Just made GF crystal malt

Not trying to brag, but I'm so impressed that I was able to do this. I have been malting my own GF grains for a little while, and was wanting to really step up my gluten free recipes. So, today I made crystal malt out of millet that I had been malting over the last few days. Not sure why I'm so surprised that it worked, because the science behind it makes perfect sense. But I am thrilled to be able to step up my GF brewing to a whole new level!

Hi. I also do that with Buckwheat. It seems to get rid of the 'buckwheat taste'. Let me know what the millet one is like. Never been able to malt millet. But I am not against trying again.

How does the crystal buckwheat turn out in your finished beer?

It took me a little while to get the process of malting millet, but it's actually very easy.

It's very caramel like taste in the beer. It's quite nice. But then it settles down and turns into a more toffee flavour. The next batch of malting that I do I am going to do half crystal and half normal. See what happens. Or just do two batches. One crystal, one normal and use half and half in the beer. It does tend to cling to itself though and can form a bit of roasted porridge look. Think I need to drain it a tad next time as the second lot always comes out better.

I have found buckwheat REALLY easy to do. But just can't get anything else to do it.

Ash_Mathew said:

It's very caramel like taste in the beer. It's quite nice. But then it settles down and turns into a more toffee flavour. The next batch of malting that I do I am going to do half crystal and half normal. See what happens. Or just do two batches. One crystal, one normal and use half and half in the beer. It does tend to cling to itself though and can form a bit of roasted porridge look. Think I need to drain it a tad next time as the second lot always comes out better.

I have found buckwheat REALLY easy to do. But just can't get anything else to do it.

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That sounds really good, I was thinking of using some buckwheat in an upcoming batch. Was your entire grain bill made up of buckwheat?

I did a lot of research on malting millet and everything said to soak the grain for 3-4 days first, and this is way too long. A 12 hour soak is perfect, then drain and rinse every 12 hours and its completed in about 3 days total. Its actually very easy.

I use either a little flaked millet or maize with it too. But I also add around a pound of honey and a pound of either brown or white sugar. I will post a picture below of what my recent German lager/beer looks like. Tastes quite nice too. Sorghum is really hard to come by here, especially as a syrup, so I had no other choice but to try it this way.

That looks great, thanks for sharing the info. I might incorporate a little buckwheat crystal into my next batch.

No worries. I think it just gives us more to work with, just like 'Normal' brewers. Think I will get some millet from a different place next time, see if that helps any. I do the same as you. Soak for 6-8 hours. Drain it apart from a wee drop of water in the bottom, and turn every couple of hours. Usually is ready within 2 days. Got sick of only having one type of roasted grain, so researched crystal.

make sure that when you buy millet, that you are buying millet with the hull intact. When I first started with millet, I had just got bulk millet from whole foods not realizing that it had been hulled and of course it didn't sprout. I usually get white millet that is intended as bird feed.

How many pounds of buckwheat do you use in your batches, and it sounds like you make all of it into crystal is that right?

Yeah, that is what I thought was wrong with it. It looked 'normal' but I have tried it twice with no luck. Another place I can get it from says it is perfect for sprouting.

Well, I do 3 gallon batches at the moment, but it is 1kg that I make at a time which is around 2lb I think? Plus about a pound of honey and either some Demerara or caster sugar. But I try to make the buckwheat half crystal, half just malted and roasted. My first few beers with it like the one above were all crystal. It still made cracking pints though. Roasting some tomorrow, so can let you know how it works?

I appreciate you sharing the info!!

I just sprouted a little buckwheat and am making some crystal today, I have a brew session scheduled this weekend. I am shooting for a British/yorkshire Extra Special Bitter, using millet as the pale malt with a combination of millet and buckwheat crystal. Along with a little honey and brown sugar as adjuncts, and possible a little malto dextril for mouthfeel. I will post some updates on it as well.

Not a problem. It's what we are all here for. Sharing ideas and experiment info.

Cool. What hops are you planning on using, and what kind of flavours are you wanting? Sammi Smiths is a good one to shoot for. Slightly less commercial than his brother Johns. Timothy Taylor's do an amazing bitter with a fruity twist in it. Very refreshing in the summer.

This is what my crystal looks like. Obviously looks different to barley crystal, but it works. Some of the grains looks like crystallised ginger.

I gotta try this! I've been getting good results with mashing unmalted grains with promalt enzyme formula, but I can't emulate crystal malt that way. I wonder if this sprouted quinoa I've got will work? It's commercially sprouted, and I have no idea what kind of enzyme activity it'll have, but I guess it's worth a shot...if not, I'll try sprouting some buckwheat.

Hey man. Is the quinoa already roasted? If it is it won't work. If it isn't, just soak it in water anything from 2 hours up to 12. Making sure the water covers the top of the grain. After that time, pour it out on to a baking tray, think you guys call them cookie sheets? Put them about 2 inch thick and put them in the oven on a medium heat for about an hour without opening the door. The grains will basically mash themselves in the oven. Then, thin them out and roast them at a slightly higher heat until they are the colour you want. You should notice that it gets rid of the 'buckwheat' flavour too.

No, the quinoa's not roasted. Is the 2-inch thickness important? If so, I'll have to get a new tray, my cookie sheet is only 1/2" deep. Or just use a couple casserole dishes or pie pans. Do you have a pic of the tray you used to roast them? By medium heat, do you mean like 300°F (150°C)? I might do this up tomorrow!

Any suggestions on where to source unhulled millet?

Satisfaction said:

Any suggestions on where to source unhulled millet?

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I have been getting millet from drsfostersmith.com, but i recently just found it at a feed store in my area.

igliashon said:

I gotta try this! I've been getting good results with mashing unmalted grains with promalt enzyme formula, but I can't emulate crystal malt that way. I wonder if this sprouted quinoa I've got will work? It's commercially sprouted, and I have no idea what kind of enzyme activity it'll have, but I guess it's worth a shot...if not, I'll try sprouting some buckwheat.

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The diastatic power of millet is pretty good, not quite what you get from barley but it can just about convert itself. I do an iodine test while mashing, and it usually converts itself just fine.

I got some info a few years ago from a brewer that was using hulled millet to make crystal malt. He ground the millet into a flour then mixed a little enzyme and water to make a dough, then formed it into cookies and put the cookies in the oven to make crystal. I have not tried this, but he said he had decent results.

Hey, yeah it's quite important. Because you are basically cooking the grains, all of the heat needs to stay packed in for at least an hour or so until you start roasting them. I actually find it harder to do in a deeper tray. For some strange reason it turns out like a porridge effect. But I will take a picture of my tray when I get home tonight.

Here is a link of the process I used. Obviously it's based on barley, but the idea is the same. http://mobile.drinks.seriouseats.co...n-crystal-malt-for-beer-how-to-technique.html

Cool, thanks! I'll soak the quinoa over night tonight and give it a whirl tomorrow. Maybe it'll work, maybe not, but at least I'll get some roasted grains out of it if nothing else.

have you worked with quinoa before? I'm just wondering what kind of flavor and fermentables you get from it.

Aye, always worth a try. Plus, it gives us something new as we will have millet, buckwheat and now quinoa. Obviously we can't all sample each others beers, but we can describe the effects it has on each others beers. What flavours it leaves etc. I have some sat for a week or so at the moment, where as I used the last batch pretty much straight away. It will be good to see what time has to do with it, too.

Hey man. Here is the tray I use. Worth you trying a deeper tray still though. Then we know whether it is just me being special when I use a deeper tray, or whether it is a general thing with crystal buckwheat to turn a little porridge like in deeper trays.

Are you using that tray to make crystal malt in? I usually us a casarole dish to keep the grain from drying.

Yep. That's the one. Never had any issue with grains drying out myself. Due to the way the grains need to be piled on to the tray, and the fairly low heat you begin with to make crystal, there shouldn't be any real reason why the grains should dry out. You are effectively sweating them.

I was picturing all the malt spread out on the pan, piling it up would work.

My gluten free English bitter has been fermenting for about 3 1/2 days, I have very high hopes for it and I am looking forward to sharing it in this thread.

Just put it in the oven about and hour ago. It's exactly 2" deep in a casserole dish, 2 lbs of soaked sprouted quinoa that I soaked overnight. The sprouted quinoa I use has an odd earthy sweet smell to it, almost like licorice root tea, making me think the sprouting process does create a bit of sugar in it already (much like in barley malt). The smell is quite different to regular white quinoa, which is earthy and sour. I've worked with it in a couple of brews before, I even sloppily attempted to make crystal malt with it before, but I was just guessing on everything and it didn't turn out great. This time I'm following the protocol to the letter. It's taking its time getting up to temp in my oven on its lowest setting, but I guess slow and steady wins the race!

However this turns out, I'm planning on using this quinoa in combination with some puffed roasted quinoa and some kasha in a "got use up all my leftover hops" IPA in a month or so (sooner if I get around to bottling either of the two meads I've had fermenting forever).

Since you've worked with quinoa before, can you tell us what kind of flavors it gives to a finished beer?

It's hard to say; I've never used it exclusively, and most of my usage of it has been in small quantities relative to other grains. That's one of the reasons I want to do a brew that really features it. I know other members here have used it, though...but it seems a lot of those who have don't post much these days.

That's cool. What hops did you use? Is there a specific brand you are trying to clone? I am going to hopefully be doing one over the weekend. Going to be using Golding's and fuggles and using a 'normal' bitter recipe but using gluten free grains. Might even add a tad of cascade in towards the end to make it more like a Timmy Taylor's with the fruity after taste.

Let us know how it works out, man. I think that could be good for something like a bitter with the earthy taste to it.

I made a beer out of 'stuff I had left over' about a week or so ago. Also added some ham flavourings to give it a bacon flavour too it. Actually works. Haha

Well I don't think this quinoa's gonna turn crystal. After two hours at 145°F, the flavor of the grain has not changed. So I'm just gonna dry it and give it a mild roasting and call it done. Guess I'm gonna have to malt my own!

I was listening to the brewing network and they mentioned this site http://www.glutenfreecraftbeer.com/

Seen that one before. I didn't really take much notice of it, to be honest.


Doing a bitter tomorrow. Using brown sugar and golden syrup along with my malt and crystal. Using Fuggles and Golding's. will show you how it comes out.

That sounds a lot like the bitter I brewed a few days ago, but I used mostly millet with just a small percentage of buckwheat. That site made it sound like buckwheat would give an authentic beer like flavor.

Yeah, read another one like that the other day too. To be honest, when ever I have used the crystal type buckwheat, it doesn't have 'the taste' and does taste like a normal beer. Especially when I have used German hops. But when I roast the malt fairly dry, I get 'the taste'.

I might be adding some flaked millet and some maize to clear as well as some Irish moss, of course. Haha

Sorry, just to add to this. Following the success of my Buckwheat, I have just tried to make crystal corn. I would say it is kind of a success, but won't know until I use it. Below are some pictures of it.

mpcondo said:

The diastatic power of millet is pretty good, not quite what you get from barley but it can just about convert itself. I do an iodine test while mashing, and it usually converts itself just fine.

I got some info a few years ago from a brewer that was using hulled millet to make crystal malt. He ground the millet into a flour then mixed a little enzyme and water to make a dough, then formed it into cookies and put the cookies in the oven to make crystal. I have not tried this, but he said he had decent results.

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coming up on 10 years later, I am doing a cookie experiment. took some 1-for-1 GF baking flour (made with rice, sorghum,potato) and added in some cassava flour and chickpea flour. I added some alpha amylase and 2 tablets of alpha-galactosidase to help with the raffinose in the chickpea flour. My electric oven only goes down to 170 so im going to try a few cycles of preheating and turning it off to keep the temps low and then just let it go to 170.

Gjeisapo said:

coming up on 10 years later, I am doing a cookie experiment. took some 1-for-1 GF baking flour (made with rice, sorghum,potato) and added in some cassava flour and chickpea flour. I added some alpha amylase and 2 tablets of alpha-galactosidase to help with the raffinose in the chickpea flour. My electric oven only goes down to 170 so im going to try a few cycles of preheating and turning it off to keep the temps low and then just let it go to 170.

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I eventually let these go to 300F and after 30 minutes at that temp, they are still moist in the middle, but browned, and not particularly sweet.