Sorghum Base Malt Profiles
Each claim is marked by how well it's supported: Record (measured in Bard's production or by a lab), Supported direction (a sorghum study points the same way), or Proposed (reasoned from the pages cited). These profiles assume a non-tannin (Type I) sorghum, which is what every malting schedule on this site assumes. The flavour words are the ones in the sensory lexicon.
Bases by beer
Start from the glass, the same way the roast profiles do. The base carries the beer; the roast changes what it says.
| Beer | Base to reach for | Why | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pilsner, helles, Kölsch-style, golden lager | Pale · Red for more flavour, or Pale · White for the palest colour and the most extract | Bard's was brewing on red when its flagship's lab panel read "bright pale gold" at 3.1 SRM. The site's golden-lager recipe is 100% pale sorghum malt at about 5 SRM | Nothing to hide behind. Base flavour is the beer here |
| Pale ale, IPA | Pale · Red | More grain flavour under the hops | Haze from a slow-filtering lot |
| Amber, red, Märzen | Pale · Red, with the roast on top, or a light roast as the whole grist | Red brings some colour from the base, so the roast can concentrate on flavour | Asking the base to reach amber by itself. At 1–2 SRM it can't |
| Brown, porter, stout | Either. The roast carries colour and most of the flavour | White's extract means less grain for the same gravity in a stronger beer | A weak base under heavy roast: "Roast on top of emptiness is not a malt profile" |
The pairings are Proposed, reasoned from the record below. The quote is from base and roasted sorghum malt.
What actually differs between base malts
These are the numbers that change a beer. The side-by-side comes from one brewing laboratory's March 2019 analysis of three of Bard's production malts, so the three are directly comparable (full dataset).
| White | Red | Second red ("Clays Red") | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fine extract, dry basis | 76.8% | 68.8% | 66.8% |
| Colour | 1.0 SRM | 1.77 SRM | 2.08 SRM |
| Total protein | 8.7% | 11.8% | 9.5% |
| FAN | 57 mg/L | 87 mg/L | 46 mg/L |
| Filtration and clarity | Normal, slightly hazy | Normal, slightly hazy | Slow, hazy |
| Diastatic power, α-amylase | Below the method's limit | Below the method's limit | Below the method's limit |
What each one does in the beer:
What "n" counts here. The screening figures pool the two published screening datasets: the 2002–2004 screenings (74 rows) and the Madison screening (50 rows, 25 cultivars at two germination lengths) — 124 rows. Where n = 127, the three 2019 production malts are included with them. Rows, not unique cultivars: the Madison set measures each cultivar twice, and the 2004 sheet re-lists 20 earlier entries.
| Property | What it changes | Range across the sorghum malts this site publishes | Support |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grain colour (red or white) | Base colour and, in Bard's tasting, flavour. It doesn't tell you tannin class: "pericarp color is not the test" | — | Record for Bard's; the studies below disagree on what colour class predicts |
| Tannin class | Tannin sorghum binds the enzymes and brings astringency | Out of scope: these profiles assume Type I | Supported direction |
| Extract | How much grain the recipe needs for its gravity | 66.8–76.8% for the three production malts; 29.9–75.5% across the 124 pooled screening rows | Record |
| Colour | Base-malt territory only. Colour past gold comes from a roast | 0.9–2.1 SRM (six lab reports) | Record |
| Protein | "Higher is not better — it trades against extract" | 8.5–18.1% across the 124 screening rows plus the three production malts (n = 127) | Record |
| FAN | The yeast's food, and the number that sets the nutrient plan. Grain colour doesn't predict it: the two reds read 87 and 46 | 46–194 mg/L, same 127 (screenings 59–194; the production malts 46, 57 and 87) | Record |
| Filtration and haze | How the mash runs off, and how bright the beer can get | 51 of the 124 screening worts scored 1, the clear end of the 1–3 scale | Record |
| Enzymes | Descriptive only. External enzymes own conversion in this process, so don't reject a base for low diastatic power | 19–46 °ASBC across the 50 Madison rows; the production malts read below 20 °Lintner | Record |
Ranges and the protein quote are from reading a malt certificate of analysis, which explains each line of the sheet.
If the explorer does not load, open it directly at the sorghum base lot explorer.
The common base types
| Type | What it is | Leans toward | Beers it builds | Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pale · White | Non-tannin white grain, kilned to a 185°F (85°C) finish | The palest colour, the most extract, the lowest protein | The palest golden beers, and strong beers where extract counts | Record for the numbers · flavour proposed |
| Pale · Red | Non-tannin red grain, same kiln | More grain flavour, a little colour, more protein; FAN depends on the lot | Golden to amber beers; the base under most roasts | Record: Bard's production base from December 2018 |
Both are Pale on the roast ladder: kilned, not roasted. Grain, cooked sorghum and an earthy edge, and no roast character.
Why Bard's went red
Bard's ran a long-lived production cultivar, Ivory 7, for roughly fourteen years in Craig's account. In September 2018 "the wort from the white malt ran 1.6 °L against an SRM 11 target", and by December 2018 the contract brewery was brewing on 100% red sorghum malt (Blue Milo #4 and Ivory 7).
In spring 2019 Bard's malted seven red candidates and compared them against Ivory 7 at an independent lab. "Every red is below Ivory 7 on starch; every red is ahead on flavor." Bard's chose the red Blue Milo #4 anyway, "because flavor was the goal". Craig puts the gain at roughly 15%, an explicitly subjective estimate. Two months after the contract brewery went to 100% red, the flagship's lab panel read 3.1 SRM, "bright pale gold" (the reliable mash). On that record, red didn't cost the beer its colour.
What the research adds. The flavour case for red rests on Bard's own tasting. The studies measure something else:
- A screen of 24 red and white hybrids found "white hybrids showed better brewing potential", but its criteria were diastatic power and β-amylase first, the enzyme measures this site's process doesn't rely on (Garzón & Drago 2018, in the malt evaluation standard).
- Testing across 22 cultivars showed "simple color-class generalizations were insufficient" (Swanston et al. 1994, in cultivars for malting).
- The same page's own caution: "Red grain alone does not prove better brewing performance", and white grain alone "does not prove cleaner flavor or better conversion".
So name the cultivar as well as the colour. Colour is a starting description, and the lot's numbers and taste finish it.
Leans: other ways to build a base
A lean is a base built a particular way on purpose. Some are Bard's way of doing it, some are what the research points to. None is the only way. Write it the same way as a custom roast: a type plus a lean.
| Lean | What it is | What it changes | Who's done it | Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pale · Red, flavour-first cultivar | Choose the red that tastes best, even against better starch numbers | More flavour, some extract given up | Bard's, choosing Blue Milo #4 over Ivory 7 | Record |
| Light roast as the whole grist | A light roast carried at base proportions | Colour and a toasted centre without a separate specialty malt | The site's Oktoberfest recipe is 100% "Vienna roast" (guidance); Tavern Ale was 90% "Vienna roast (house standard)" (from Craig's memory) | Guidance and memory |
| Red in the base for colour | Let the base carry part of the colour, and the roast carry the flavour | The roast doesn't have to do both jobs | Bard's: "red sorghum malt correcting color in the base, with the roasted malt carried as a flavor specialty on top" | Record |
| Red and white blended | Split the base between the two | Tunes colour, extract and flavour between the two columns above | — | Proposed |
| Longer germination | A fourth day in the germinator | In one 25-cultivar screen, α-amylase rose in all 25 samples and FAN rose in 20, while extract rose in 18 and fell in 7 | The Madison screening | Supported direction |
| Cool-kilned, enzyme-preserving | A kiln capped near 122°F (50°C) so the malt can convert its own starch | Keeps enzymes; gives up the colour and aroma a 185°F (85°C) finish builds | The academic malting literature. "A regime that kilns cool is not making an error, it is answering a different question" | Supported direction. Not this site's process |
How a maltster moves a base
These are the levers behind every row above. Bard's settings are one working answer; the other column is what the research and screening used.
| Lever | Bard's production | The other setting on record | What it moves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Germination temperature | 82°F (28°C), never reaching 86°F (30°C) (germinating sorghum) | 75°F (24°C), the measured β-amylase optimum, used as the screening reference | Enzyme development against growth speed |
| Germination length | About 4–5 days, ending when the acrospire reaches roughly full kernel length | About 72 hours in the reference schedule; α-amylase peaks at 96 hours and falls after 120 | Enzymes, FAN, extract, and malting loss |
| Kiln finish | Five stages to 185°F (85°C) (kilning and roasting) | Near 122°F (50°C) where the malt must convert itself | Colour, aroma and storage stability against enzyme survival |
| Cultivar | Named and identity-preserved: Ivory 7, then Blue Milo #4 | Screened and ranked by lot | Everything above |
The reference-schedule settings and the α-amylase peak are from the malt evaluation standard. The site's position for this process: "External enzymes own conversion. That frees the maltster to make the best malt for the beer" (kilning and roasting).
Ordering a base
Name the type and the lean, then ask for the numbers that change the beer: extract with its method, colour, protein, FAN, moisture, filtration and clarity, the cultivar and crop year, the tannin class, and the gluten-free documentation with its method. Ordering sorghum malt walks through the whole order.
Names you'll hear
| You'll hear | What it means here |
|---|---|
| Pale sorghum malt | The base: kilned, not roasted. The site's recipes use it for everything that isn't a roast |
| Red, white sorghum malt | Grain colour, which describes the base. Not a roast level, and not a tannin test |
| Ivory 7, Blue Milo #4 | Bard's private-label names for its production cultivars. Ivory 7 was Fontanelle 5040C; Blue Milo #4's hybrid identity is confidential |
| Vienna roast | A light roast. The site's recipes use it as the whole grist, a lean on the base |
| Clays Red | The lab's label for one 2019 red malt |
| Tannin sorghum, bird-resistant | Types II and III. Outside these profiles |
Related
- Sorghum Malt Roast Profiles: what goes on top of the base
- Reading a Malt Certificate of Analysis: every number on the sheet
- Blue Milo #4 and Ivory 7: the cultivar decision in full
- Cultivars for Malting
- Tannin and Non-Tannin Sorghum
- Ordering Sorghum Malt