Malt Syrup

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Brewsmith

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I bought a few pounds of grain to make into malt syrup. I know, I know, I can just buy some LME, but what fun is that? :p Plus I wanted some crystal grain in there for extra caramely flavors.

2.5 lbs. Pale 2-Row
0.5 lb. Crystal 60
0.25 lb. Crystal 120
0.25 lb. Crystal 150

I'm going to mash it, run off and then just boil it until I have a thick syrup. I have no idea how dark it's going to get. Promash went up there in the SRM when I made it pretty concentrated. In the end, I'm looking for about a quart or less. I'll try it over some ice cream first. :D
 
.............before you boil it all the way down, save some for a meat marinade!
 
Mmmm... the local pub made some wort-syrup and put it on ice cream, it was SO GOOD. I tried to make it at Dude's house, but scorched the sh*t out of it.
 
Don't have enough time to brew a beer right now, so I'm doing the syrup. Next time I think I'll use all base malt. It's amber colored in the mash and it hasn't been boiled yet.

I'm using my 2 gallon converted cooler. I should break this thing out more often. I could do all-grain starters. It would take longer, but it's less mess than DME.
 
BuffaloSabresBrewer said:
How bout a double boiler?

That's what I was going to say. :D

Or as mentioned above, as it thickens stir like mad. At first you should really have not worries until you are reduced down by like 3/4 or so, then your heat has to get cut way back and it would help to have something like a Silicone spatula so that you can scrape the bottom well. And keep in mind that when it cools it will become more viscous so you'll have to gauge the proper time to remove it from the heat. I'd say when it thickly coats the back of a spoon.
 
No double boiler necessary, just some stirring. :)

I mashed the 3.5 lbs and sparged to get 2 gallons. I started it outside on the turkey fryer and boiled it down to about three quarts and then moved it inside to a nice pot on the stove. The pot is a nice aluminum clad stainless. Once it really started getting thick I stirred constantly. I ended up with exactly one quart with the consistancy of real maple syrup.

Beacuse of all the crystal malt I used, it was an amber color after sparging, and a deep red when I moved it to the stove. As I cooled it down it darkened to about the color of molasses. The taste is sweet, a little caramely, and a cross between raisin/prune and molasses. It should be great on ice cream. I think I'm going to try it on pancakes, and I bet it could substitute molasses in any baking recipe. I'm going to find my Mom's recipe for molasses cookies...:D

I'm going to try this again soon, but with all base malt to see the difference in color and flavor. I could even do a varietal series with Northwestern, Briess, Pilsner, Maris Otter...
 
Damn you know, I just thought about it and I am a sucker for a malt. I should make some up for making malts!
 
I just tried some on crappy toaster waffles. It's pretty darn good. It's definately going on pancakes!:rockin:
 
So yesterday my wife made molasses cookies out of the syrup and they came out fantastic. The recipe included some ginger that overpowered much of the malt flavors, but the cookie was still great. I want to make them again but leave out the ginger just to see how the malt actually tastes.
 
Mmmmm. Molasses cookies. Yummy. Interesting idea. i may have to give it a go myself sometime. Rather than having a separate mash, though, why not just make a little extra when you brew, and set it aside for future syrup-making??? Just wondering.
 
Bernie Brewer said:
why not just make a little extra when you brew, and set it aside for future syrup-making??? Just wondering.

Interesting thought. Gently boil unhoped wort down ala maple syrup, or molasses.
Again interesting.
 
Well, I boiled two gallons of wort into one quart. I could, but I wasn't really caring about gravity. I just picked an amount that seemed reasonable (3.5 lbs) and ran out enough wort that was convienent (2 gallons). I didn't care how much I ended up with.

Also, I intentionally used the grains I did, being heavy on the crystal, especially the dark crystal. I'd never intentionally make a beer using the proportions that I used for the syrup.

It's a valid idea, but i think it would just screw up me trying to make a good beer. There's too much for me to think about. If I increased my grain bill by 3.5 lbs, how much do I run off and when. Two gallons of first runnings will be stronger than two gallons run off from a 3.5 lb mash. Plus that's one more thing to think about while trying to make a beer. Boil time, hop additions, sanitize fermenter, wort chiller, and don't scorch the syrup. I'll stick to just doing it by itself.
 
We had some yams left in the house after Easter dinner, so my wife glazed them with the malt syrup and a little cinnamon. Fantastic! :rockin: The malt syrup is not as sweet as the traditional brown sugar and has a slightly different flavor that works well with the yams.
 
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