Ask Mr. Wizard

A Look Inside Crystal Malts

TroubleShooting

Morrey Thomas — South Carolina asks,
Q

In an article I recently read online (from the September 2000 issue), you discussed caramel/crystal malts and the fact that these malts offer non-fermentable sugar chains. Does the addition of caramel/crystal malts offer any fermentable sugar at all, or does the stewing and kilning process render all of the sugars non-fermentable?

A
Morrey, thanks for letting me know that my material from 2000 is still being read today! Crystal, also known as caramel malts, do contain a mixture of fermentable sugars, non-fermentable Maillard reaction
Response by Ashton Lewis.