Porter from all base malt (kilning at home)

[Baltisotan]

Looking at making a Porter from only base malt and wheat, roasting my own to get the color and flavors.

Some background: I'm a member of Kitchen Sink Anonymous. Used to have about 3-4 different tiny malt additions around 3% of the grist. My brews were muddled and mediocre.

Since then I've made an effort to simplify my recipes, trying to limit the number of malts I use. However, I always run into the issue of just wanting to add a touch of this and a touch of that to get that little extra flavor.

I've been toying with the idea of kilning my own malt in the oven. I figure the lazy in me will win out and I won't want to kiln 6-7 different malts. Plus, if I can kiln a base malt into whatever I want, it'll save inventory space and make the girlfriend happy.

Will I miss out on some specialty flavors? Probably. But if they're that important I can always go pick some up from my LHBS. Plus, I get a benefit of adding that little bit extra of "I did this", since brewing for me is about sitting down, focusing on a product, and hand crafting it myself. Then relax and enjoy my hard work paying off.

Anyways, has anyone tried this? I've got my recipe (see below), and I'm probably gonna do it even if everyone says its a terrible idea and a waste of time (I am a homebrewer after all), but I'm looking for feedback on the recipe/kilning process.

Home Toasted Porter
5 gal post boil
1.049 OG
20 SRM
31 IBUs
70% Mash Efficiency

3.75 lbs untoasted Golden Promise (2.4L)
4.19 lbs 10L Golden Promise (10 min @ 300 degF)
1.11 lbs 60L Golden Promise (50 min @ 300 degF)
0.52 lbs 200L Golden Promise (30 min @ 450 degF)
0.46 lbs 350L Golden Promise (60 min @ 450 degF)

Mash at 154 degF

8.5 AAU EKG @ 60 min
1.5 AAU EKG @ 10 min

WLP013 London Ale

 

[Clonefan94]

I guess I've never thought of it much, but I did always assume that kilning your own malt wasn't as simple as roasting it in the oven. I would think there are oxygen levels and precise temps that need to be closely monitored to get what you want from the malt.

I'll be interested to hear if anyone else posts about this.

 

[Baltisotan]

I had always figured the hard part was actually malting. Since base malt is kilned slightly, I'm just taking it back. Carmel malt would take some soaking, but considering Palmer and Mosher give directions for toasting your own malt I figured I'd give it a try.

 

[vincentAlpha]

Isn't kilning and toasting two different processes? I thought when maltsters were kilning malt it was basically to stop the malting process and preserve it by drying it out. Toasting can continue this I suppose but wouldn't the malt have quite a different moisture level prior to kilning that you wouldn't have prior to toasting?