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(Note: I have a part 2 to this post that is based on my first run at making
Special B, I also have a part 3 which covers more on Melanoidens and other
methods of roasting besides the oven (drum roasting, nut roasting, pan
roasting, ect)
It’s here! Roasted: the Homebrewer’s Guide to Home Roasting Grain written by
yours truly ( Click Here for the Amazon Kindle Version)! It’s available as an Ebook
Download through Amazon for only $2.99. The book covers a lot of the information
contained in my posts, but also has additional information on base malts, and reading a
malt analysis sheet. It’s not the longest book, but it doesn’t have to be. There are plenty
of books that cover how to brew and brewing science. This book focuses solely on the art
of home roasting grain for beer.
Roasting your own grains is an awesome way to add another personal touch to your
homebrew. I love roasting my own malts and even make my own crystal malt from time
to time. It is so easy, and all you need is an oven and some time. Roasting your malts
doesn’t take more than an hour at the most, except for crystal malt. Home roasting adds
some awesome malt flavor to your beer. I have won awards with some of the beers that
have home roasted malts in them. One of them is my highest scoring beer with a 43 out
of 50. So great beer with home roasted malts is quite possible. Granted, you don’t have
the consistency of professional malts, but you have added more home-made factor to
your beer. For more on this topic or how to do your own crystal/caramel malts I suggest
buying Randy Mosher’s Book Radical Brewing, which is where I started to base my
roasting methods off of. You can of course purchase my Ebook; Roasted: A
Homebrewer’s Guide to Home Roasting Grain.
Why it Works
The roasted grains you get from your homebrew shop, mostly start out exactly like the
two or six you pale malt you are buying. The difference is how they are treating the grain
afterwards. They have specific process that they follow each time and have exact
temperatures and testing equipment to ensure a consistent and stable product. But in the
end all they are doing with the malted grain is playing with the browning reaction called
Malliard Reactions. Mainly this is an altering of the flavor and aroma of the grain by
browning the starches and proteins inside the grain to a specific degree. The changes in
color, again the browning of the starches and proteins change the chemical properties of
the grain my changing the melanoidins in the malt. It is reported that this melanoidin
change also helps preserve the beer by slowing the oxidation process of the beer.
Before We Begin
There have been some questions on whether it is necessary to let your grains rest for 2
weeks prior to using them. I highly suggest doing so, but if you find you can’t wait, just
make sure you are using the lighter roasts. The rest time allows for unwanted aromas
that are produced during the browning of the starches in the grain to dissipate. From
what I can find, this is mostly for the darker roasts, possibly deep amber and above. I
have found that as a general rule, the professional maltsters allow their roasted/toasted
grains to rest for 4-6 weeks. I personally have used some grains after a week without any
noticeable off flavors or aromas, but then again none of those were the richer roasts.
The Process
For Gold Malt (est. 20 L) that is malty, caramelly and rich but not
toasty roast your base malt for 25 minutes at 300 degrees F.
For Amber Malt (est. 35 L) that is Nutty, Malty, and lightly toasty roast
your base malt for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F.
For Copper Malt (est. 100 L)that has a strong toasted flavor with
some nutlike notes roast your base malt for 30 minutes at 400 degrees F.
For Brown Malt (est. 175 L) that has a strong roasted flavor, roast
your base malt for 50 minutes at 400 degrees F.
For Chocolate Malt (est 200+ L depending on time and heat): You
need more heat and control than what you can get in the oven. For
Chocolate malt use a clean stainless steel or cast iron fry pan on low
heat, slowly bringing medium-high heat. You need to stir or shake the
pan constantly and not let any kernels sit still or you will end up with
scorching instead of dry roasting.
For Crystal/Caramel Malt soak 1-2 lbs of pale 2 row in just enough
water to cover plus about an inch (make sure you use distilled, filtered
tap, or spring water). Let soak for a few hours, but no less than 2 hours
and no more than 24, I soak for 3-4 hours. Then Put grains into a pan
and keep grains about 2″ deep then place into a preheated 180 degree
oven (make sure you have a probe thermometer in the oven and not to
let the temps inside the stewing grain to go above 160. If they do reduce
your ovens temperature) for 1 1/2 hours. Then spread out grain into 2
separate pans and make sure the grains are no more than 1″ deep. Then
increase temperature in over to 250 and let bake for 2 hours or until dry.
Then if desired remove from oven for light crystal, or use the roasting
guide above to create your own darker versions of crystal malt.
You can also do what I call Sudo-Caramel malts. To do these you just
wet the grain a bit to change the flavor and aroma profile and add a bit
of sweetness to the grain. You will not get as much sweetness as if you
do a full caramel malt process above, but you will make a great grain for
both all grain and steeping grain for extract. Generally what you are
going to do is soak the grain for under an hour, I find a half hour works
well to impart a bit of wetness to the grain. You can use the same
temperatures above to produce similar grains but add a touch of
sweetness.
In the end, everything is all up to you. Use these above processes as a guideline, but not
as law. Have fun, try different temps and times. Play around with wet or dry roasts as well
as caramel malt processes and develop your own specialty malts. There my friends, is a
truly unique beer that will be difficult to reproduce. Just don’t fear roasting, your really
can’t screw it up if you pay attention to temps and times. The Photos. (you will
notice I line my pans with tin foil to avoid getting any oil or grease from
previous uses of the pans. You could use dedicated jelly roll pans if you want.
But you do not want any oil or fat getting onto your grains)
This is our control, this is straight from the sack 2 row, prior to roasting
This is Deep Amber Malt as described above halfway through the roasting process. I like to stir it halfway
This is finished Deep Amber Malt as described above. This is probably my favorite roast to make.
Here is a side by side of some pale golden malt as I have described above and some unroasted pale 2 row. It is
hard to tell the difference until you do a side by side, then it is obvious.
Golden Malt as I have described in the process at the top of the page.
drip dry for a while. It helps reduce the excess water. Generally, I do a pound to pound and half max.
This grain is not roasted, but it is wet grain. I place it in a small mound then cook it as I have described above.
up to you how to make your crystal/caramel malt. The one in the picture was roasted at 325 degrees for 30
I mash the grain in a cake pan lined with tin foil. This ensures that if there
was any oils on the pan do not get on the grains
Drying the grain on a large cookie sheet. For drying, make sure you keep
the grains spread as thin as possible.
When drying, you do not want to roast the grain yet. If you have a food
dehydrator, you may be able to use that but I wonder if it would take too
long. I dry in the oven at 250 degrees and stir the grain often. It usually
takes about 3 hours (sometimes more) to dry the grain. Once the grain is
dry, you can then start the roasting process. If you have a specific malt in
mind, you may or may not have to adjust the roast based on how far along
the grain came during drying. This happened to me on the Special B
Project and I adjusted my process to what looked to me like it needed 300
degrees for 30 minutes instead of 400 at 40, which a general roast of
already dry grains will get you into that 145 degree lovibond range. This
case, the grain already darkened a bit during the drying process.
Below is a picture of when i should have stopped roasting my Special B. I
pulled the grain out 20 minutes into the roast for another stir and it looked
to be right on. I took a picture of it, in case my extra 10 minutes made a
drastic change int he grain. While it did not make a drastic change, it did
bring the grain in a shade darker than it should be.