# Creating Your Own Crystal Malt



## barabool (7/5/11)

Hi
Just finished my first batch of from 'scratch' crystal malt.
Bought 20kg bag of Barley from local feed store here in Brisbane ($14)
8hrs in water, 8 hrs on rack in sun, 14 hrs wet and then got signs of chitting.
I built a huge Oust (spelling?) which has 3 trays about 30 cm apart - spread chitting barley over racks and sprayed morning and night with spray bottle.
Placed a towel rack heater on bricks at bottom of Oust to get nice 21C temp
Got roots after 1 1/2 days and started the drying after 3 days.
I placed a large outdoor spotlight in top that raised the Oust temp to about 28C (might need to get a second one as not real happy with temp)
Took me an extra 2 days but roasted them today and put them with my K&K.
Roasted some in oven for 2hrs at 100C, some on a food dehydrater for 2hrs but I found my most constant result came from a convection microwave oven at 140C. 2 x 30 min bursts got them smelling so sweet.
(I was looking fro a Light Crystal 20-30 for a Pilsner)

Question is can anyone tell me how long they last?
I also have about a kilo unroasted and 500g roasted. What's the best way to store - as dryed or as roasted?
I kind of like the idea of pulling out 200-300 grams on brew day and deciding then how much to roast.

Thanks in advance.


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## Guysmiley54 (7/5/11)

First off I have no idea about storage and freshness in this instance but I just wanted to tell you how impressed I am that you did this!!!

My wife thinks I'm a nutter for all the intricate detail I insist on inserting into everything I do, but you my good friend have just taken the cake 

Take a bow good sir  




Bara said:


> Hi
> Just finished my first batch of from 'scratch' crystal malt.
> Bought 20kg bag of Barley from local feed store here in Brisbane ($14)
> 8hrs in water, 8 hrs on rack in sun, 14 hrs wet and then got signs of chitting.
> ...


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## Bribie G (7/5/11)

Just off to the chemist to get some Nurofen Plus for the jaw that suffered traumatic bruising when it hit the deck. 
Whereabouts in Brisbane are you? Forget about brew days, you should have an Oast day - and I'm sure many of us would love to have a taste and a feel of your goodies


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## MHB (7/5/11)

So you made Malt, but from the description of your process I doubt that you have made Crystal.
Crystal is made by taking the Green Malt (still wet from the sprouting) and rather than Kilning (drying) it you heat it to 65oC (give or take) for about an hour; the objective being to actually mash (enzymes convert starch into sugar) the inside of the corn (corn is the name of any grain), then you kiln the malt until it is dry and until the colour you are looking for develops.
Cristal Malt is called such because if you crack it open it looks glassy this is the dried sugar that has resulted from the process.
The colour development comes from Milliard Reactions (sugars joining up with protein) rather than caramelisation which is sugars joining up. Your cow food grade of barley is probably a good choice for making Crystal Malt as it has a much higher level of protein than does barley suitable for beer making, so its better at developing colour.
Storability is mainly a function of moisture content; the dryer it is the longer it keeps, the malt you toasted should be able to be stored for a year (perhaps longer) if you keep it dry and keep the beasties out.
The other malt (if it was dried at 28oC) wont keep for long before it goes mouldy.
MHB


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## barabool (7/5/11)

MHB said:


> So you made Malt, but from the description of your process I doubt that you have made Crystal.
> Crystal is made by taking the Green Malt (still wet from the sprouting) and rather than Kilning (drying) it you heat it to 65oC (give or take) for about an hour;



Thanks MHB, I think my error was somewhere along the way I got 65C mixed with 65F and that's why I thought my 21C was 'pretty good'.
Im still K&K ( ok - maybe not the second K) and still wouldn't serve my HB up to visitors (yet).

Thanks for the comments guys, and Guy, my wife thinks I'm mad as well but what else are you going to do with a 5 day Easter break than make an Oast (actually checked the spelling this time).

Cheers


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## dr K (7/5/11)

Great effort, and a great learning experience but, sorry, frankly MHB is spot on.
Your $14 would have bought you about 3kg of mixed "crystal" malts from your LHBS, or using 200-300gm per brew 10 to 15 brews.
buy some chooks


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## barabool (7/5/11)

dr K said:


> Your $14 would have bought you about 3kg of mixed "crystal" malts from your LHBS, or using 200-300gm per brew 10 to 15 brews.
> buy some chooks



Hope my wife doesn't read this....lol
I think someone once said -" A man needs a hobby" 
And I have chook's, they enjoy the grain......... after I finish with it - win-win.
A hobby stops me from taking up cocaine - keeps my fingers busy.  

Cheers


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## Spartan 117 (7/5/11)

Good on you Bara, malting my own grain is something I've been planning on doing for a while now, just waiting on the warmer months to do it. Also as was said before you need to "mash" the barley while its sprouting ans then dry it in order for it to become crystal malt. There are a good few detailed videos on youtube by a bloke the name of homedistiller, I think, on how to malt your own grain and make crystal and other speciality malts. As for storage keep it cool and dry and should last you long enough to use. 

Aaron


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## [email protected] (7/5/11)

I have about 5Kg of barley just sitting around doing nothing, used to grow it till it was green about a few inches long for a horse treat.
I might have a go at making some crystal next time i have nothing better to do.
Would be an interesting process what ever the outcome.


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## Spartan 117 (7/5/11)

Beer4U said:


> I have about 5Kg of barley just sitting around doing nothing, used to grow it till it was green about a few inches long for a horse treat.
> I might have a go at making some crystal next time i have nothing better to do.
> Would be an interesting process what ever the outcome.




yeah true that, check out those videos from homedistiller, they're pretty informative and he gives you a rundown on how to build some of the equipment yourself which is always good 

Aaron


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## Bada Bing Brewery (7/5/11)

I'm taking this to the next level - I'm buying a farm ......

You guys are seriously dedicated - a bit nutty - but I salute you...
Cheers
BBB


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## Spartan 117 (7/5/11)

I suppose we are a bit nutty, but seriously how cool would it be to literally make a beer from scratch I currently grow my own hops, culture my own yeast (not from my person I must add before the jokes role in), how hard can it be to grow and malt my own barley.......??? Even just a few kilos worth for one beer. Screw it I'm doing it boys, I shall keep you posted !!!! I'm also gpnna run it all on a hydrogen fuel cell and use the waste water for mashing !!!! 

Aaron


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## MHB (7/5/11)

Knew there was something bugging me, and I know Im a bit of a stickler when it comes to terminology its Oast, but thats where Hops are dried, malt is made in a Malthouse.
M


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## Brewman_ (7/5/11)

Got some spare time, thought I might refine some polythene and knock out a few fermenters. Actually could save a couple of bucks if I extract my own oil / gas, that's where I will start, then I will make some beer. Crap, need a drill...

Seriously, as a home brewer, I find myself very busy with just making the beer.


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## stephenkentucky (7/5/11)

Well even if you did not get a crystal I must say I am seriously impressed that you had the initiative and guts to have a go at malting, which is an art in itself. One of the things that I love about this forum is that every time you turn around someone will blow you away with their desire to take their brewing up a notch, I dip my hat to you sir.


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## proudscum (7/5/11)

Have been reading up on malting and the WA agri department has a bit of info on the different barleys to grow and conditions etc..... haven't used schooner for a long time.the plot they talked about in the book mentions a 12X5 mtr plot which would give you about 30kg of grain.The process is very involved and takes a fare amount of time.

For an easy to read article Alex from LCB has one that is on the G+G site on making Crystal.
Have make mild and brown malt from base malt in the past and you need to let it rest for a week or so before you are going to use it.Made some nice beers with the grain that i basically roasted.


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## Spartan 117 (7/5/11)

proudscum said:


> site on making Crystal.




we still talking about grain here .....


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## proudscum (7/5/11)

Spartan 117 said:


> we still talking about grain here .....




no i thought this was the meth site you...


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## Spork (8/5/11)

OK, so I have mined some sand and built a blast furnace. Now to read up on bottle making...
JK.
Great work Bara.


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## barabool (8/5/11)

Do you know how long it took me to build the bloody computer just so I could post this......  
I was doing some research about making the step towards Partials and I came acrossthis

I thought it might be a easy way to start understanding malts and especially crystal malts. Monkey see - monkey do.
I had just finished my first brewing fridge conversion and was keen to move on to the next project. 



> its Oast, but thats where Hops are dried, malt is made in a Malthouse.


I think I built an Oast - I have to look up what's involved with a malthouse.

As we speak I am roasting the malt in my convection microwave.
Started with 30 mins and removed 50 grams, another 30 mins and removed another 50 grams.. etc.... etc..
I am hoping to get a range of colours and an idea how to reproduce on bigger scale.
It smells great in the house at the moment and my 9yr old, after tasting the 2 1/2 hr batch, thinks it now tastes like Milo???


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## felten (8/5/11)

I have toasted some pilsner malt in the oven before, I was going for munich but it came out tasting and smelling just like peanut butter, which was interesting. 

They use a kiln to dry malt, and a roasting drum for darker colored stuff. Also they usually store it for a while before using it, not sure why but that's just what I've read.


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## Rocker1986 (22/12/16)

I know this is resurrecting an ancient thread but saves starting a new one... I had a crack at making some crystal malt today. It was quite fun. I just used some of my pale malt (Maris Otter) for it rather than green barley/malt, and made up about 300g. I got the basic process off the barleypopmaker site. I have done this once before a couple of years back and used the grain in place of Caraaroma in my red ale recipe and it came out pretty similar which was cool.

Anyway, the process I used was to soak the grains in distilled water in a saucepan overnight, using enough water to cover the grains by about an inch or so (the pic was taken just after I tipped in the water, but they sank over the course of the soaking). They were put in last night and this morning I strained the water out of them, and let them dry off to a damp state. They smelled a bit like acidulated malt at this stage.





After the water was removed the grains were moved to a baking tray/dish in a small mound about 2 inches high, and placed in the oven to stew at somewhere around 65-70C. This required some guesswork and due to the oven not going that low, occasional bursts of heat to keep the temp up as I couldn't leave it on the whole time or they would get too hot. I'll try the probe thermometer in it next time, probably won't be able to leave it in there but I can at least check the temp with it.



This stewing period lasted 90 minutes (may go 2-2.5 hours next time), at which point the grains were spread out to about a 2cm thick layer in the baking tray, and dried in the oven set at 120C for two hours. This is how they appeared after this. At this point the acidic aroma had all but gone as well, and they started to smell more like toasted malt.



Once the drying had finished, I turned the oven up to about 200-210C and put the grains back in for 30 minutes, checked on them, another 20 minutes, another check and gave them a final 12-13 minutes, so all up about an hour. The kitchen and house smelt like toffee and raisins during this period, so I must have got the stewing temp pretty right. There are photos from each of the roast times but they don't really look any different to each other; this photo is after I took them out for the final time. The colour in reality is more like Caraaroma than it looks in the pic.



These grains were then left to cool down before being placed in a brown paper bag where they will remain to age for about a month or so before I use them in a brew. I think I'll just do a basic pale ale, and use these grains as the only other grains other than the base malt, just to get an idea of what flavour they will impart.

The process did take a fair bit of time which is why I've waited until my holidays to bother, but it was fun and interesting and I'm also looking forward to brewing a batch with them soon.


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## Brewnicorn (22/12/16)

Rocker1986 said:


> The process did take a fair bit of time which is why I've waited until my holidays to bother, but it was fun and interesting and I'm also looking forward to brewing a batch with them soon.


Awesome work! That's gotta feel good eh!?


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## Rocker1986 (22/12/16)

Yeah especially when the house filled with that sweet toffee/raisin aroma, it was awesome. I just did it for a bit of fun really and something to do today as I had no other plans, hence only making 300g. I'll probably do another lot up after the new year and refine the process a bit in regard to temperature during the mash/stew process, and hopefully use a smaller baking tray so that the grains are all the same level rather than in a mound. In a mound, the outermost ones tend to dry out quickly, which probably doesn't help much in the stewing process.


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