Anyone know where to get chit malt in Perth or does anyone stock it in Oz for that matter - I know Best malz sell it but can't seem to find anyone that has it?
Choc chit was produced for XXXX Carbine Stout and when that was discontinued about 3 or 4 years ago, so was the choc chit. I had a couple of kilos in the freezer till about a month ago that I used in dark milds, but it had gone a bit stale even there, so chucked it.
Renzo, why do you need Chit Malt? It is a terribly undermodified malt and will need special treatment in the mash stage. Dont recall ever seeing it in Australia but Joe White did produce a Chocolate Chit at one stage - it was supposedly a little less harsh than Roasted Barley.
Wes
Try a bit of unmalted barley - that will give you pretty close to the same effect. German brewers use chit malt to get around Reinheitsgebot as it is technically speaking, malted.
Wes
Cheers Wes. Is that the same as Flaked barley?
No, flaked barley has been gelatinised and partially converted. What you are after is the cruder proteins found in unmalted barley.
Wes
Flaked barley should do the job. Reinheitsgebot specifies malt, hops and water so unmalted grains not permitted in lagers. Modern German malts are quite diastatic and can convert up to 30% of adjuncts, so no problems adding a wee bit of flaked barley.
edit; wes beat me to it.. I would have thought that, like using adjuncts such as maize, some gelatinisation would be desired to make the starch available to the base malt?
Does that mean a cereal mash would be needed with unmalted barley?
Is a cereal mash required with chit malt?
Would be advisable to get the extract with unmalted barley. At least pre-gelatinise before adding to the mash. With chit malt, it will depend on the maltster as there will be varying interpretations of "chit" growth of the acrospire and of the protein levels of the raw barley. You really need to see a Certificate of Analysis to be sure.
Wes