by maccas9393 » Tuesday May 01, 2007 9:37 am
I have used JW, MO, and Powells products:
Powells is indeed a floor maltings. If you're ever in Romsey pay Grant a visit.
Powells ale has more flavour than JW and a bit more colour. If you want more richness, use the vienna (Holgate does!) or Munich. Their Caramalt is biscuity but not as richly coloured or sweet as a crystal 135 say.
They also have a melanoidin which adds the nice red colour to a bitter, but isn't as sweet as trad crystal/cara's. They also do wheat malts sometimes (They are rather small so you have to purchase what you can at the door)
And the price differential is a lot! For me, even better, as I live about 10 km from the maltings, so I get 50kg for about 75-80$.
But to heck with price, and efficiency. You are going to quibble about a buck or two per 23 litre batch??? Get what you like.
So far, I vote for Powells for flavour, particularly if you use vienna malt. Bril!