Article - Home Made Crystal Malt

By Alex Troncoso

Alex Troncoso enjoying a beer in a little bar in Vancouver, Canada.

Having all of your fermenters full of beer is a nice situation to be in - unless you want to brew!!! One day I found myself in this predicament and, desperate to do something brewing related, decided to try making some crystal malt. Below is the method I came up with based on reading about how crystal malt is produced. Anyhow, it seems to have worked for me. I’m not claiming that this will be better than what you can buy, but it’s a bit of fun at the very least and will make your beer just a bit more “yours”.
 

 
Steeping is required to raise the moisture content of the dry malt to approximately 50%. Interestingly, re-hydrating finished pale malt is the method by which crystal malts used to be made.

Stewing is the step where the contents of the now re-hydrated malt will be converted to sugars (yes, just like mashing!).
 
Kilning is the stage where the malt is dried, the kernel contents become caramelised and melanoidins are formed.
 
Each step takes about 2hrs.
 
1)     Measure out 500g of Pale Malt. I’m sure any well-modified Pale Malt will due, but I used IMC.

2)     Measure 1.5L of water and add to a pot. Add the malt to the water.

3)     Heat the mixture to approximately 45 degrees C and let sit for 2hrs. Stir occasionally. The warm water temperature assists in water up-take.

4)     After the 2hrs are up, the malt should be rehydrated. Strain the mixture through a normal kitchen strainer.

5)     Preheat your oven to approx 70 degrees C. Place the wet malt in a baking/casserole dish and level out the grain bed. Put the lid on (if no lid, cover with foil, a plate, or whatever) and put in the oven. Let stew for 2hrs, stirring every 30min. Note: it might pay to verify the temperature of your oven with a thermometer – I know mine is slightly out.

6)     Once step 5 is complete, remove the lid andfor medium crystal – increase the oven temperature to 175 degrees C and kiln (bake) for 2hrs, stirring every 15 minutes. Make sure the grain bed is levelled after stirring. After 2hrs, raise oven temperature to 200 degrees C and kiln for another 30min. During this time, stir every 5 minutes. for light crystal - kiln at 150 degrees C for 60min, followed by kilning at 175 degrees C for a further 90min. for dark crystal – I haven’t tried making dark, but I assume that kilning for 1hr at 175 degrees C followed by 1hr at 200 degrees C would probably get you close. I don’t recommend kilning any higher than 200 degrees C as it may burn the malt and might even catch fire!

7)     Once the kilning is complete, remove from the oven and cool uncovered. The grains will become crunchy after cooling (ie. when the caramelised insides are cold). Once cool, place in a sealed container and let sit for approximately 1 week before brewing.

8)     Brew a good English Bitter and enjoy!!! Happy Brewing!!!