Home Distiller

I think you would enjoy experimenting with oven killed malts.
Toasted wheat malt is pretty great stuff, roasted at higher temps is good, too, but more powerful.
Roasted corn malt is interesting as well.

I bet toasted oat malt would be fantastic.

Thanks for the input, i'm gonna experiment with oats first as they are much faster and easier to malt than corn. I'm thinking the temps for toasting should be fairly close to those of barley, this should be a learning experience for sure.

I often toast flaked oats at home for beer. It adds a nice biscuity warm flavor. It's important to rest the toasted grain for a week or two in a brown paper bag or bucket with a tee shirt covering it. There's a harsh chemical smell that comes over as acrid if you use it right away.

Also, in my last couple of AG whiskey mashes I've included a few percent of chocolate malt. Those batches are ageing, but initial tastes indicate some of the chocolate aromas come over lightly in early tails. We'll see how it holds up after ageing.

I tried some home kilned grains in a couple whiskeys this last fall, and I took them out and opened them up for a good airing out today.
The toasted wheat mild almost but not quite chocolate flavor. Very nice. When I opened up the jars I was really hit with a chocolate toasted wheat smell, but that has subsided and the taste if very balanced.

I also did a batch with corn malt that I roasted in the oven for a while. When tasting and smelling the raw corn malt after roasting i couldn't detect much change, nothing very interesting to go on. But in this whiskey, wow, there is a real perception of sweetness. I started this experiment after reading Shadylane's thread on trying to make "crystal" corn malt, and I say this might have worked.

These are both interesting whiskeys, very happy with then at this point. They'll probably get a few more months on oak, and then I'll get to drinking them up.

These flavors are definitely carrying over in the distillation, and in fairly small amounts of toasted/roasted grains. I'd say there is a lot to be found in the land of oven kilned grains.

I have toasted crimped oats for my whiskey in the past, also used chocolate malt, crystal and roasted barley with good results. I'm looking forward to using my home malted grains. the oats are almost dried. balance is the key, I generally use 3-5% of the grain bill depending on the grain.

If you want to DIY some malts, these may help. Kiwi

thanks kiwi! I had seen that before but couldn't remember where and was getting ready to go hunting for it.

I did a couple of pounds of a caramunich style last night(according to barley info I found on the interweb), damp oat malt @ 160° for 90 minutes, then 250° for 60 minutes. smells awesome, I'll try something else tonight, maybe a darker roast on some dry malt.

Michigan Cornhusker~
I see in your update in this thread in 2016 that you abandoned the Special B.
Your original, previous take was that it didn't seem to lend much.

Interested in a 90% 2-row and 10% specialty like Special B or Golden Promise.

Has your stance on Special B changed at all?
I'm interested if you ever perceived its purported caramel flavor?

{of course, I'm open to anyone's input}

fizzix wrote:Michigan Cornhusker~
I see in your update in this thread in 2016 that you abandoned the Special B.
Your original, previous take was that it didn't seem to lend much.

Interested in a 90% 2-row and 10% specialty like Special B or Golden Promise.

Has your stance on Special B changed at all?

I never meant to abandon special b, just got distracted with a thousand other ideas.
I would encourage special in small doses, maybe 2%-3% of grains. A little will go a long way.
I would expect it to lend more dark fruits or raisin flavors.

As Jimbo mentioned, crystal malts might be a better choice for caramel flavors.

I just happened to have a jar of my roasted corn malt whiskey at hand and it is very nice.
I think there is a strong perceived sweetness from the roasting/stewing of the malts.

I don’t remember ever thinking the special b didn’t make much of a difference, my feeling is that specialty grains can have a huge impact on whiskey flavors. Just look at that honey bear bourbon!

Thanks for that, MC.
2-row is relatively cheap at the grain shop, and a touch of crystal may just be in order.

Eucyblues wrote:I won't go further (darker) than Munich 2 as a full batch because it is VERY heavy/malty and even after 18 months is too heavy to drink by itself, but as an adjunct it adds great depth and chewiness to a mix

I recently came by way of 55 lb of Munich 2. Guessing that you no longer visit this site Eucyblues, but looks like you ran an all Munich 2 for use as an adjunct. Would be interested in any updating thoughts if you're still out there.

Cornhusker - I'm seeing that your mind was at ~5% specialty, and more recently 2-3%. Wondering what I should do with all this to use it before it goes bad... not really sure of the age on it, but it came from a decent source.

Appreciate people's thoughts on a good use.