I see there is a masive amount of grain available, and its very confusing, in all the different colors and tasts but, (and im sure there is a tread on here about it) but has any body just took normal plain pale malt and turned it into "special" grains?.........succesfully!
GRAIN! GRAIN! all these bloody grains?
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beerandloathinginaustin
Well-Known Member
I think you have basic pale malt and then you have specialty grains. I'm not sure how you would magically transform it unless you were the Jesus of homebrewing.
What's the weather like in Mphumalanga this time of year btw?
What's the weather like in Mphumalanga this time of year btw?
DannyD
Well-Known Member
Cold thax!!! but that is just the point...... it all starts out barley? then they do stuff to it and it becomes other stuff (kiln, roast, wet kiln, dry kiln ect)
can that be done? with pale malt? (excluding different barley cultevers)
beerandloathinginaustin
Well-Known Member
As a lowly partial mash brewer I'm going to have to quote my personal hero and 44th President of these United Stiznates: "That's above my pay grade."
DannyD
Well-Known Member
PS. beerandloathinginaustin, have a friend that was in texas 2 monthes back, he says you do things alot like we do, "Braai" (or BBQ around there)real meat (not burger?) and drink Jack and coke:rockin:
Vance71975
Well-Known Member
Sure have, take Pale Malt, put it in an oven on 200 for about 4 hours, POOF toasted malt!
jlaureanti
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malting is a process.... there is 2-row and 6-row barley... these are malted (kilned) to make the other malts.... They are all a different level of malting... as well as other factors like beginning the germination process before malting...
anyways... to answer your question, you can toast store bought malts to add a different character, but you cannot turn domestic 2-row into caramel-90. A malster could, thats his job, but no offense (judging by the question) I do not think you have the skills required to perform this task.
My local homebrew shop will allow me to taste the grains before I buy them so I have an idea of the characteristics that each malt has to offer. But unless you have the ability to take grains from the field and complete the entire malting process yourself you cannot take cheap 2-row and convert them into specialty grains. Sorry.
The good news is, there is only a .60 cent difference per pound between 2-row and specialty grains... So, that is maybe an extra $5.00 max on a 5 gallon batch that you are spending.
anyways... to answer your question, you can toast store bought malts to add a different character, but you cannot turn domestic 2-row into caramel-90. A malster could, thats his job, but no offense (judging by the question) I do not think you have the skills required to perform this task.
My local homebrew shop will allow me to taste the grains before I buy them so I have an idea of the characteristics that each malt has to offer. But unless you have the ability to take grains from the field and complete the entire malting process yourself you cannot take cheap 2-row and convert them into specialty grains. Sorry.
The good news is, there is only a .60 cent difference per pound between 2-row and specialty grains... So, that is maybe an extra $5.00 max on a 5 gallon batch that you are spending.
DannyD
Well-Known Member
Jip that is a no brainer
but what would it be called then?torified, toasted, choclate, dark, roasted, black,... because you can buy all there mentioned ? what prosses makes it different?
beerandloathinginaustin
Well-Known Member
This made me spit Phoenixx Double ESB on my monitor. And I learned something. What a great thread.
DannyD
Well-Known Member
OK?.......dont know why skill needed to be mentioned? BUT any who..... so wat you actualy want to say is that nobody has tried something different and just takes things as they are?
DannyD
Well-Known Member
OK......bwhahaha.....Sorry im one of those "EMO like" people that like to stir and get negative feedback.....just agreeing all the time is boring..........constant aformation from peer are how beer snobs develop
beerandloathinginaustin
Well-Known Member
Everybody relax. Danny is likely not a native English speaker and he wouldn't be asking these questions if he were a pro at malting. Regardless, misunderstandings happen. Especially when dealing with our friends in Mphumalanga. Wherever that is. Oh google says South Africa. Word. Ik spreek Nederlands. Spreek je een beetje Afrikaans?
So Danny, the answer is that you could turn basic grains into specialty grains but you'd need to be a pro. Your manhood, general skill set, and love of meat were not in question.
So Danny, the answer is that you could turn basic grains into specialty grains but you'd need to be a pro. Your manhood, general skill set, and love of meat were not in question.
DannyD
Well-Known Member
Everybody relax. Danny is likely not a native English speaker and he wouldn't be asking these questions if he were a pro at malting. Regardless, misunderstandings happen. Especially when dealing with our friends in Mphumalanga. Wherever that is. Oh google says South Africa. Word. Ik spreek Nederlands. Spreek je een beetje Afrikaans?
So Danny, the answer is that you could turn basic grains into specialty grains but you'd need to be a pro. Your manhood, general skill set, and love of meat were not in question.
Natuurlik friend, hoe gaan dit nog daar in die noorde? en ja dis wel hier in Zuid Africa (mphumalanga) voorheen bekend as Oos Transvaal
....en ek verneem julle het wel ook 'n dorp met die naam Ermelo
beerandloathinginaustin
Well-Known Member
Lachen mijn kont af! Wat mooie zeg. Ik heb mijn kennis van Nederlands niet vaak zinvol gevonden maar hier is ene keer!
Sir, I have never transformed my malts or grains into anything but good beer. I think somebody pointed out that usually the cost of buying specialty grains makes anyone of us lowly homebrewers perfectly happy to pay the only slightly higher price.
At the end of the day, I feel like what you'd really like is a good feel for what the difference is between everything. A few weeks back I went to the austinhomebrewsupply.com website and just did google searches on all their grains and specialty grains to get a feel for what they would do as far as taste & texture etc. You might enjoy that, just as I did.
Ik hoop dat je nog een fijne dag hebt.
Sir, I have never transformed my malts or grains into anything but good beer. I think somebody pointed out that usually the cost of buying specialty grains makes anyone of us lowly homebrewers perfectly happy to pay the only slightly higher price.
At the end of the day, I feel like what you'd really like is a good feel for what the difference is between everything. A few weeks back I went to the austinhomebrewsupply.com website and just did google searches on all their grains and specialty grains to get a feel for what they would do as far as taste & texture etc. You might enjoy that, just as I did.
Ik hoop dat je nog een fijne dag hebt.
DannyD
Well-Known Member
http://www.grainandgrape.com.au/articles_other/AlexT_HomeMCrystal.htm
and
http://twinorbsbrewery.blogspot.com/2007/10/making-my-own-crystal-malt.html
I think these people are seconds away from going " inernational pro!!!!!! they have found out the mistical way of turning our commen, humble, pale malt (which I think comes from beer trees) into.........something else
ya.... ya.... im the idiot.................................for asking....
and
http://twinorbsbrewery.blogspot.com/2007/10/making-my-own-crystal-malt.html
I think these people are seconds away from going " inernational pro!!!!!! they have found out the mistical way of turning our commen, humble, pale malt (which I think comes from beer trees) into.........something else
ya.... ya.... im the idiot.................................for asking....
COLObrewer
Well-Known Member
So lets try this again...... Has anybody used normal base malt and made it into something different/"special" (without being a pro, or calling my love of meat and my manhood into question?)
Yes,
If you mash pale malt whole, then you can make crystal/caramel malt. The pros do this however with "green" malt.
You can also roast pale malts into Black malt and Chocolate malt.
You can roast raw barley to make, you guessed it, roasted barley, all this roasting takes place at appx. 300 - 450 degrees F for different times.
You can roast pale malts to make toasted malt, 200F plus. etc, etc, It mostly takes some research into the process'.
Most of the rest has to be done during the malting process, maybe some of the links in my sig. down there VVVVVV will help?
RobWalker
Well-Known Member
It's on!!
You can roast all sorts of different characters from Pale Malt. I have made a pseudo brown malt, a sort of aromatic malt and some others I don't know what to call. You can also make crystal malts, you have to let the grain soak in water for 24 hours or until fully hydrated. Then you need to roast them between 155-160 F for 2-3 hours and this will convert the starches to sugars. You'll then need to roast them at around 200 until dry or you can roast at higher temps for different flavors.
Whatever you do take detailed notes in case you want to duplicate it. It may also be wise to use just one roasted grain with pale malt to make a beer, as you start out, so that you have a good opportunity to taste the flavor contributions from that malt.
When you roast anything dark at all give it 7-10 days to rest before brewing so that any harsh flavors can mellow out.
Whatever you do take detailed notes in case you want to duplicate it. It may also be wise to use just one roasted grain with pale malt to make a beer, as you start out, so that you have a good opportunity to taste the flavor contributions from that malt.
When you roast anything dark at all give it 7-10 days to rest before brewing so that any harsh flavors can mellow out.
DannyD
Well-Known Member
FoundlingOfDollar
Well-Known Member
Seems to me that it is a skill and equipment set like any other part of home brewing. There is a set of skills that you must learn, but with a lot of hard work you can learn it. It may eventually require equipment beyond your oven, and then you will need that equipment. You will not be able to make every specialty grain from your two row (good luck making flaked oats from 2 row), and some grains may just require more equipment and skill than is practical to acquire at home. Commercial specialty grains are made in bulk, which is why they are not much more expensive than basic grains, so just making small batches of grains at home the extra time required may not be worth the tiny bit of money saved. Commercially bought grains may even be more consistent than what you will ultimately be able to do at home. So I think if you want to do it, it needs to be for the love of the hobby and doing something new. You would hardly be the first person here to add a new and difficult step to their brewing process just for their own gratification.
DannyD
Well-Known Member
ahhhaaaa......... this is what it comes down to...
obviously im not trying to make german malt (bcos I aint in germany) or make roled oats from barley
, but i see some of these recipies with 5 different crystal malts, 3 different roasted barley's...........and the schmuck's add it because?????.........the recipe said so???why make someone else's beer.....if you can make your OWN, (then take the yeast and bake a bread, or pretzels....and eat that with the chees you made in the meantime)
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