Hellow fellow AHA-ers! I’m trying to smoke my own malt with cherry wood (a-la Briess Cherrywood Malt). I’ve done a little research, but could use your input. I have a smoker, and I’m going to put my malt in a grill basket, lined with tin foil (with holes poked all around). I read an old Zymurgy with a graph on roasting grains. I believe that I can smoke my grains for 15 minutes at 275 degrees without losing much enzymatic power and/or gaining color. Will this be enough time to get a good smokey flavor? (I want to smoke 40% of the grain for my smoked porter). Also, will it be too much time in the smoker? Thanks for your input.
These might help…
…sorry, couldn’t resist ;D
I deserved that…
I should probably try other forums 
Ohh, I know… next month’s Zymurgy will have something. 
I’d try to go as cool as possible and spritz your malt during the process so it doesn’t fry
The 15 minute duration seems to be a bit short.
Our club smoked a bag of Munich malt (spread out on trays in a purpose-built smoker) and if I remember correctly, the temp was 180 and we let the grain smoke for about an hour.
Be sure to let your grains breathe for at least a week before using
Good luck
That’s good info Don, thanks! How did that Munich turn out? The breathing part is something I didn’t think of.
Drew, if you have smoked malt recipes in the next Zymurgy, I might be on a smoked kick for a while. I’m modeling my beer after “My smoked dark Heart”. My local hardware store (lhws?) has a huge variety of woods for smoking, the possibilities are endless.
I make a batch of cherry wood Munich malt every year and “low & slow is the way to go!” I run my electric smoker, which holds 4-racks & 20# of malt @ 165F for approx. 4-6 hours racking & rotating once every hour. +1 on starting & keeping the malt moist.
So you have hinted… Okay, stop teasing us already! When’s it coming???
The Smoked Munich turned out great. Smoked it on Applewood. Still have 5 lb that I need to use!