Hi all. Fairly new to brewing, but I have been lurking around the site for a while. I decided to jump head first into AG because, quite frankly, it looked really fun. First few batches have all turned out great. I have recently decided to further my knowledge and quell my experimental urges by toasting some grains. I have some questions:
My first experiment was to give crystal/caramel malt a shot. Started off fine but as I approached the end of "drying" stage at 250 F I burnt the batch. The oven in my apartment is as and a bit dodgy, I knew this going in, but I figured "what the heck?" It's definitely too dark for crystal, but I tasted it and it didn't tasted all that scorched. It reminded me of a stout sort of. I save some of them hoping to age for a few weeks and see what I have. Is it garbage? Another concern in regards to the crystal is that during the first hour and a half conversion stage, I let it get too hot for about 30 mins, do you think there will be any astringent flavors due to tannins because of that? I really don't care about this failed batch, I was just surprised they didn't taste like crap at the end.
I did successfully make a light and dark amber malt, however. Very cool.
Main question. How to stagger these malts plus some crystal 60 and crystal 20/120 to accomplish different flavor profiles. (I'm doing an amber next using my grains, suggestions welcome!) I could come up with a recipe offhand, but I am profoundly interested in experienced brewers methods as far as layering flavors for depth and complexity.
My first experiment was to give crystal/caramel malt a shot. Started off fine but as I approached the end of "drying" stage at 250 F I burnt the batch. The oven in my apartment is as and a bit dodgy, I knew this going in, but I figured "what the heck?" It's definitely too dark for crystal, but I tasted it and it didn't tasted all that scorched. It reminded me of a stout sort of. I save some of them hoping to age for a few weeks and see what I have. Is it garbage? Another concern in regards to the crystal is that during the first hour and a half conversion stage, I let it get too hot for about 30 mins, do you think there will be any astringent flavors due to tannins because of that? I really don't care about this failed batch, I was just surprised they didn't taste like crap at the end.
I did successfully make a light and dark amber malt, however. Very cool.
Main question. How to stagger these malts plus some crystal 60 and crystal 20/120 to accomplish different flavor profiles. (I'm doing an amber next using my grains, suggestions welcome!) I could come up with a recipe offhand, but I am profoundly interested in experienced brewers methods as far as layering flavors for depth and complexity.
