Toasty/roasty/grain-tastingy extract recipe advice?

[GreenGal]

So I have recently discovered that I absolutely love the flavor of toasty roasty grain in my beer (maybe a bit more on the toasty side). I was wondering if anyone had any extract recipe suggestions that really emphasize these flavors. Though I get the feeling from a few threads that this 'grainy' quality is something that other brewers may see as a problem not a goal, but nevertheless...

I'm not really looking for a porter or stout, but something a bit lighter and with an average gravity. Nothing bitter either.

What it comes down to is I would really like to drink something that brings to mind the way specialty grains smell as they are steeping.

Hmm...or do I just steep an excessive amount of toasty specialty grain...?

I am a rather new brewer, so I would appreciate any expertise. Thanks!

 

[944play]

Sounds like you'd be into brown ales, Munich dunkel, and Vienna lagers. Do you like Newcastle, Mönchshof Schwarzbier, or Negra Modelo? Look for recipes with lots of Munich malt. It brings a lot of toasty/bready without too much heaviness.

 

[Marko73]

One thing too is to toast your own malted barley. I did Charlie Papazian's IPA recipe from the Complete Joy of Homebrewing and when I saw this I was intrigued. I followed his directions and it was simple: I spread a 1/2 lb of malted barley on a cookie sheet and baked it a 350 for 10 minutes. Gave the finished product one of the most unique flavor profiles I have tasted. I think you could do this for an amber ale too if you didn't want the bitterness of an IPA.

Good luck!

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

You should look into milds. Orfy has a great extract recipe here.

 

[GreenGal]

I too am intrigued by the roast-your-own idea. However, is there really a difference between roasting my own and buying already roasted malted barley? Perhaps there is more complexity from the more uneven roasting of the barley in your oven as opposed to even roasting in a drum roaster or whatever big equipment the professionals use. What type of grain did you try it with?

I'm looking into milds though they may be a little low alcohol for me - but that can be dealt with...

Thanks for the help!

 

[permo]

pale chocolate malt + aromatic malt + munich malt will give you the flavor that I think you are looking for.

 

[Marko73]

Roasted barley has a certain bitterness that the toasted malt did not have. I wouldn't say I roasted it, but I had the same question.

I asked a friend at the LHBS and he suggested Amercian 2 row, but I think the real taste came from the toasting to a reddish brown color. I guess the only comparison I can make is like toasting sesame seeds vs. roasting them. Very different flavor.

 

[Marsdude]

I have found this recipe to have a "toasty/roasty" taste:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f68/tims-irish-stout-155988/

It is my favorite beer I brew so far.

 

[Yooper]

I like "toasty" flavors in my Cali common, so I use victory malt. I really like the results. I think some special roast gives ales a roasty/toasty flavor, too.

 

[GreenGal]

Thanks for all the suggestions! I just bought supplies for a half batch of Orfy's Mild Mannered Ale for this weekend (I only have a 3 gallon free right now) and I think I will experiment a bit with some of the toastier grains in the next batch (whatever that may be).

 

[austinb]

I would suggest toasting your own malt in the oven like other suggested, its really easy and gives beer a great toasty flavor. I would buy some plain two-row pale malt from the homebrew shop and make sure they don't crush it for you because you want to toast the grain while its whole.

Since you are doing extract I assume you don't have a grain mill. Don't worry. Since you will be doing very small amounts of the toasted grain (probably about a half pound most of the time) rather than the large amount in all-grain brewing you should be able to crush your grain in a food processor or coffee grinder. Be careful not to crush the grain too fine, you will want most pieces of grain broken up into about 2 to 4 peices. It will look like this:

Also make sure you don't add the grain right into the boiling pot! Instead steep the grain in 150-160 degree F water for about 30 mins. For steeping grain you will want to use about a gallon of water for every pound of grain so if you used a half pound I would used 2 qts water. After 30 minutes use a fine strainer or cheese cloth to strain the liquid into the brewpot without getting grain particles into the boil.