Roasting/Malting GF Grains

So I have been extract brewing for a while now and am interested in doing some mini mashes. I would be interested in an all grain but because of the limited sugar amounts from GF grains. Since that is the case do the grains need to be malted before roasting or would just roasting them outright be the better option. I have never roasted grains and pictures of this as well as a good set of instructions would be great.

Hi,

Making something of a crystal malt actually helps to produce more sugars I have found. You would need to malt the grain first, then roast them as either a malt or a crystal malt. A mixture of the two is probably better. Then you get the sugars, and the flavours from both types of malt. Below is an image of my crystal buckwheat. I have made some pretty good beers from it.

Alright how is that done? I am new to the grain malting/roasting process and what is involved with making a crystal vs a malt

There are several threads in the gluten free section on how to malt grain. You could start with those? Just search for malting grain. Should come up. There has been quite a bit on it from a few of us recently.

Once you have read how to malt grain, look at the link below on how to make crystal. It starts the same, but you need to do certain stuff before roasting with crystal.

http://mobile.drinks.seriouseats.co...n-crystal-malt-for-beer-how-to-technique.html

That was an excellent description of creating crystal malt. Is there some like that for the basic malting process as well?

The way I do it is let it soak for around 8 hours in twice the amount of water to grain. After that, drain out the water. I usually leave a wee tiny amount in the bottom of the dish I put it in. So I can turn it every few hours and the water drains back on to the stuff I have just turned and keeps it wet. After about a day or so it will start growing shoots. After two days, lay them out on an oven tray and roast on a medium heat for as long as you want. Keep turning the grains though, as the ones on the edges toast quicker and could burn.

So when you crystal them you get them malted with the roots exposed and then follow the process of crystal malt. You don't toast until that point correct?

Yep. Once the roots are out, you then soak again for several hours as the link says. Then follow the link from there. Let me know if you need any help etc.