The info on this site is rock solid, as is Laughing Gnome's process. I too have roasted, toasted, and made crystal malts at home to great success.
Something important for making crystal malt. Do yourself a favor and soak the grain for 12-24 hours not the 2-4 hours. When doing a 2-4 hour soak you get a product much more like what's available in the store. When soaking in the 20 hour range you get a much much better product worth the extra wait. It will literally be hard not to eat it as a snack it'll be so palatable, very much like cereal!
Schlante,
Phillip
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Thats good to know cause i did a 4 hour soak an i gotta say it dosent taste too bad,i'll definatly have to try a 24 hour soak thanks for the inputThats why i love this website everyone loves to share techniques and secrets!
This thread is a true inspiration! I can only buy "Munton's Crystal Malt" with a lovibond of 49-64 locally. Now I'm thinking of taking some of my bulk 2-row and trying to make some Crystal 10L.
I think I'm going to do a 3-lb batch. Take 1 lb out of the oven pretty much directly after the grains are dried. Take the second one out a half hour later, and take the third out a half hour after that, just for comparison. Then I'll see which looks closest in color to the last of the 10L I have.
Thanks for the inspiration!!
__________________
Fermenting: A few beers
Conditioning: A few other beers
Bottled: A few more beers
Kegged: Many beers
Next Brews: More beers than you could imagine
This thread is a true inspiration! I can only buy "Munton's Crystal Malt" with a lovibond of 49-64 locally. Now I'm thinking of taking some of my bulk 2-row and trying to make some Crystal 10L.
I think I'm going to do a 3-lb batch. Take 1 lb out of the oven pretty much directly after the grains are dried. Take the second one out a half hour later, and take the third out a half hour after that, just for comparison. Then I'll see which looks closest in color to the last of the 10L I have.
Thanks for the inspiration!!
I did my first2 batches of crystal last week. I gotta tell ya, the difference between dried crystal and darker than 10L is like MINISCULE. I guess, drawing from my own personal experience I reccomend that you:
1) Convert your grains starches to sugar via any method you perfer
2) When it comes to drying, do it at a lower than reccomended temperature, as mine went from dried one minute, to about 70L so fast it was crazy.
I will also try again, but I will definately watch the drying phase more closely and use a lower temp to get about a 10L. I will also be stirring more often. Anyway, I hope this information serves you well!
Thanks for the tip. Not sure when I'll get around to this, but I'm thinking of soaking tomorrow night to Monday and then drying and roasting Monday after work.
I'll hopefully post results with pics.
__________________
Fermenting: A few beers
Conditioning: A few other beers
Bottled: A few more beers
Kegged: Many beers
Next Brews: More beers than you could imagine
Last edited by archiefl98; 03-21-2010 at 04:08 AM.
Reason: Forgot the point of my post before hitting button.
This may be a dumb question, but her it goes anyways. Do any of you guys have suggestions for measuring the lovibond rating of the final roasted grains?
I made .75# toasted malt from pale malt in a brown ale I have fermenting. You can smell some toasted flavor through the airlock, but it's not overpowering. I'm hopeful a little toasted taste will come through.
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