Crystal 50
Riverbend Crystal 50 is a mid-range crystal malt made from 2-row barley and crystallized by Riverbend's proprietary kilning process. At 45 to 55 SRM it sits in the most-used band of the crystal spectrum, dark enough to matter and light enough to use freely.
The character is syrupy-smooth toffee moving into coffee and dark chocolate. This is the malt that gives an American pale ale its amber color and caramel spine, and it rounds out an English brown ale without tipping it into roast.
Using Crystal 50
- Riverbend publishes 5 to 25% of the grist, the widest of their crystal malts.
- At 5 to 8% it brings amber color and light caramel to an American pale ale.
- At 10 to 20% the toffee and chocolate become a full presence, which suits brown ales and darker ambers.
- No enzymes. Pair it with a base malt carrying the diastatic power for the grist.
Styles: American pale ale, English brown ale, amber ale, red ale, porter
Specifications
| Grain | 2-row barley, crystallized |
|---|---|
| Color | 45 to 55 SRM |
| Max usage rate | 5 to 25% of grist |
| Extract (FG, dry basis) | Over 76% |
| Protein | 10.2% |
| Diastatic power | None, requires a base malt |
| Bag size | 50 lb |
About Riverbend Malt House
Brent Manning and Brian Simpson founded Riverbend in Asheville in 2010, the first craft malt house east of the Mississippi. It is now the first Certified Regenified malt house in the world. Grain comes from family-owned farms inside roughly a 500-mile radius of Asheville, across North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia and Florida. They still hand-rake grain on a traditional malting floor alongside modern germination-kiln vessels, and in 2025 they supplied more than 300 breweries and distilleries.