Making Crystal Malt

[Otto Von Blotto]

After there was a discussion around home roasting malts in another thread recently, it jogged the old memory into making another small lot of crystal malt here at home, which I had been planning last holidays but forgot all about due to some unusual circumstances. The last time I did it, it turned out really nice.

 

Anyway, I've decided now is the time to have another crack since I've got all day tomorrow to monitor the oven roasting part of the process. This time around I'm soaking the grains overnight in a saucepan with some distilled water leftover from the last pilsner batch. I'm using TF floor malted Maris Otter, about 300g. I've only just put the grains into the pot with the water so not much more to add yet, but here's a photo of them. I expect they will sink to the bottom as the night goes on.

 

Will update the thread with more info and pics tomorrow as the process goes along.

 

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

[Otto Von Blotto]

So I've left the grains soak overnight in the saucepan (about 15 hours all up), and they've been strained of the water (pic 1) and then put in a small mound in a baking dish in the oven (pic 2). Aiming for around the 70C mark but it's a bit hard to work it out since the oven only starts at 120C. A bit of periodic re-heating is in order methinks. They will sit in there at around this 70C mark for 90 minutes, and then I'll spread them out more to lower the height of them, and bake them at 120C for two hours. More updates after that.

 

 

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

[Otto Von Blotto]

The 90 minute mash/stew has been completed, so I've spread the grains out more in the baking dish and popped them back into the oven set at about 120C where they will bake for the next two hours to properly dry out. Obviously the grains that were inside the mound didn't dry during the mash/stew period. Some of them I noticed looked as if they'd started germinating too.

 

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

[Otto Von Blotto]

The process is finished now, and I've ended up with what looks like something between medium and dark crystal, but much more towards the dark end of the scale. They are just cooling down on the stove in the baking dish now and I will move them into a brown paper bag after this, where they will sit for 2-3 weeks. At this point I'll either use them straight away or vac seal them until I do.

 

It was an interesting process regarding the aroma too. When I first strained the grains this morning, there was almost a sour aroma to them, but maybe it was just the effect of the grains acidifying the water. Once they mashed in the oven this had dissipated somewhat but was still there. After the baking/drying process it had almost all gone. Once I turned the heat up for the proper roast, it disappeared completely and the kitchen was filled with a lovely aroma of caramel/toffee/raisin.

 

These pictures are the last four of the process. The first one was taken after the initial drying stage at 120C, the second was taken after sitting in the oven at 200-210C for 30 minutes, the third after an additional 20 minutes at the same temp, and the last one after another 12 and a half minutes at this temp. There isn't much difference in the photos of the last portion of the process but to look at them in real life I definitely noticed a difference in the color.

 

I'll use this grain in place of my usual medium crystal in a pale ale soonish, probably hop it lower than usual to bring out the malt and see how it tastes in a beer.

 

 

 

 

 

If anyone wants to have a go themselves, I got the basic process from this here site: http://barleypopmaker.info/2009/12/08/home-roasting-your-malts/

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

 

[King Ruddager]

Nice one. I do remember you mentioning home made crystal in the toasting thread and wondered what the difference in process would be.

[Otto Von Blotto]

Yeah, I have done it once before but on that occasion, while I made about the same amount, I didn't use it all in one brew. This time I will be so it'll be interesting to see how it goes.

 

It's currently sitting in its brown paper bag. The taste and aroma is quite roasty at the moment which is probably to be expected having only just come out of the oven, and I expect that will diminish in time. Certainly, the aromas coming from the oven reminded me a lot of Caraaroma.

[King Ruddager]

Two weeks?

[Otto Von Blotto]

About that yeah, but I might well leave them longer. The brown paper bag is to protect them but still allow the astringency to dissipate.

 

I don't actually know what temperature the grains 'mashed' at in the oven, but given the smells emanating from the oven during the roasting period I have to figure the temperature was around where it should have been. I've dry roasted base malt before and didn't get those smells, it was more toasty with the dry roasting, rather than sweet and raisiny.

[ChristinaS1]

Very interesting Kelsey. Good one.

[PB2]

A few of things I do, which may help with your process next time:

 

I find a batch size of 500g to be a good and easy amount to handle.

 

Soak overnight in a fridge - this will avoid souring.

 

Line the tray with foil, avoiding grains sticking to the tray and minimising washing up.

For the 90mins @ 60C - 70C, use a tray only big enough to hold the grains heaped at about 2cm to 3cms deep and cover with foil. Every 30mins, pull them out and give them a quick swish around then straight back in. This prevents grains from drying out.

 

Two hours drying uncovered @ 95C with a good stir around every 30mins.

 

At this point, you have extra light crystal malt, which can be used the next day and in significant quantities - when used in a recipe at as much as 50% of the grain bill, the results are outstanding!

 

 

[Otto Von Blotto]

Interesting. Last time I did this I did use the foil to line the baking dish, but I figured it being stainless steel anyway, there wasn't much need to aside from the saving washing it

 

If I have room in a fridge here I'll put them in there. This time I had room in my brew fridge which is currently cold as it's CCing a batch but I didn't think to put them in it. In any case, the souring disappeared once the hotter drying/roasting temperatures were in effect. It smells less astringent even today, which is nice.

 

My oven only goes about as low as 120C, at least on the dial anyway. It's a gas oven. I'll have a play with it next time to see if the flame still burns when turning the dial down lower than the 120C lowest point.

 

Next time I definitely plan to use a tray that holds the grain to a point where it's all at the same depth across the whole thing, and if that means making a larger amount then I'll do it. If that's the case then I can make different levels of it by taking some out at various stages of the roasting process.

 

One thing that I will certainly be doing is using my mash thermometer to measure the temp inside the stewing grain to make sure as best I can that it stays around the high 60s/low 70s celcius the whole time.

[PB2]

My oven only goes about as low as 120C' date=' at least on the dial anyway. It's a gas oven. I'll have a play with it next time to see if the flame still burns when turning the dial down lower than the 120C lowest point.[/quote']I wonder if this step could be achieved by dropping a small muslin bag of the steeped uncracked grain in with your mash during your next brew day??

 

Some of them I noticed looked as if they'd started germinating too.

As you know, this had already happened. You used Maris Otter Malted Barley - germination (appearance of rootlets and a shoot) occurs during the malting process. The rootlets are knocked off during the drying and kilning process but often the shoot (or part of) remains.

[Otto Von Blotto]

My oven only goes about as low as 120C' date=' at least on the dial anyway. It's a gas oven. I'll have a play with it next time to see if the flame still burns when turning the dial down lower than the 120C lowest point.[/quote']I wonder if this step could be achieved by dropping a small muslin bag of the steeped uncracked grain in with your mash during your next brew day??

I'd be interested to see how that would work actually, I can't see why it wouldn't though, I mean.. it's still sitting the wet, uncracked grain at mash temps after all. Another option might be to leave them in the steeping water and heat it up on the stove to the desired temp?

 

Some of them I noticed looked as if they'd started germinating too.

As you know' date=' this had already happened. You used Maris Otter Malted Barley - germination (appearance of rootlets and a shoot) occurs during the malting process. The rootlets are knocked off during the drying and kilning process but often the shoot (or part of) remains.[/quote']That's why it threw me a bit I figured the germination had already occurred but there were definitely more of them with little rootlets or something poking out further than usual after the steeping than I normally see with the dry grains. Didn't really matter though, they appeared to go away once the hotter part of the process began.

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

[Otto Von Blotto]

So it's been about 2 weeks now since I made this darkish crystal malt and earlier today I had a bit of a smell of it in its paper bag. It is much sweeter and the astringency of earlier seems to have gone away. I didn't taste any but might have a chew on a few grains tomorrow. It looks pretty much the same as commercially made crystal; shiny, hard etc. Will use it in a brew as a stand alone grain addition to the base malt, after the next brew day.

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

[Otto Von Blotto]

I forgot to update this thread but I did make a brew with these grains a couple of weeks ago, and it will be going into the fermenter next after I package the XXXX rip off batch. The wort came out looking like a similar color to my red ale, so I guess the grains were probably over 300 EBC by the time I'd finished roasting them. They didn't look as dark as Caraaroma but I dunno. I didn't taste the wort so I don't know what they taste like but I'm keen to see how the batch turns out. I did an English style ale recipe as I figured this would allow the malt to shine a bit more than a hopped up American ale. I'll update again once the beer is ready to drink.

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

[dadndave]

After a momentary panic of the kind only the ignorant can appreciate, I managed to find this thread using the search function. Phew!

 

I have a kilo germinating in my malting box right now so it's almost time to finish the pale malt and then continue by following the instructions above .

 

So, Kelsey, now that you're in on the malting project, how far would you suggest I toast the crystal for the grain bill you have in mind for this? Obviously after re-reading the above it should be easy enough to pull some out at different stages. If so, how much of each would you recommend?

 

 

[Corksniffer]

Sweet tutorial, man!

[Otto Von Blotto]

I'd probably say pull some out after 0, 30, 60 and 90 minutes. You could probably roast them at lower than the 200 degrees that I used, I only did that to get it done quicker. If you've got a kilo, maybe 250g at each interval, that will give 4 lots ranging from light crystal through medium and dark.

[dadndave]

I don't quite follow.

 

30, 60 and 90 mins makes sense but 0 would just be pale malt of which I already have 5kg approx prepared.

 

[Otto Von Blotto]

Yes but if you go through the process of making the crystal, i.e. "mashing" the whole grains and then baking for the two hours, then you will have a light crystal grain. I count that point as zero minutes because the process is always the same up to that point. From there, you can either finish the process or keep roasting them for longer to get darker malts.

[dadndave]

Got it.

 

Cheers

[dadndave]

I adopted PB2's idea of soaking the kilo of pale malt overnight in the fridge and, as he said, the result was no trace of sour odours.

 

After that pretty much followed PB2 and Kelsey's instructions. By 9.20am I had 250gm of extra light crystal (taken out at "0" minutes). At 9.50am I had 250gm of light crystal malt (taken out at 30mins). At 10.20 am I had 250gm of medium crystal (taken out at 60mins) and left the remaining 250gms in to toast for a final 30 mins with Mrs Dadndave in charge of the last bit 'cause I had to get into the office.

 

I think it went well because the whole morning, the kitchen was filled with nice malt aromas. I'm totally inexperienced but my nose tells me nothing much went wrong.

[Otto Von Blotto]

Sounds like it all went well mate. It's a pretty easy process really, the hardest bit is getting the "mash" temp of the grains in the right place. If you nail that the rest is just waiting really.

[dadndave]

Yeah, I was a bit lucky there. My oven's first marked setting is 50C but I can actually set it lower than that by setting the dial below the 50C mark and the thermostat controls it just fine..

[Otto Von Blotto]

I wish mine went that low. The lowest is about 110C on mine, so I sort of had to wing it to get the stewing grains around that high 60s temp needed. It seemed to work alright but next time I'll just measure the things with my mash thermometer and make adjustments if needed.