OPTIMA Colouring Rye Malt

A dark-coloured malt produced from rye malt. It gives the beer a black colour and aromas of ash, heavily roasted coffee and chocolate. When used in larger amounts, it makes the beer black, opaque, with ruby reflections. A small addition (up to 5 percent) gives the beer a red or reddish-brown colour, specific to British bitters.

It shouldn’t make up more than 10 percent of the grist. The intense colouring malt aroma in beer is usually undesirable. Therefore, in order to avoid ashy notes, it is most often added at the end of mashing or extracted in cold water, to which it imparts an intense colour. Rye colouring malt is distinguished from barley colouring malt by spicy roasted notes reminiscent of pumpernickel bread. It works best with dark and red beers.