[Thirsty_Monk]

I just got a email that small batch grain roaster is on the market.
I think this is a coffee roaster if you ask me but here it is anyway:
http://www.toper.com/newsletters/news-01-12-2013a.html

[anthony]

Need more variables to account for in your brew day? Add DIY malt to the mix!

[nateo]

Marketing is all about getting dumb people excited about dumb stuff. I have a feeling "We roast our own grain" could be an effective selling point *cough* gimmick *cough* for a brewery

[boulderbrewer]

I get that question often, maybe I should malt my grain also. I always tell them I want experts to do that. You want an "expert" to make your beer don't you?

[nateo]

I get that question often, maybe I should malt my grain also. I always tell them I want experts to do that. You want an "expert" to make your beer don't you?

Not really. Budweiser hires experts. The appeal of the whole "handmade" "artisan" "whatever" movement is that the products are made by a guy, not a robot. Those small imperfections give the product character.

I read about a new graduate from culinary school, whose first job at a fancy restaurant was to make crab cakes. When he finished, the chef told him they were too perfect, and to do them again. He wanted customers to be able to tell the crab cakes were handmade.

[Thirsty_Monk]

Need more variables to account for in your brew day? Add DIY malt to the mix!

Agree.
But it sounds good. We grow our own barley and then we roast it.
By the way I think that most of malted barley is kiln dry instead of roasted.
So this contraption would be good for crystal malts and roasted malts only.

[nateo]

Agree.
But it sounds good. We grow our own barley and then we roast it.
By the way I think that most of malted barley is kiln dry instead of roasted.
So this contraption would be good for crystal malts and roasted malts only.

Yeah, I'm not even sure it'd work for crystal malts. I've made some at home out of base grain, and the instructions I found involved steeping the grain in water, then holding the grain at saccharification temp for a few hours, then roasting to desired color.

But it'd work fine for any kind of roasts, or munich malts and the like.

It's also a cocoa bean roaster, and I'd imagine you can use it for coffee as well. So unless you make a ton of stouts, it'd be kinda silly to buy one. If you want to branch out into coffee roasting as well, it might make sense. The target market for craft beer and high-end coffee and chocolate overlaps quite a bit.

[denny]

I get that question often, maybe I should malt my grain also. I always tell them I want experts to do that. You want an "expert" to make your beer don't you?

Or make your own water!  I read a Martha Stewart parody once about making your water that began "First, climb Mt. Everest to collect the purest oxygen".....