Roasted Barley/Barley Tea

[badlee]

I have the urge to brew a stout or two in small batches in the near future,but do not have any fresh( read as under two years old) roasded barley.
I will be unable to obtain any for at least a few months,and being the grown up toddler I am, do not want to wait.
I can get the grains that are billed as Japanese/Korean barley tea.
Has anyone ever used it?
Does anyone now what kind of colour contribution I would get from it?
Is there any reasy that I should NOT use it?
Cheers
lee

 

[badlee]

Bump

 

[ong]

It wouldn't hurt to experiment with it, but I thought that stuff was a lot lighter than roasted barley. Have you thought about just roasting some of your base malt?

 

[OswaldvW]

Mugi-Cha is nowhere near as roasty as roasted barley for brewing.

Also, does it have the husks? I tried roasting pearled barley (which, of course, are hulless) to make my own stout and ended up with a very tasty tan, roasty something, but not a stout. I think one of the prime ingredients are the husks that can impart a lot of color and flavour.

 

[sweetcell]

I think one of the prime ingredients are the husks that can impart a lot of color and flavour.

husks do provide a lot of flavor, but don't contribute much to color.

Carafa Special malts are dehusked roasted malts. you get the color but a lot less roastiness/astringency/etc from them. i imagine that whatever this "barley tea" malt is will be somewhat similar... but what do i know!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roasted_barley_tea

 

[OswaldvW]

husks do provide a lot of flavor, but don't contribute much to color.

Hmmm. I hadn't thought about that. This means that when I went to roast by barley, I must have really messed up along the way because my stout did not even go beyond 13-15 Lovibond. I assumed the husks had something to do with it because my roasted barley had the color of the kind found at a brew store.

 

[badlee]

The colour contribution must be down to how dark the inside of the kernels are.
So,in the name of science,as soon as my new FVs get here,I will have to give it a go.
Shame I cannot do a side by side.
Maybe relegation to 5 litre batches will have some up sides afterall