Roasting Malt in Dryer?

[Gunshow]

I was talking to my Dad the other day over a homebrew and he mentioned that back before the days of the local homebrew store it was hard to come by malt other than base malt. He said he knew of people who would roast their own malt by throwing some 2 row in a pillow case and putting it in the dryer. From there one could select the "delicate" or "permanent press" or whatever cycle and get different specialty malts as a result. I thought he was full of trash.
Has anyone heard of this technique? Anyone tried it? I know roasting malt in the oven is common, but the dryer?

 

[alcibiades]

there is no way its hot enough

 

[Scut_Monkey]

I've heard if you use some dryer sheets with this technique you can replicate honey malt.



Just kidding. No in all reality I have no idea. I'm sure it could change the characteristics of the malt but I don't imagine you would have much control at all over the product and I would see it taking forever if it did work.

 

[Catt22]

Naw, but I've heard of something similar for DIY malt. Essentially, you start with raw barley and malt it using the dryer to kiln the malt. I doubt that a dryer would get hot enough to roast malt. You might be able to produce some crystal malt this way, but I'm skeptical of the practicality and it might very well phuk up your dryer.

 

[fredthecat]

lol it might have been done (i have no clue), but i cant imagine why a dryer would be any better or controllable than using a regular oven...

 

[azscoob]

I have honestly never heard of that, I also doubt that it gets hot enough to do anything other than make your dryer smell like malt. I DO know that you can tenderize an octopus in a washing machine with a rotating agitator. but I doubt that you can kiln malt in a dryer.

 

[Austin_]

I have honestly never heard of that, I also doubt that it gets hot enough to do anything other than make your dryer smell like malt. I DO know that you can tenderize an octopus in a washing machine with a rotating agitator. but I doubt that you can kiln malt in a dryer.

I would do this only so my clothes would smell like malt.

 

[azscoob]

or octopus, if you went that route

 

[MBasile]

I don't see why he would be lying, but it doesn't seem like the dryer would get hot enough. Maybe we just have ***** driers nowadays?

PS: Maybe driers do get hot enough, I know the buttons on a freshly dried pair of jeans burn the hell out of my gut.

 

[Revvy]

I don't see why he would be lying, but it doesn't seem like the dryer would get hot enough. Maybe we just have ***** driers nowadays?

PS: Maybe driers do get hot enough, I know the buttons on a freshly dried pair of jeans burn the hell out of my gut.

He might have been really talking about malting grain back then, not necessarily making crystal malts. Who knows. If you've ever touched a zipper coming out of an hour in the dryer on high heat, you know it can get pretty hot in there, so it might work. It would be worth investigating.

What's there to lose?

On the other hand I cant see just the heat providing much of a maillard reaction from air heating in there. Maybe a popcorn air popper like folks mod for roasting coffee.

I have been doing some dry pan roasting on the stove of my grains, and done some in the oven. Including soaking some in simple syrup, then toasting. I did there 1 pound batches like that recently 1# toasted in a cast iron pan on my stove, 1# soaked in water for an hour, wet toasted in the pan, and then oven dried, and 1# soaked in simple syrup, pan heated then oven dried. I did 3 2.5 gallon test batches using 4# two row and 1# of the toasted malt.

I just bottled them all, and will post my results when they are carbed.

 

[willynilly]

A clothes dryer is not hot enough to roast malt. We are talking about plant material here... your pillow case is probably plant material. If it will roast the malt, it will certainly roast your cotton pillow case.

Coffee roasters exceed 500F...try this on your next pair of jeans.

 

[passedpawn]

I was talking to my Dad the other day

Roughly April First?

 

[Gunshow]

I figured if you can crush grain with a pasta maker or make a stirplate from a computer fan what says you can't throw some grain in the dryer? My wife already hit me with a resounding NO so I thought I'd see if anyone else has tried it. Some time ago I put some hop pellets in a dish as potpourri so our guest room smelled like Cascades, and that didn't go over too well. I can only imagine what would happen if all our clothes smelled like fresh malt.

 

[wildwest450]

To roast malts you need to be well over 200F. Just for laughs I threw a couple of towels in my dryer and put it on high for 10 minutes. Sticking the temp probe way down in the heat discharge I got up to an impressive 165F, still far short of being hot enough. There's no way the basket was that hot.

Your dad and my dad must be related, he tells some good ones too. I just smile and nod.

 

[NorCalAngler]

This is a great can example of "can vs. should." However, this source says most tumbler dryers operate at 175C or about 350F. It seems this is more than hot enough to roast malt. Remember, there is a cooldown period at the end of drying cycles so even the warm or hot clothes we feel are far cooler than during their cycle. During the cycle the clothes are also damp, thus losing most of their heat to steam. This air is quickly circulated away from the clothes and sent out the vent.

OK, I'm not so sure about the temps reported in that link. Here is a study of dryer fires that has much lower temperature ranges. Page 40 shows the operating temperatures for a variety of dryers.

 

[wcarter1227]

I figured if you can crush grain with a pasta maker or make a stirplate from a computer fan what says you can't throw some grain in the dryer? My wife already hit me with a resounding NO so I thought I'd see if anyone else has tried it. Some time ago I put some hop pellets in a dish as potpourri so our guest room smelled like Cascades, and that didn't go over too well. I can only imagine what would happen if all our clothes smelled like fresh malt.

Your wife sounds like mine, I brewed an IPA for christmas and my house smelled lovely of chinook hops, just for my wife to come home to say like it smelled like a wet dog biscuit and pine cones, yummy i love the smell of wort and hops.

 

[david_42]

Dryers are good for drying malts and breaking off the sprouts, but modern dryers are temperature and humidity controlled and won't get anywhere hot enough to roast/toast malts. They are barely hot enough to cure the malt.


Speaking from personal experience, gas home dryers in the 1950s ran hot enough to blister fingers.

 

[malagabeer]

What about this? :rockin:

homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=10990