toasting your own grains

[moger777]

Anyone have any luck toasting there own grains? Seems like a good way to save money since specialty grains are a tad bit more than base grains. What types of grains have you tried it on?

 

[Brewmando]

I've only roasted some hemp seeds for a brown ale, VERY good results. You might want to check out Palmers howtobrew.com chapter 20.4. Has a chart with temps and times.

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

To my grains!!!




Well... I'd say that was successful. I wonder if it works on hops as well....

 

[cheezydemon]

I have heard that the time and enegy and potential screwing up make it nowhere near a good idea. Also it is quite complicated, especially for something like dark barley.

(Yes that is funny humpsalot, and since it is so easy, I may even toast my own grains....Cheers fellas! Here's to ya!.......nope, still taste the same....)

 

[mrkristofo]

I've toasted them before when helping a buddy with a brown ale. It worked out great, and the aroma was fantastic! Dry, unmilled on a cookie sheet for 15min at 350˚F. I turned the grains at about 10 minutes to ensure they evenly got the heat. The aroma was fantastic! Let the grains cool, then crack em and use them in the mash or steep. In the end it contributed a very nice nutty character to the brown ale.

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

I like to smoke my own grains but have never roasted them. I agree with cheeze that this is not worth it to save ~20 cents. Smoking on the other hand is way better done at home.

 

[TheCrane]

I have toasted base malt for ESB and PA's. Its easy, makes the house smell nice, and adds a little more DIY-ness to your beer. I recently made some Crystal malt with some success. Check details here..https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=55683

 

[anderj]

"The Homebrewers Garden" has an extensive section on this, not only for barley but also for 10 or so more grains. It doesn't sound that difficult.
-ander

 

[DeathBrewer]

"The Homebrewers Garden" has an extensive section on this, not only for barley but also for 10 or so more grains. It doesn't sound that difficult.
-ander

do they happen to explain how to malt, convert and mash corn by itself (not as adjunct) in that? my friend is trying a little experiment.

 

[Rhoobarb]

I've done it before and it's a piece o' cake! Palmer and Daniels both review how to do it in their books. It's about the only way to get brown malt anymore. In my Yellow Rose IPA I toast 3 lbs. of 2-row at 350oF for one hour w/ the oven door slightly ajar. Adds a nice flavor. I also toast oatmeal in just about any recipe calling for it.

 

[anderj]

do they happen to explain how to malt, convert and mash corn by itself (not as adjunct) in that? my friend is trying a little experiment.

Yea, they do cover how to malt corn by itself, also how to malt amaranth, oats, quinoa, sorghum, spelt, and wheat.

The recipe section of the book is great, dandelion stout, spruce beer, sahti, amaranth ESB, rhubarb ale, just to name a few.

"for corn, soak in cold water 24 hours

transfer to colander

spray with cold water twice a day and turn over once a day to avoid mold

should sprout in two days, only about half will actually sprout

at this point a weird smell is normal

spread out and dry in the sun or in your oven on the lowest setting"

-paraphrased from "The Homebrewers Garden" (Joe Fisher and Dennis Fisher)

-ander

 

[Poindexter]

Mosher has a pretty interesting bit on making crystal oat malt...

 

[landhoney]

I did roast my own, because the recipe called for Brown Malt, which is apparently just roasted 2-row, and is hard to find or no longer made(at least my LHBS didn't have it). You can use other malts to get a similar effect, but the recipe I came up with was based on something 'historical' so I decided to use the 'real' thing. These were the guidelines I went by, no idea how accurate, but it worked for me.
http://hbd.org/brewery/library/roastmaltGC.html

 

[Blender]

I did a couple of pounds to replicate Biscuit/Victory malt for the ESB I am drinking now. It came out pretty well and certainly can taste it. I used this site as my guide. >>>http://oz.craftbrewer.org/Library/Methods/Sanders/roasting.shtml
I was going to give the Munich malt guidelines a shot next.