Home roasting grain

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

EO74

Supporting Member
HBT Supporter
Joined
Sep 10, 2009
Messages
351
Reaction score
11
Location
rockland mass
I have started to buy grain in bulk and i love the idea of roasting my own which would mean buying less specialty grains,less trips to the not so local hbs,and home into my homebrew.Does anyone roast on a regular basis and have good success with it ? I love the idea of being almost completly self suffecent.
 
I've roasted several types of grain already. Check out this site for advice, or Google some other sites. After you roast your malt, let it 'mellow' for a few weeks in a bag that is open. If you use it right after roasting, it will be rather harsh and taste bad.
 
i just finihed 2# vienna to try ed worts haus ale so we'll see.I also roasted some biscut do you really have to wait a week???Thanks for the links guys!!!
 
So because of this thread, I tried roasting some grain and making some crystal last night. I mashed my crystal in 155F water for a few hours, just left it sit. By the time I took it out, it has saturated and I figured conversion was complete. Then, I put the 1 lb of converted grains in 2 sheet pans into my oven. Instructions said 250F for 2 hours until dry, so I set my automatic oven for 2.5 hours and went to bed.

This morning, the grains were all crunchy but not burned, and they are TASTY. Definitely very crunchy, they are like little candies which is, I assume, what we are looking for. The lovibond is darker than I expected. I bit one in half, and did the same with my store bought crystal 90L, and 40L. My home made is much darker than the 40L, but not nearly as dark as the 90L. Those differences in Lovibond must be large even though the number difference is small. I am definitely stoked to try this crystal out! Maybe in a nice ESB? Or perhaps a roasty IPA?
 
Sounds good ,i've done victory and a crystal 10L.My plan is to buy in bulk and try todo most of the grains myself,sorta like a smash recipe:mug:let me know how yours turns out!!
 
I ended up roasting some more off, so now I have a 65L, an 85L, and a 105L.... approximately of course.

I brewed up an IPA yesterday, featuring special B and I added some of the Pale Gold homeroast (10L), and some of the homemade 65L. It smells great!
 
You can also try this site:mug:

The info on this site is rock solid, as is Laughing Gnome's process. I too have roasted, toasted, and made crystal malts at home to great success.

:mug:Something important for making crystal malt. Do yourself a favor and soak the grain for 12-24 hours not the 2-4 hours. When doing a 2-4 hour soak you get a product much more like what's available in the store. When soaking in the 20 hour range you get a much much better product worth the extra wait. It will literally be hard not to eat it as a snack it'll be so palatable, very much like cereal!

Schlante,
Phillip
 
Thats good to know cause i did a 4 hour soak an i gotta say it dosent taste too bad,i'll definatly have to try a 24 hour soak thanks for the input:mug:Thats why i love this website everyone loves to share techniques and secrets!
 
This thread is a true inspiration! I can only buy "Munton's Crystal Malt" with a lovibond of 49-64 locally. Now I'm thinking of taking some of my bulk 2-row and trying to make some Crystal 10L.

I think I'm going to do a 3-lb batch. Take 1 lb out of the oven pretty much directly after the grains are dried. Take the second one out a half hour later, and take the third out a half hour after that, just for comparison. Then I'll see which looks closest in color to the last of the 10L I have.

Thanks for the inspiration!!
 
This thread is a true inspiration! I can only buy "Munton's Crystal Malt" with a lovibond of 49-64 locally. Now I'm thinking of taking some of my bulk 2-row and trying to make some Crystal 10L.

I think I'm going to do a 3-lb batch. Take 1 lb out of the oven pretty much directly after the grains are dried. Take the second one out a half hour later, and take the third out a half hour after that, just for comparison. Then I'll see which looks closest in color to the last of the 10L I have.

Thanks for the inspiration!!

I did my first2 batches of crystal last week. I gotta tell ya, the difference between dried crystal and darker than 10L is like MINISCULE. I guess, drawing from my own personal experience I reccomend that you:
1) Convert your grains starches to sugar via any method you perfer
2) When it comes to drying, do it at a lower than reccomended temperature, as mine went from dried one minute, to about 70L so fast it was crazy.

I will also try again, but I will definately watch the drying phase more closely and use a lower temp to get about a 10L. I will also be stirring more often. Anyway, I hope this information serves you well!
 
Thanks for the tip. Not sure when I'll get around to this, but I'm thinking of soaking tomorrow night to Monday and then drying and roasting Monday after work.

I'll hopefully post results with pics.
 
This may be a dumb question, but her it goes anyways. Do any of you guys have suggestions for measuring the lovibond rating of the final roasted grains?
 
I made .75# toasted malt from pale malt in a brown ale I have fermenting. You can smell some toasted flavor through the airlock, but it's not overpowering. I'm hopeful a little toasted taste will come through.
 
I've read all (I think) of the threads here about roasting grains. Almost every thread recommends an article/ site but the link is down. Here is the bad link:

oz.craftbrewer.org/Library/Methods/Sanders/roasting.shtm

It seem oz.craftbrewer.org is gone. I think the article is: "Home Grain Roasting by Graham Sanders & Steve Lacey". Does anyone have a copy, or know if it is published/available anywhere? My google abilities have failed me. Thanks!

Albert
 
So here's a pic of my first attempts. (this is really a "soft bump" to get my prior post at the top of the new post list). I steeped 1oz in 1 quart of hot water in a french press. From Left to Right:
1) Plain 2 row 2) Soaked 2 hrs then 30 minutes in oven at 350F (the color is the same but smells more biscuity, 3) dry grains in oven 375F 40 minutes (best smelling of the lot) 4). 20 minutes on the BBQ at 325-350 (hard to keep temp and had torrefied "popcorn" effect"). Nice color.

If anyone has the Sanders/ Lacey article (above) I love a copy.

Albert

DSC_0526.jpg
 
Back
Top