Hi everyone. I’m new to homebrewing and just made my first stout a couple weeks back. Question for the forum: has anyone attempted to roast their own barley grains? I’ve got 10 pounds or so of pearl barley. Would this type of barley be suitable for brewing? If so, any suggestions?
Welcome to brewing!! Yes, roasting your own grain is something you can do at home.
http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter20-4.html
Give this a read, then check out the rest of the site. As far as pearl barley, not really for brewing. You could do a cereal mash with a little if you want, but I would make soup with it. 
Good luck!
I’ve roasted some crystal 60 for an Irish red. The next time I brewed that same beer I forgot to roast (by forgot I mean I had to many homebrew’s and had an impromptu brew day). The second batch was very much difference. The first batch had a rich (not sweet) malty flavor with a wonderful mouthfeel. The second batch was much dryer, with a lighter mouthfeel. All I can say is it doesn’t take much time or much heat.
The devil is ALWAYS in the details so U need to know what temp and how long.Both daniel’s in Designing and palmer in How to Brew-the only 2 books I kept when I cleaned out my library last year-describe it…
FWIW,I have roasted wheat,oats and barley using different temps/times.I tasted them and when it seemed they were what I needed I took them out and after 2 weeks in a containe4r used them.All when used in beer were roastier than they tasted when whole grain.
Keep good notes and then U can titrate to meet your needs in your oven
Got everything 'till that sentence…
I did the light dry toasting (30 mins) and the wet roasting (1.5 hrs) on some Domestic 2-row, according to Palmer’s directions with great success. I made an all-2-row amber session ale with those as my character malts and was very pleasantly surprised - lots of toasty, nutty, malt depth and nice orange color. I’ll always keep some on-hand - and easy enough to make more if I run out!