soon. Should get the order by end of next week.

#7

[quote=“brewingdan”]

The way I see it, has anyone ever come across a bad German malt?[/quote]

I completely agree with this sentiment. Seems like you can’t go wrong.

My LHBS did set me up with some of this malt, 10 lbs of Pilsner and Munich. I look forward to trying something new.

#8

Hey Lennie, let us know what you think about that malt, looks like a really good price.

#9

Sure and if anyone tries it be sure and comment.

#10

I just ordered a bag of pilsner - want to try some belgians with it. It’s cheaper than Briess and cheaper than Best Malz…even at wholesale so we’ll see.

The one thing I would worry about is if I go with it…and then the prices go up after the “promotional” period is over. Like someone said before - this will start showing up in LHBSs and if it’s decent…it’ll be the go to malt for belgian ales, lagers…etc. I’m looking forward to see what quality it is. If it’s good enough, I may convince our brewmaster to change the recipes in using it over Briess. As long as the quality it there, I love competition.

#11

I’m guessing this is an introductory price and it’ll go up after they see some sales. But in the meantime, I’ll enjoy the price point. I use more 2-row than pils though.

#12

Splitting a sack of Avangard Munich with a friend. We’ll see. Sounds like a good malt.
Let’s check these malts out and find out. I’m curios about the Pils myself.

If these malts are good to great then it just made homebrewing a lot tastier.
Of coarse one malt might shine over another malt. Not sure why but it seems to happen.

I do like that a new Malster is in town. About time.

#13

Got the sacks in Thursday, pils and a light Munich that’s around 7SRM (15 EBC). Used the pils today, 27.5lb plus a pound of flaked barley for a 15gal batch of German pils. The malt was average plumpness and had a sweet bready flavor. I ran a single infusion mash at 149F and let it rest for 2hr per Ken Lenard’s recipe. The big surprise came from the efficiency, I usually expect 75% efficiency, but with this I got 84%. I read a few other posts that mentioned a higher than average efficiency so I suppose this malt is must either have more starch or is maybe lower in protein. I did notice the mash wasn’t as gummy as some pils mashes, the hot/cold break was pretty heavy though and that is normal for pils.

I chilled and whirlpooled the wort, it’s settling now and then into the fermenter it goes.

#14

I was 10% higher in efficiency when I brewed with this. My G-Pils is going to have a little more kick.

It was an interesting pale yellow. I kegged my batch this weekend, looking forward to trying in about a month.

#15

Still not in yet at the LHBS.

#16

Just wanted to add that I’ve also experienced about 10% higher extraction with the Avangard Pils. I bought a sack each of Pils and Munich, and 10lb of their Wheat.

I’ve made a Czech Pils with 98.2% Avangard Pils and 1.8% acid malt which is currently lagering, but it tasted awesome when I racked it to the keg.

I don’t have anything negative to say about it - as far as I can tell it tastes pretty much like Durst but cheaper and with better efficency.

#17

[quote=“QuercusMax”]Just wanted to add that I’ve also experienced about 10% higher extraction with the Avangard Pils. I bought a sack each of Pils and Munich, and 10lb of their Wheat.

I’ve made a Czech Pils with 98.2% Avangard Pils and 1.8% acid malt which is currently lagering, but it tasted awesome when I racked it to the keg.

I don’t have anything negative to say about it - as far as I can tell it tastes pretty much like Durst but cheaper and with better efficency.[/quote]
Nice. Thanks for sharing.

#18

I kegged my 18gal batch of pils a couple of days ago. I had carbonated and lagered it in the conical so it was ready to go at this point.

My initial assessment is as follows: the color was a light gold, clarity wasn’t great but I’ll let the yeast re-settle before I consider using gelatin or filtering. The malt flavor was your typical lightly sweet grainy character of a German pils malt, it stood up to the 35IBU nicely. I made this beer on the low end of the OG range for the style (1.044) so its light and drinkable but not thin or watered down. I also pitched warmer than I wanted and only ran the fermentation at 55F, although this was done using pressurized fermentation. Fortunately I got a clean flavor, very little sulfur and low esters. All in all I’m happy with the malt, and the beer.

I’m trying out the Avangard Munich now. I put a 12gal batch of dopplebock on the yeast cake, the tap water is really cold right now so I got this batch down to 55F for pitching and its running at 50F just to be sure it’ll stay cool as it takes off. Its OG 1.075. I used the Munich as my only base malt, along with 15% of 60L crystal, 2.5% pale chocolate and 2.5% melanoidin. 25IBU of Merkur, I think I’ve gone too low on bittering some of my previous attempts at this style. My only concern is that I had the yeast at 25psi for quite awhile in the pils, I let the pressure down slow but I worry it might have autolysed. We’ll see.

#19

Definitely experienced a boost in starting points with this brand of malt. Waiting still to taste it in the finished beer…

#20

Update, the doppelbock is my best effort with this style to date. The Munich malt seems to be good quality, I will be purchasing this brand again. I see they also have apple ale malt, and crystal malts.not sure I will be buying the pale ale malt.

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