Home Roasted Malt

[Ducatiboy stu]

I roasted some pilsner malt in the oven today at 230*c for 40 mins. It was not overly succesfull, cause the grains at the edges burnt more than those in the center, but the result was reasonable, I just dont know what I have ended up with, or what the approx EBC is. I am thinking it is Brown or Biscuit malt, but I am not shure.

Regardless it is going into tommorrows brew

The Pic shows JWM light Munich (20 EBC ), my home roasted malt, and Caraaroma ( 350 EBC)

 

[Stuster]

Looks a bit like the colour of dark crystal to me. What does it look like on the inside?

I've roasted some for the first time and it's in a porter that is near bottling. I tried soaking it first as recommended by Mosher and it seemed to brown fairly evenly.

Like to know how that turns out. :super:

 

[warrenlw63]

Stu.

A good way to get an idea of what it's like is to chew a few of the kernels. They should have some nice biscuit-like notes.

Having dabbled a little with it myself I'd say first and foremost that you've got your oven a little too high from the outset. Try doing a batch next time at 180 and closely monitoring it. Smell coming from the oven is also a good sensory indicator.

What comes up nice is making your own Amber Malt (or something similar) line the tray with foil and spread the malt evenly. What I also do is spray the malt with some water once or twice (lightly) this crystalizes the malt to a certain degree and produces a nice sweetness. Maybe stir the malt around once or twice to try and roast it more evenly too. Which like you I've found to be very difficult.

If you want to roast it further take your finished malt from the oven, inspect it and crank it up to 200-220 and put the tray back in again for further roasting.

I've found it's impossible to totally replicate particular malts OTOH it's a fun experiment that seems to be able to produce something you can use (and notice in a positive way) in most English Ale styles. :beerbang:

Smoking malt is good value too. Finding the time is more difficult.

Warren -

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

I had another go, this time using only a thin layer of grain, and roasting at 210*c for 20 mins

Much more consistant.

Just trying to work out and approx EBC rating

 

[warrenlw63]

Straight from the pages of "Brown Ale" by Ray Daniels and Jim Parker. This is a method recommended by Dr. John Harrison fom the Durden Park Beer Circle.

Procedure for Amber Malt.

1. Place pale ale malt to a depth of one-half inch in a foil-lined cooking pan. Retain a few kernels in a separate plate to use for comparison during roasting.
2. Cook in a oven for 45 minutes at 110c and then for 20 to 60 minutes at 150c.
3. After the first 20 minutes at 150c, cut several kernels in half to inspect the colour of the starch endosperm. For amber malt, the endosperm should be "light buff" in colour when finished. Continue heating at 150c until this colour is achieved, usually 45 to 50 minutes.

Procedure for Brown Malt.

Follow the procedure for amber malt. After the proper endosperm colour is achieved, raise the oven temperature to 180c and continue heating until the endosperm is a "full buff" or "about the colour of the paler types of wrapping paper".

Alternative procedure.

As an alternative to the previous two procedures, Randy Mosher recommends filling a pan to a depth of no more than one inch and then heating the kernels as follows: 180c for 20 to 30 minutes for amber malt and 230c for 30 to 40 minutes for brown malt.
As with the previous two procedures, evaluate the extent of roasting by periodically examining a cross section of several kernels.

Warren -

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Have got Ray Danials book, thats where I got the idea.

 

[warrenlw63]

LOL! :lol: Geez thanks Stu.

Would have liked to have known that before I pulled all those finger muscles. :blink:

BTW I just went down the garage and had a look at some Baird's (145EBC) crystal. Your's looks quite a bit darker. Rough rule of thumb I'd say you've got something between Brown and Chocolate Malt.

Warren -

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Was thinking something around 200 EBC...its not as dark as the Caraaroma at 350 EBC


SHould go well in a Brown that I am doing

 

[Stuster]

I'm thinking of roasting up some amber malt for a bitter. My lack of planning means I'd be using it today/tomorrow. Some like Mosher say to leave it a week or two before using it, while others like Graham Sanders say use it straight away. Has anybody got any experience with this? Should I roast it up or just skip it this time?

 

[AndrewQLD]

Go for it Stuster, I roasted some malt to make a brown malt for my porter, smelt fantastic. I used the malt straight away and the porter is great. Huge difference using freshly roasted grains, they give off a lot of aroma too.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[Stuster]

Thanks, Andrew. Just what I wanted to hear. :super:

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Just be carefull how much you use as it gives a strong flavour. I did a brown and used to much and nearly killed it

 

[johnno]

I too toasted some up very lightly a few weeks back. 300 grams worth.
I used it in an aussie ale, just to see what it would be like.

The picture shows the toasted on the left and the normal malt on the right. It does not look very different but when you cut one up and also chewed some you could see and taste the difference. Also it did make the wort considerably darker. This brew is in secondary and I will bottle this weekend.

I used it within 2-3 days of toasting it. Definately puts a diferent taste to the beer.

I estimate it to be somewhere near an amber malt.

I want to make some old style porters within the next year and am hoping to use this method to make them.

cheers
johnno

 

[Stuster]

Just be carefull how much you use as it gives a strong flavour. I did a brown and used to much and nearly killed it

I used 500g in a robust porter before and liked it personally. I was only planning on using 100g of it in a bitter after reading advice to Ash in this thread. About right, or can I use more?

 

[AndrewQLD]

here's a pic of mine, doesn't look much different until you see inside

 

[AndrewQLD]

Just be carefull how much you use as it gives a strong flavour. I did a brown and used to much and nearly killed it

I used 500g in a robust porter before and liked it personally. I was only planning on using 100g of it in a bitter after reading advice to Ash in this thread. About right, or can I use more?

I used 1kilo in my mash Paddle entry, tastes very smooth now after a month in the keg.
Here's the secret recipe, shh, don't tell anyone

Recipe: 19th Century Porter
Brewer: Andrew Clark
Asst Brewer:
Style: Robust Porter
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 23.00 L
Boil Size: 29.95 L
Estimated OG: 1.051 SG
Estimated Color: 32.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 34.9 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
4.60 kg Ale Malt Powells (2.3 SRM) Grain 78.0 %
1.00 kg Brown Malt Home roasted Grain 16.9 %
0.15 kg Black Malt (Thomas Fawcett) (660.0 SRM) 2.5 %
0.15 kg Chocolate Malt (Joe White) (279.2 SRM) 2.5 %
56.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [5.00%] (60 min) 30.8 IBU
15.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [5.00%] (15 min) 4.1 IBU
15.00 gm Styrian Goldings [5.40%] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops -
1.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs Dry English Ale (White Labs #WLP007) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Copy of Single Infusion, Light Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 5.90 kg
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temp Step Time
Mash In Add 35.99 L of water at 71.7 C 67.0 C 90 min

 

[Fingerlickin_B]

I dont have a mill, so I buy my grain pre-cracked.

Stupid question timeIs there any reason not to try roasting cracked grain? :blink:

PZ.

 

[Fingerlickin_B]

Anyone? :blink:

 

[Steve]

Anyone? :blink:

nah - it was far too stupid! :lol:

Sorry wouldnt ave a clue!

Cheers
Steve

 

[DJR]

I dont have a mill, so I buy my grain pre-cracked.

Stupid question timeIs there any reason not to try roasting cracked grain? :blink:

PZ.

I've done it, doesn't work that well since it roasts a lot faster! But if you keep it damp with a spray bottle every couple of minutes it's not bad. Wouldn't do it again though because i can roast uncracked and then crack it!