For my chocolate malt I wanted to make it lighter than a normal chocolate malt and I think it worked out pretty well. It still has an earthy coffee flavour but it’s not as burnt or charred tasting as a regular chocolate malt. I’m not saying mine’s better I’m just trying to customize mine to suit my taste buds and to make something unique. Although when I was comparing my malt to a store bought malt I was shocked at how stale the store bought tasted. I’m sure it was fine when I bought it but now it tastes like a wet cigarette butt. I’ve stored this malt for 6 months in a paper bag in a cool dry place so I guess it’s reached the end of its shelf life. Had I not made my own chocolate malt I would have had nothing to compare it to so I probably would have kept on using the store bought malt. I can’t believe I would have put that in my beer! Now I’ll think I’ll toss it. Roasted malts are easy to make and you can achieve even better results with a rotisserie or a nut roaster. I just did mine in my oven between two cookie sheets. There’s a lot of info on roasting your own malts on the internet and there are some good books on the subject. Here’s the procedure I used:
Soaked 6-row pilsner malt for 30 min
Put it in the oven at 150-160 F for 2 hrs.
Raised temperature to 250 for 30 min to dry grains
300 F for 20
325 F for 15
Then 380 F for 1 hr. This is low for chocolate malt. 425-480 F is normal, also for 1-1 1/2 hr.
Wait a few weeks before brewing with it to allow it to mellow.
Brewing Beer The Hard Way 