Can I roast some Maris Otter into Crystal?

Hey, gang. Dumb question here: I have some Maris Otter, is it possible to heat it in my oven and convert it to Crystal? (ideally 120, as that's what I need for my recipe?)

Boring story short, I flubbed my order for grain, and as a result I won't get my crystal malt until Monday. Related fact: my vacation is almost over and I really wanted to brew!

I roasted my own from 2 row. Just spritz with water, spread as thinly as you can. I think I went 300 for 15 to 20 minutes. I'd guess that gave me about 60L.

You can but to get to C-120 is going to be a W.A.G. (wild a$$ guess) What temperature and how long???

Naturally, Palmer has it covered.

http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter20-4.html

Oh and he recommends aging them in a paper sack prior to use. I didn't, and my beer may have suffered...I drank it though.

You can't turn base malt into crystal malts. Crystal malts are mashed before kilning to create maltose within. Yes, you can toast but it won't be crystal/cara malts.

Thanks for the quick responses: looks like I'm SOL. Brewing next weekend, then!

Trail said:

Thanks for the quick responses: looks like I'm SOL. Brewing next weekend, then!

Click to expand...

Why not brew something with what you have then get the proper ingredients for the next time???

What is the rest of the recipe?

It's a pretty normal Ordinary Bitter. It'd still be quite drinkable sans crystal, but I've already made a couple adjustments to the recipe this time around: if I tinker with it more I won't learn much from it. The recipe is:

Malts:
6lbs 6.4oz Maris Otter
3.2oz Biscuit Malt
2.9oz Crystal 120L

Hops:
Fuggle 0.75oz 60min
Fuggle 0.50oz 30min
Golding 1.00oz 15min
Golding 1.00oz flameout

YEAST:
Safale S-04

Mash at 154deg for 75 minutes.

With that recipe, the crystal and biscuit is not much of a factor. If you are shooting for an authentic English bitter, most didn't use Crystal Malts. If you are just looking for a bit of color there are a lot of things you could sub.

Check out some of Ron Pattinson's recipes at barclayperkins.blogspot.com

He bases his recipes on real brewery logs - I love the 1945 Tetley's Mild. There is also a 1945 Tetley's Bitter recipe and some newer ones as well.