All Caramel Malts Aren’t the Same: Caramünich vs CaraAroma (Split-Batch Beer Experiment)
All Caramel Malts Aren’t the Same 🍺
Caramünich vs CaraAroma – A Split-Batch Experiment
Caramel malts often get treated like interchangeable ingredients.
Need some color? Grab a caramel malt.
Want sweetness? Same thing, right?
Well… not quite.
In this experiment, I brewed one all-grain base wort, split it into multiple batches, and changed only one variable:
Caramünich Type I vs CaraAroma — two very interesting specialty malts.
Plus a control beer with no additional caramel malt at all
(the base wort for all three beers contains 99% Pilsner malt and 1% Carafa Special III).
All for science… obviously.
Everything else stayed the same.
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Same yeast: Angel Yeast A01 American Ale
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Same hops: fresh-picked Hallertauer Mittelfrüh, homegrown in my own garden 🌱
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Same fermentation targets
And yet — the final beers turned out dramatically different.
🎥 Watch the Full Video
If you want to see the entire process, tasting, and side-by-side comparison, you can watch the full video here:
👉 Watch on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/IX2aEFobPQQ
The Setup: Keeping It Fair
To really understand what each caramel malt brings to the table, everything else had to stay identical.
Key parameters:
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All-grain brew
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Single base wort
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Same hop schedule
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Same yeast & fermentation profile
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Split batch after both the mash and the boil
The Caramel Malts
Caramünich Type I
Known for:
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Rich caramel sweetness
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Bread crust and toffee notes
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Classic amber to copper color
CaraAroma
Known for:
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Deep color impact
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Dark caramel, raisin, dried fruit
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Much more intense malt character
Wort & Color Differences
Once the beers were finished and poured, the color differences were impossible to ignore.
The CaraAroma beer ended up noticeably darker, while the Caramünich version leaned more toward a warm amber-red.
Same base wort — very different visual results.
Fermentation Details
Both caramel malt beers were fermented using the iGulu system, allowing for precise temperature control and repeatability.
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Caramünich was fermented in the iGulu F1
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CaraAroma was fermented in the iGulu S1
The control beer was fermented in a 9-liter mini keg, with:
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Temperature control via INKBIRD
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A heating mat
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Pressure control using a Spund-IT spunding valve
Fermentation schedule:
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2 days @ 22°C / 71.6°F
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3 days @ 23°C / 73.4°F
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5 days @ 25°C / 77°F
Yeast Choice
Huge thanks to Angel Yeast for sponsoring this video and helping me continue making these kinds of experiments
For all three beers, I used Angel Yeast A01, a clean American ale yeast that stays out of the way and lets malt and hops do the talking — exactly what you want in a comparison like this.
If you want to check out their full brewing lineup, have a look here:
👉 Angel Yeast Brewing Products:
https://bit.ly/Brewing-AngelYeast
Rock-solid yeast for both experiments and everyday brewing.
Balance & Bitterness — A Sweet Boi Needs Bite
The reduction technique leaves behind more unfermentable sugars, so the beer comes out sweeter and richer. It tastes fantastic — honestly gorgeous — but it could use a bit more bitterness to balance the depth of the malt.
If you’re brewing something British, Irish, or you simply want malt to take center stage…
CaraAroma is your malt.
The Pour & First Impressions
At first glance, the beers already told different stories:
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Caramünich: warmer amber tones
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CaraAroma: darker, richer, almost like an Irish red ale
The control beer landed exactly where you’d expect — clean, paler, and neutral.
The Taste Test 🍻
This is where things really got interesting.
Caramünich Type I
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Smooth caramel sweetness
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Balanced and very drinkable
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Feels classic and versatile
CaraAroma
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Bold malt presence
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Dark fruit and deep caramel
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Absolutely screaming of toffee
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Much more expressive — almost pushing into specialty-beer territory
Control Beer
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Clean and simple
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More of a Swedish “knäckebröd” vibe
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A great baseline to really highlight what the caramel malts are doing
Same recipe. Same process.
Totally different beers.
Want the Full Recipes?
If you’re looking for the full recipes, I’ve done dedicated videos and blog posts for each beer, where I go much deeper into the specialty malts, malt bill, process, and final result.
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CaraAroma Beer – Full Breakdown:
https://youtu.be/Jaaoc5-M5_Y -
Caramünich Type I Beer – Full Breakdown:
https://youtu.be/UH1nfR3_9Nw
Related Videos You Might Enjoy
🌿 Harvesting My Homegrown Hops:
https://youtu.be/hWK7d6mMRcc
🍺 Full Grain-to-Glass Base Wort Video:
https://youtu.be/S3VN6gjl_8g
🤖 Brewing & Fermenting with the iGulu System:
https://youtu.be/DDM1lN271bc
Final Thoughts
This experiment could completely change how we think about caramel malts.
They’re not just about color.
They’re not interchangeable.
And they can absolutely define the character of a beer.
If you’ve been treating caramel malts as “close enough — just by EBC or SRM,” I highly recommend trying a split batch like this yourself…
or, of course, keep enjoying my ongoing exBEERiments 😄
🍻 Want to support more experiments like this?
You can also check out my Patreon, where you help make these deep dives possible — and get some extra behind-the-scenes brewing goodness along the way.
DrHans Out! 🍺
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