# D.i.y. Toasting Malt Experiment



## SJW (2/3/09)

I know it's been done to death and t ant rocket science to stick 500g of Pale into an oven for an hour or so. But, sure thats easy if u are after an Amber or Brown type of malt but what I want to do is make a Crystal type. After reading loads of theads on here and the John Palmer book he says that roasting malt that has been soaked for an hours or so will start to convert in the water and in the oven and ten should bake the sugar onto/into the grain similar to real crystal.
This is what the great JP has to say.

_As a homebrewer, you should feel free to experiment in your kitchen with malts. Oven toasted base malt adds nutty and toasty flavor to your beer, which is a nice addition for brown ales, porters, bocks, and oktoberfests. Toasting-your-own is easy to do and the toasted grain can be used by both steeping and mashing. If steeped, the malt will contribute a high proportion of unconverted starch to the wort and the beer will be hazy, but a nice nutty toasted flavor will be evident in the final beer. There are several combinations of time and temperature that can be used in producing these special malts, so I will explain a couple of the factors that influence the flavor and describe the two methods I use.

The principal reaction that takes place when you toast malt is the browning of starches and proteins, known as the Maillard Reaction. As the starches and proteins brown, various flavor and color compounds are produced. The color compounds are called "melanoidins" and can improve the stability of beer by slowing oxidation and staling reactions as the beer ages.

Since the browning reactions are influenced by the wetness of the grain, water can be used in conjunction with the toasting process to produce different flavors in the malt. Soaking the uncrushed malt in water for an hour will provide the water necessary to optimize the Maillard browning reactions. Toasting wet malt will produce more of a caramel flavor due to partial starch conversion taking place from the heat. Toasting dry grain will produce more of a toast or Grape-Nuts cereal flavor which is perfect for nut-brown ales. 

Table 17 - Grain Toasting Times and TemperaturesTemperature
Dry/Wet
Time
Flavor

275 F
Dry
1 hour
Light nutty taste and aroma.

350 F
Dry
15 minutes
Light nutty taste and aroma.

350 F
Dry
30 minutes
Toasty, Grape-Nuts Flavor.

350 F
Dry
1 hour
More roasted flavor, very similar to commercial Brown Malt.

350 F
Wet
1 hour
Light sweet Toasty flavor.

350 F
Wet
1.5 hours
Toasted Malty, slightly sweet.

350 F
Wet
2 hours
Strong Toast/Roast flavor similar to Brown Malt.

The malt should be stored in a paper bag for 2 weeks prior to use. This will allow time for the harsher aromatics to escape. Commercial toasted malts are often aged for 6 weeks before sale. This aging is more important for the highly toasted malts, toasted for more than a half hour (dry) or 1 hour (wet)._

I would like any thoughts on when I soak the grain would it be better to soak it UNCRACKED in 70 deg C water for 1 hours or just tap water?
My plan it going to be something like this.


#1 - 500g Dry for 1/2 hour @ 135 deg C

#2 - 500g Dry for 1 hour @ 175 deg C

#3 - 500g Wet for 1 hour @ 175 deg C

#4 - 500g Wet for 2 hours @ 175 deg C

And then I was thinking of doing a Micro Mash of 90% Pale and 10% this stuff and brewing with it to see how it tastes. 
Any thoughts? I know I have too much time on my hands. I am sure the Amber/Brown and Munich style would be easy to duplicate but like JP says:

_Caramel Malts (may be steeped or mashed)

Caramel Malts have undergone a special heat "stewing" process after the malting which crystallizes the sugars. These sugars are caramelized into longer chains that are not converted into simple sugars by the enzymes during the mash. This results in a more malty, caramel sweet, fuller tasting beer. These malts are used for almost all ale and higher gravity lager styles. Various crystal malts are often added in half pound amounts to a total of 5-25% of the grain bill for a 5 gallon batch._


DIY Malt 

Batch Size: 2.50 L
Brewer: Stephen Wright 
Boil Size: 3.06 L Asst Brewer: 
Boil Time: 75 min Equipment: My Gear 
Taste Rating(out of 50): 0.0 Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 
Taste Notes: 

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU 
450.00 gm Premium Pilsner (Weyermann) (2.2 EBC) Grain 90.00 % 
50.00 gm Crystal Malt - Pale (DIY) (90.0 EBC) Grain 10.00 % 
2.00 gm Northern Brewer [6.50 %] (60 min) Hops 13.3 IBU 
1 Pkgs SafAle American Ale (US-56) (DCL Yeast #US-05) Yeast-Ale 



Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.047 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 0.000 SG 
Est Final Gravity: 1.011 SG Measured Final Gravity: 0.000 SG 
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.63 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 0.00 % 
Bitterness: 13.3 IBU Calories: 0 cal/l 
Est Color: 13.6 EBC Color: Color 


Mash Profile

Mash Name: Single Infusion, Medium Body Total Grain Weight: 500.00 gm 
Sparge Water: 2.26 L Grain Temperature: 22.2 C 
Sparge Temperature: 75.6 C TunTemperature: 22.2 C 
Adjust Temp for Equipment: TRUE Mash PH: 5.4 PH 

Single Infusion, Medium Body Step Time Name Description Step Temp 
60 min Mash In Add 1.30 L of water at 74.4 C 67.8 C


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## raven19 (2/3/09)

SJW said:


> I would like any thoughts on when I soak the grain would it be better to soak it UNCRACKED in 70 deg C water for 1 hours or just tap water?



Surely soak it uncracked, so you can compare to commercially available grains, which are also uncracked.

Cracked grains would also dry out quicker compared to uncracked - being smaller with greater surface area?



SJW said:


> Batch Size: 2.50 L



Up the batch size to 5 or 10L so you can have a few bottles for later side by side tastings, etc?

I like the strategy though. Remember the paper bag for storing!

My 2c.


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## apd (2/3/09)

raven19 said:


> Surely soak it uncracked, so you can compare to commercially available grains, which are also uncracked.



I agree. Uncracked would be best. Also, use whatever water you use to brew with. I think room temp water would be best for soaking. If you soaked it at 70*C for an hour, you're doing a mash which would convert the starches and proteins that you want to brown.



raven19 said:


> Up the batch size to 5 or 10L so you can have a few bottles for later side by side tastings, etc?



Also agree. Plus, doing a more 'normal' match size means you'll get a closer representation of your malts compared to your other brews because you'll be doing the same processes that you normally do.

Andrew


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## SJW (2/3/09)

Sorry guys, doing this cracked was never a question, I just though some clown would have to say "Make sure you do it uncracked"

As for the 2.5 litre brew size. Well I know Ideally I would do a 30 litre batch but I would hope to do it all on the stove top and maybe 2 at a time. If all goes well and I get some nice tasting Crystal type malt out of this I may not both with the Micro Mash and just rip into a nice English Bitter.
It all came about because I buy my 25kg Premium Pils and Ale malts from Mark in 25kg bags and as I mainly do German Lagers I seem to be always getting 1 and 2 kgs of Munich or a little crystal. Dont get me wrong I am not trying to save a few cents per brew or anything, just thought I would give it a go.
From what a lot on here have said it seems to work well.

Steve


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## SJW (2/3/09)

New plan.

#1 - 500g Dry for 1/2 hour @ 140 deg C

#2 - 500g Dry for 1 hour @ 180 deg C

#3 - 500g Wet (Soak for 2 hours in cold water. Then Stew in oven at 65 deg C for 1 hour. Then spread out on trays at 120 deg C for 2 hours or until dry) + 180 deg C for 1 hour after dry.

#4 - 500g Wet (Soak for 2 hours in cold water. Then Stew in oven at 65 deg C for 1 hour. Then spread out on trays at 120 deg C for 2 hours or until dry) + 180 deg C for 2 hours after dry.


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## munkigirl (2/3/09)

hello all,

i was just hoping for a little help with grain.
i have a recipe that asks for steeped grain.
i have purchased cracked grain and need to know how to steep it for a partial mash?
can anyone help?
:huh:


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## SJW (2/3/09)

> hello all,
> 
> i was just hoping for a little help with grain.
> i have a recipe that asks for steeped grain.
> ...



WT! :icon_offtopic:
Add your location to your profile so we know where u r from, then do a seach in the Partial Mashing section.
And buy a coffee plunger!

Steve


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## buttersd70 (2/3/09)

munkigirl said:


> hello all,
> 
> i was just hoping for a little help with grain.
> i have a recipe that asks for steeped grain.
> ...



link


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## Bribie G (2/3/09)

SJW I've been wondering along the same lines. I attempted a Marston Pedigree style Burton ale, with Gypsum and Epsom salts to the extreme, the right malt, the right hops etc and followed the supposedly reliable information that it is one hundred percent Maris Otter.

I ended up with the blondest of blondes and figured something was wrong but on further reflection obviously what they do is roast or toast a portion of the MO. I could have put in some bought crystal but that would probably give too much sweetness for a Pedigree attempt. Next time I'll do some toasting experiments, and soften the grain first to get a good Maillard reaction on the go.

Should be an interesting experiment however it turns out. As the TF floor malted is unavailable at the moment, it should give a bit more malt oomph to the Bairds MO or even Golden Promise.


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## MHB (2/3/09)

I think you are going to have to soak the malts that you want to crystal for a lot longer than an hour.

I suspect that overnight would be a good starting point (maybe longer), to prevent the development of Lacto and other bugs you could put the malt with a couple of times its own weight of water in a closed container in the fridge. Starting with a weighed amount, it should be fairly east to measure the moisture content, just pour it through a strainer shake it some and weigh the grain.



Crystal/Cara malt is made from green malt with a moisture content of something like 45-50%; its then raised to mashing heat (say 65C) and held for 1-1 hours, some of the starch converts into sugars.

Further heating causes milliard reactions to darken the malt. The grain should be dried as it is heated and should end up with a moisture content similar to the normal base malt (a bit higher 5-6%).



Just toasting base malt to get coloured malts is a lot easier; I think its impossible to make Munich/Vienna/Melanoidin type malt without starting with unmalted grain. Too much of what goes on in the making of these malts is tied up in the temperatures and moisture content of the corn as it malts (gets sprouted), these traits are fixed by the time we get the malt.



Sounds like fun

MHB


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## wessmith (2/3/09)

Spot on Mark.

Wes


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## muckanic (5/3/09)

My experience is that crushed malt takes about 3 hrs at room temperature to fully take-up water; uncrushed probably more.

I don't follow how any caramel would ever be achieved by starting with unmalted grain, as there wouldn't be any starch conversion enzymes around to create the sugars. The pre-soaking might allow you to achieve a higher roast before pyrolysis, if you were looking for something darker than the equivalent of brown malt (brown barley?)


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## mash head (15/3/09)

SJW said:


> New plan.
> 
> #1 - 500g Dry for 1/2 hour @ 140 deg C
> 
> ...



Bloke from brewing in the Phillipines web site explains how he has attempted to make crystal malt would be worth a look. Being a malting barley grower I have been interested in malting my self esspecialy as i only get around 30 cents per killo of un malted grain. dont know his web address but type in brewing in the Phillipines and i am sure you will find him


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## Jakechan (15/3/09)

greg simons said:


> Bloke from brewing in the Phillipines web site explains how he has attempted to make crystal malt would be worth a look. Being a malting barley grower I have been interested in malting my self esspecialy as i only get around 30 cents per killo of un malted grain. dont know his web address but type in brewing in the Phillipines and i am sure you will find him


 :icon_offtopic: 

Gday Greg,
Welcome to the forum mate. I am wondering if you are the first malting barley grower to grace the threads of AHB? Either way Im sure you are in for a right brain-picking!  And I may as well start...

Any chance you would start a new thread telling us about the grains you grow, and maybe show us some pics of the grain to whet our beery appetites?
I presume you grow for breweries, but are you brewing yourself? And what grains do you grow?

Ok, thats enough questions for now 

Cheers,
Jake


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## SJW (16/3/09)

Well I did it. I made this Porter with all DIY dark grains. I though it best just to buy the Munich. I did 2 x 0.5 kg of toasted dry malt (all uncracked of coarse) then I took 500g of pils malt and mashed it (uncracked) with 600mls of water at 67 deg C for 1 hour. Then dried it in the oven at about 120 deg C for 1.5 hours then ramped it up to about 160 deg C for another 1 hour. It came out very similar to some English Dark crystal I had and it tasted nice and sweet too. It was just luck with the colour but it turned out perfect. Nice and dark with ruby highlights when held up to light. Great caramel, nutty taste. Making the Choc malt was the best. It filled the house with a nice burnt malt smell. 
Would recomend trying this at least once.
Would not add a block of chocolate again though. I scooped off all this hard shite (fat?) in the fermenter once it cooled down. It tasted very very bitter too. But the beer turned out great, one of my best.

#88 Choc Porter 
Robust Porter 


Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 26.00 L
Brewer: Stephen Wright 
Boil Size: 31.86 L Asst Brewer: 
Boil Time: 75 min Equipment: My Gear 
Taste Rating(out of 50): 0.0 Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 
Taste Notes: 

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU 
3000.00 gm Premium Pilsner (Weyermann) (2.2 EBC) Grain 46.15 % 
2000.00 gm Munich II (Weyermann) (16.7 EBC) Grain 30.77 % 
500.00 gm Amber Malt (DIY) (43.3 EBC) Grain 7.69 % 
500.00 gm Crystal Malt - Medium (DIY (240.0 EBC) Grain 7.69 % 
300.00 gm Brown Malt (DIY) (128.1 EBC) Grain 4.62 % 
200.00 gm Chocolate Malt (DIY) (1000.8 EBC) Grain 3.08 % 
30.00 gm Pilgrim [10.80 %] (65 min) Hops 30.8 IBU 
0.50 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc 
100.00 gm Lindt 85% cacao (Boil 60.0 min) Misc 
1 Pkgs London ESB Ale (Wyeast Labs #1968) Yeast-Ale 



Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.054 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.054 SG 
Est Final Gravity: 1.016 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.015 SG 
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.93 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 5.08 % 
Bitterness: 30.8 IBU Calories: 511 cal/l 
Est Color: 53.4 EBC Color: Color 


Mash Profile

Mash Name: Single Infusion, Medium Body Total Grain Weight: 6500.00 gm 
Sparge Water: 13.37 L Grain Temperature: 20.0 C 
Sparge Temperature: 75.6 C TunTemperature: 20.0 C 
Adjust Temp for Equipment: TRUE Mash PH: 5.4 PH 

Single Infusion, Medium Body Step Time Name Description Step Temp 
60 min Mash In Add 15.00 L of water at 75.9 C 68.0 C 
10 min Mash Out Add 10.00 L of water at 90.0 C 76.0 C


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## raven19 (16/3/09)

Pretty impressive to see that you have hit your efficiencies it seems. So it worked a treat then?! Well done SJW!

Cheers!


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## dr K (16/3/09)

All the best, I would have thought that making Vienna, Munich or Crystal from grain that has already been malted, steeped, dried and processed is a similar to making blue cheese out of processed cheese, there will be some similarities. Toasting is a little different but at home (despite the sage words of Mr Palmer), something I would not choose to do.
LHBS shops buy these small use grains in bulk and re-sell, sure 500gm of Amber is expensive compared to 25kg, as it should be, and is in every other industry, be it grain, rice, flour or dried beans!!

K


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## Fourstar (16/3/09)

Be very interested to see how this turns out SJW!

Theres nothing more i respect than someone putting in the time and effort to try and do something from scratch themselves.

Cheers!


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## Mantis (17/3/09)

Yes, well done. Please post ao report on the porter when it is ready. 
I might have a go at dry roasting some to make amber and chocolate

Cheers

Mantis


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## Jakechan (17/3/09)

Great stuff SJW! Love the DIY aspect of it mate. Did you get any pics of the grains? (Im just a pic whore )

I agree about not putting real chocolate in a brew, it seems to me to be an unnecessary shortcut, same goes for coffee beans etc.

Cheers,
Jake


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## SJW (17/3/09)

Thanks guys, no photos but it just looked like the real thing  Choc was choc, crystal was sweet and golden with the dark centre. Its pretty hit or miss stuff, I would only do it with a dark beer and lets face it, who cares with a porter. There was no chance of trying to replicate Munich or Viena as its made with Unmalted barley. But anything roasted is easy as, and even crystal was fun to make.

Steve


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## Fourstar (17/3/09)

SJW said:


> There was no chance of trying to replicate Munich or Viena as its made with Unmalted barley.



Is Munich and Vienna kilned in its raw state before going thru malting? I was always under the assumption that i was malted then kilned.


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## SJW (17/3/09)

I am not sure what book I got it from but it was either Noonans, Ray Daniels or Palmers. But thats the story, but I suspect there is a lot more to it aswell. Just stay tuned as I am sure someone will post the process, soon!

Steve


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## Fourstar (17/3/09)

I always thaught (from memory) on that little chart in Daniels book, it goes from raw > pale malts (pilsner, ale malts) and these can step up to 'highly kilned malts e.g. Munich & Vienna. I remember reading somwhere vienna and munich are kept wet/humid whilst going thru the drying process as this enhances the melanoidens. This process also denatures the malted barley so it has less power to convert compared to dry kilned pale malts. 

In summary, the options i can remember where:
Raw > pale malts
Raw > pale malts > highly kilned (this also included Melanoiden, Amber, Victory etc with the usual suspects of Munich and Vienna)
Raw > pale malts > Crystal Malts
Raw > pale malts > Roast Malts
Raw > roasted barley


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## SJW (17/3/09)

MALT PRODUCTION: What makes Munich malt production unique?
by Al Korzonas ([email protected]) 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When the fine DeWolf-Cosyns malts reached the US, I was puzzled by the difference between their Aromatic and Biscuit malts, both of which are about 25 degrees Lovibond in colour. After some investigation, I found that the difference was that Aromatic was high-kilned, produced like Munich malt and that Biscuit was toasted malt. 

In response to a series of posts on the Homebrew Digest, I have put together the following article which describes the differences in production between pale malts (such as Pale Ale and Pilsner), high-kilned malts (such as Vienna, Munich and Aromatic) and roasted malts (such as Biscuit, Victory(tm), Chocolate, Carafa&reg;, Black Patent and Roasted Malt). This article will center mostly on high-kilned malts and then describe the production differences between them and the other types of malt. 

The Kiln
A kiln is a large "room," effectively, usually with multiple levels, which has slotted floors so that ventilation air can be blown up from below or sucked up from above. The volume and temperature of the air and the amount of recirculation can be controlled. 
There are two parts to kilning: the "drying phase" and the "curing phase." The temperature of the curing phase is what distinguishes Munich (usually about 8 Lovibond) and Aromatic (25 Lovibond), but it's the drying phase that distinguishes pale malts from "high-kilned" malts like Vienna, Munich and Aromatic [DeClerck, p.182]. 

Drying Phase
In the kiln, there are three factors: time, temperature and ventilation. For the production of pale malts like Pale Ale and Pilsner malt, the temperature is relatively low (40-45C) and ventilation is very high. Moisture is removed rapidly and the malts are therefore dried quite quickly. Once the moisture is below 10%, the temperature can be raised. Raising the temperature earlier would result in significant enzyme loss. The low moisture protects the malt enzymes from denaturing [DeClerck, p196]. 
For the production of high-kilned malts like Vienna, Munich and Aromatic, the initial temperature during the drying phase is higher (about 50C). Furthermore, the ventilation is considerably lower. As a result, the moisture content of the malt only drops to about 20% in the first 24 hours [DeClerck, p.197]. Typically, high-kilned malts take about twice as long to make as pale malts [Malting and Brewing Science, p.177]. Clearly there is a significant amount of enzyme loss in the production of high- kilned malts, but this higher temperature drying is important for the production of high levels of soluble sugars and amino acids which are later utilized in the production of melanoidins via Maillard reactions and Amadori rearrangements [Malting and Brewing Science, p.105]. It's these melanoidins that give high-kilned malts their colour and characteristic aroma. 

Interestingly, the temperature profile of Vienna malt kilning looks more like Pilsner rather than Munich malt (from fig.79 on page 198 of DeClerck). 

Curing Phase
Pale malts typically are cured at 80 to 95C for 5 hours. Temperatures above 80C, however, are only used if the malt is not over-modified and was dried at low temperatures. Munich malt is typically cured at 105C for 5 hours [DeClerck, p.197]. Aromatic malt is typically cured at 115C [Busch, personal communication]. 
Crystal Malts
Crystal malts have something in common with high-kilned malts in that the ventilation is restricted during the initial period. They can be made in a kiln or in a special roasting drum. In either case, the wet (green) malt is put into the kiln or roaster from the germination tanks and the moisture is kept very high with absolutely no ventilation. Frequent water additions are sprayed to keep the moisture high. The temperature is raised to 60 to 70C for 30 to 40 minutes. Then the temperature is raised to 150C and normal ventilation is resumed for 1 to 2 hours, depending on how much caramelization is desired (i.e. depending on whether 10L crystal or 90L crystal is being made). If prepared in the kiln, further drying is necessary [DeClerck, p242]. 
During the initial hot, wet heat, the malt effectively converts right in the husk. Alas, all the enzymes are denatured during this period. Because the starches in the crystal malt have been converted to sugars, crystal malts do not require mashing and can be steeped in hot water for use in extract brewing. 

Roasting and Toasting
With the exception of crystal, all malts are dried in the kiln and then can optionally go into the roaster. A barrel roaster is the most common type and consists of a rotating drum that's heated from below. It also has water sprayers installed which are used to douse the malt (to cool it quickly) when it is done (although I suppose it may be used to put out fires too, which I'm told are more common than the maltsters would like!). 
Biscuit and Victory are often called "toasted" malts. Really the difference between these and the much darker Chocolate and Black Patent is time and (mostly) temperature. There is some disagreement between maltsters whether damp or dry malt should be used in the roasting drum [DeClerck, p.244], but most maltsters use dry malt similar to Pilsner or Pale Ale malt. In the barrel roaster they make Biscuit, Victory(tm), Chocolate, Carafa&reg;, Black Patent and Roasted Malt. They also start with dry barley and make Roasted Barley and Black Barley in the roaster. 

Summary
So, as we can see, there is more to Munich malt production than just higher temperatures in the kiln -- at the expense of some diastatic and proteolytic power, high-kilned malts are dried in a hotter, *higher- moisture* kiln for the first 24 hours and only *then* raised to a high temperature. Biscuit, on the other hand is dried just like Pilsner or Pale Ale malt and then roasted lightly till it is 25 degrees Lovibond. 
Incidentally, Aromatic malt still has enough enzymatic power to convert itself, but Biscuit has essentially no enzymes left and must therefore rely on other malts' enzymes for conversion. 

Victory is a trademark of Briess Malting Co.
Carafa is a registered trademark of Mich. Weyermann GmbH.


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## Mantis (17/3/09)

Great read thanks. 
So if one wanted to make amber malt then roasting dry some pale ale malt would do the trick yes?


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## SJW (17/3/09)

Yep, and a little bit more for brown malt, and a lit more at a higher temp for nice dark choc malt. This was how I came up with 3 different roast malts for the Porter. Just took 3 500g lots and roasted for various lengths of time. A bit of mucking around but well worth it. Just let it air for a couple of weeks to let the volitiles escape as it tastes a bit harsh straight after roasting.


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## Fourstar (17/3/09)

I think i may have actually read parts of that article somewhere SJW.

So if ive got this right, Melanoiden, biscuit, victory etc are roasted malts that have undrgoe the kinling process that munich/vienna style malts do. Carafa, choc, black patent, roast malt, amber malt etc are all from a pale base that is then roasted

If so, it makes sense from their flavour profiles anyway.

I wonder if you can reverse the drying kilning process and still turn pale malt into a munich type malt?


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## SJW (17/3/09)

Heres some good info on malting too.


Your North American Malt Supplier
Northwest Premium Malts 
Premium Two Row: Our traditional premium quality two-row malt. We utilize several Western varieties to maintain stringent quality standards. Color is 1.8 to 2.2. 
Northwest Pale Ale: Great Westerns higher-color two-row malt. This product is a well-modified Western grown two-row with colors ranging from 2.6 to 3.0 (ASBC). 
Wheat Malt: Northwest wheat for the production of traditional German Weissbier and American Wheat Beer. 
Munich Malt: Germinating malt is stewed then kilned at 200F. Provides color without introducing the caramel/crystal flavor. Color is 8 to 10 ASBC. 
Vienna Malt: Processed like Munich with shorter cure duration. Color is 3 to 4 ASBC. 
Northwest Specialty Malts 
Northwest C15: A lightly roasted two-row malt. The slight caramel flavor and light color provides the brewer with subtlety in the recipe. 
Northwest C40: A fully modified and saccharified two-row crystal malt roasted to a target color of 40 ASBC. A versatile malt providing moderate color and caramel flavor. 
Northwest C60: Similar to C40 but with a more extensive roasting to a target color of 60 ASBC. Has a more pronounced caramel flavor to coincide with the color. 
Northwest C75: This two-row malt is roasted to product a color of 75 ASBC. At this roasting level the toffee flavors join the caramel character for a more complex flavor. 
Northwest C120: As longer roasting times are used to reach colors of 120 ASBC, this crystal malt takes on a fairly intense toffee flavor but still avoids the burnt character of chocolate or black malts. 
Northwest C150: Similar to the C120, but with a much more intense flavor and color. May get a hint of the burnt character. 
Bairds Specialty Malt Products 
Carastan: A fully crystallized malt with a lighter caramel/toffee-like flavor. Color is 30 to 37 ASBC. 
Crystal: Flavors are more intense than Carastan but basically have the same caramel/toffee-like characteristics. We have two color ranges: 50 to 60 and 70 to 80 ASBC. 
Dark Crystal: Highly roasted caramel malt having an intense caramel flavor and slight burnt note. Color is 135 to 165 ASBC. 
Black: Provides a rich dark color as well as roasted, burnt or astringent flavors in stouts and porters. Color is 500 to 600 ASBC. 
Chocolate: The same attributes as Black but paler in color. Color is 450 to 500 ASBC. 
Brown: Provides a dry, almost biscuit like flavor to the beer. Color is 50 to 70 ASBC. 
Roasted Barley: Provides color but has a sharper drier flavor than roasted malt. Color is 500 to 600 ASBC. 
Munich: Provides color without introducing the caramel/crystal flavors, gives a rich malty flavor to the beer. Color is 5 to 7 ASBC. 
British Pale Ale: The British Pale Ale is made strictly from Maris Otter barley. 



We've got you covered coast to coast. 

For inquiries call these toll-free numbers: 
Eastern US and Canada 800-522-6258 
Western US 800-496-7732 
Western Canada 866-310-8694 
Email Canadian Sales: [email protected] 
Email US Sales: [email protected] 






CMC/GWM, All Rights Reserved.


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## raven19 (17/3/09)

Mantis said:


> Great read thanks.



+2 Fantastic little article that.


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## Fourstar (17/3/09)

SJW said:


> Carastan: A fully crystallized malt with a lighter caramel/toffee-like flavor. Color is 30 to 37 ASBC.



Ive always wanted a decent little description of carastan. looks like JW caramalt or Weyermann Carahell would be the perfect options as a replacment for this.


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## SJW (17/3/09)

Yes, I am starting to get an appreciation for the lighter crystals. I was brewing for ages before I even used crystal but there is some nice mellow flavours from these grains in a low hopped beer.


Steve


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## Fourstar (17/3/09)

Yeah so many uses other than the impression low SRM crystals have of adding just dextrins and sweetness like carapils. So many neuances of flavour/aroma as the crystals step-up in SRM.


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## warrenlw63 (25/3/09)

Just to bump this back up again. When Steve posted his findings the other day it had me thinking. Always wanting to have a bit more "control" over the process. My wife purchased a Convection Roasting Oven the other day. Got the big "no-no" for brewing experiments.

Thought bugger it what she doesn't know won't hurt her.  Long story short it really seems to work a treat! What I (hopefully) have here is 500g of home roasted brown malt. :beerbang: 

Shoddy pics enclosed. 

Warren -


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## SJW (25/3/09)

Looks good. The problem I found with my Porter was its hard to judge the colour. It ended up way dark, and with the Crystal its hard to tell how dark the centre of the grain is as the husk stays light due to the mashing and its hard to know how much conversion has taken place.
Lots of fun though but SWMBO said just to spend the extra 50c per brew and buy the specialty grain rather that stuff around with the over for 3 hours at a time.
Good fun though.

Steve


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## Fourstar (25/3/09)

Looks good warren, be good if you could agitiate te grain whilst it was roasting to get an even roast.

Has anyone seen Heston B's in search of perfection christmas episode?!?! he was prepping special grain for the geese he was going to serve up and chucked a whole lot of grain into a new cement mixer and got one of those industrial blowtorch heaters to roast it....... if there was a way todo this on a small scale.....


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## muckanic (25/3/09)

Fourstar said:


> if there was a way todo this on a small scale.....



Rotisserie plus basket enclosed by either an oven or BBQ lid maybe?


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## Fourstar (25/3/09)

Rotisserie is a good idea, maybe grip one of those 'corinthian' wafer biscuit cylinder tins' in it, it would hold around 500g of grain... just dont know how well the tin would hold up!


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## white.grant (25/3/09)

I've been thinking about roasting some malted wheat in hopes of getting some dark wheat for dunkel weizens. According to my googling it's a field of rare endeavour. So far I've found that you can roast wheat malt for 45 minutes at 180c, but I'm wondering whether it should be wet or dry?

As for using a rotisserie, that's a brilliant idea - I'm thinking maybe a 4l paint tin (clean of course) could work well as a tumbler.

cheers

grant


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## Fourstar (25/3/09)

Grantw said:


> As for using a rotisserie, that's a brilliant idea - I'm thinking maybe a 4l paint tin (clean of course) could work well as a tumbler.



Im pretty sure you can buy empty brand new ones designed for mixing your own!?!?!


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## warrenlw63 (25/3/09)

Fourstar said:


> Looks good warren, be good if you could agitiate te grain whilst it was roasting to get an even roast.



Fourstar that's the beauty of these devices. The lid has a handle that cuts the power when you lift it. Quick stir, lid back on for very little temp loss. From what I can gather I'd be better served stirring more often on the higher temps though. You get the odd kernel popping and some uneven roasting.

I might try and produce some crystal malt in it up the track. I think you can set it quite low. To make crystal I'd need to stew the grain at 70 degrees. Might stick my oven therm in next time and see what happens.

Not doing this to save any money it's just quite interesting to observe and I guess you learn something along the way. :icon_cheers: 

Warren -


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## mash head (26/3/09)

Jakechan said:


> :icon_offtopic:
> 
> Gday Greg,
> Welcome to the forum mate. I am wondering if you are the first malting barley grower to grace the threads of AHB? Either way Im sure you are in for a right brain-picking!  And I may as well start...
> ...


Hi Jake.
Sorry for late reply but dont get on this site unless I am having brewing difficulties. I grow a variety of barley called gairdner which will pass for malting grade all things being equal. I stick to growing grains that make good sheep tucker lupins and barley and a hat full of wheat. Barley usually gets sold straight into the system which is ABB or the Australian barley board who buy it wharehouse it and distribute it to their malting arm Joe white (if its malting grade). As for starting a thread my computer skills equall my brewing skills I am sure i could work it out but wouldnt have to many photos to show. My barley went feed 1 because protien was too high this year so have managed to sell 50 odd ton direct to a dairy


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