Can I roast crushed grain?

[Champurrado]

I'd like to roast my own grain. I don't have a grain crusher (I usually buy it crushed and have had great results). Can I roast crushed grain without ruining it?

Thanks.

 

[IrregularPulse]

I asked this same thing for a fat tire clone that called for 1lb roasted malt,but I'm don't have a mill either. I was told not to do it. So I didn't.

 

[giligson]

I suppose if you wanted something like a black or chocolate malt you may be able to get "close" but you wont get anything like an amber or vienna etc I think - owing to the way that the whole kernel heats vs. just roasting the "flour" and husks.

 

[Beezer94]

I would assume you could buy a couple pounds of grains that are not crushed to roast and use a rolling pin. It is probably very time consuming to crush a whole grain bill with one, but a pound or two probably isn't that bad.

 

[Champurrado]

Fair enough. What would I buy to replicate 2 lbs of toasted Pale Male?

Thanks.

 

[Champurrado]

Maybe Biscuit? Victory?

 

[michelson39]

I've toasted some speciality grains used for steeping before. It gave a nice toasted flavor to my brown ale. Palmer discusses it here. How to Brew - By John Palmer - Toasting Your Own Malt Give it a go!

 

[HSM]

Actually, no you can't. As you approach the oven there will be a force that cannot be described that will not let you open the door and insert grain..

If your are just steeping roast whole and then crush with a rolling pin or a quick pulse in a food processor.

Barley Crusher... yeah, you will want one if you keep doing this

 

[brewit2it]

I have some crusched 20L crystal malt Im gonna try roasting. Ill let folks know how it goes.

 

[emjay]

Toasted (kilned) malts include:

Vienna
Munich
Aromatic
Biscuit
Victory
Melanoidin
Special Roast (apparently)
Brown

Toasted malts represent a fairly wide range of malts though, so your question of what could substitute is tricky to answer. Are you following a recipe? Because even if you were to toast them yourself, you still get the same wide range of potential end results, so you'd really need to know to what degree they need to be toasted.

The best I can suggest without any more information is just to figure out the approximate °Lovibond you need and choose the malt from the list above that comes closest. For convenience, they are listed in order from lightest to darkest.

 

[MarzBock]

yeah, you can surely crush a couple of pounds by hand. I did 6lb once.. ONCE. Then I bought a grain mill.

Just a quick tip: If you use a food processor, "condition" the grain by spraying it with water in a pump sprayer and mix it around. You want to get the husks damp so they don't get chopped up too much. I believe the idea is to add about 2% water content back into the grain, and then let it sit for a few minutes to let the husks soak it up. It's a very good thing to do, trust me.

Details:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Malt_Conditioning

Marz