Toasting malt in the oven - presoak or no?

[mummasan]

I made the Lake Walk Pale Ale recently and it turned out great. The recipe called for two pounds of toasted pale malt. When I toasted my grains I spread them out on a cookie sheet in a single layer and left them in the oven for 15 minutes. While they toasted I could hear them popping like popcorn. I didn't presoak them.

Afterwards, I discovered that, prior to toasting, some people presoak their grains over night, remove the grains from the water, spread them out in a pan about 1/2 an inch thick then toast in the oven.

If you have toasted your own grain how did you do it?

 

[mysterio]

Popping? Very unusual!

I simply put uncrushed whole grain spread out thinly on a baking sheet and toast them for 20 - 30 minutes or so. I think pre-soaking would give you a sweeter malt, closer to a crystal malt than an amber/toasted/biscuit malt.

 

[Hammy71]

Popping?....What temp did you use? I usually make my vienna malt at 200F for around an hour. I do spray the malt with water about an hour before I put them in the oven. I use this sites method...

http://oz.craftbrewer.org/Library/Methods/Sanders/roasting.shtml

 

[Barc]

Generally speaking, soaking grain for a full day is the best route for making Crystal Malts, not necessarily "regular" roasted malt. That's what I've done, at least.

 

[bierbrauer]

And don’t forget to leave the Malt for about a week before using it to brew. There are compounds formed during the roasting that need to dissipate.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

For toasted malt, no pre-soaking is necessary. If you intend to approximate crystal malt, the grain needs some additional moisture content.