newb question: base grain types

[barneygumbleburb]

im really confused on the different types of base malts and was hoping someone could clear this up for me.

What are the different kinds of base malts available?

Do all base malts fall into a few basic categories like pale, pilsner, or wheat? Is there some kind of outlining showing what malts are subcategories of certain styles?

Is, for example, pale malt a style of 2 row? and is marris otter just a style of a british pale malt? And is that basically just 2-row that is grown in Great Britain?

Im still a newb to all grain and have been making APAs with 2-row great western malt. I want to try some different kinds of base malts out and am utterly confused now.

thanks for any and all help.

 

[chickypad]

A lot of confusion comes from how the maltsters name their different products. 2-row and 6-row are types of barley, with 2-row being the most common source for many many of the different malts - pilsner, pale, munich, vienna, crystals, etc. Many of the North American maltsters (Great Western, Briess, Rahr, etc.) call their basic pale malt, that is usually in the 1.8-2.2 L range, "2-row". A number of them also sell a slightly darker pale ale malt in the 3-4 L range. Maris Otter is a particular variety of English 2-row barley. Then there are of course the non-barley malts made from wheat, rye, oats.