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I 've just bought a 500 gram bag of this stuff and don't know how to use it.It says that it is malted,so do you have to mash it to get the sugars out or steep the stuff like crystal malt?

With black malt you can do either. There's practically no malt you'll get out of it, just the colour and flavour. Same with Choc malt.

Thanks mate,i'll be using some of this stuff in a stout recipe later this month,so at least i know now i can just steep it.I will add extra dry malt to the recipe to compensate for lack of gravity from black malt.

Is it something that you'd use lots of in one go?

I mean if you put the whole 500gm bag into a stout would that be over the top?

My understanding is the darker the grain, the less you use.

Yeah i think you would want to drop it to between 100-200gms

I used 150g in my stout and I think that was quite enough. Tasted brilliant.

100-150 is probably about right. definatly not more than 200g as black malt adds its on bitter burnt astringent taste and too much is overpowering. Better to use 150gm of black and say 200 of roasted barley in a partial or mix 100gm of black with 100gm of choc malt if you want to be 'any blacker'.

I am going to be doing a Coopers Dark Ale with a sugars mix, and 500gm Dark Dry Malt.

If you like the Malty flavour, and colour it will add, then why not go for it. I realise this will be no sessional beer, but I am going to enjoy it.

(I am basically paraphrasing someone else here.)

Just go for it, Mark68.

Whatever you do, DON'T boil it !!. I did that once, and ruined a batch of what probably would have been a good stout. ( I did the same recipe again and only steeped the grains in hot water - it was OK)
Cheers, Deegee.

I have been told to cold steep this stuff or any roasted malt overnight to get the flavours out.You aren't supposed to get too much astringency out of this method,the only thing being to use 5 times the water as amount of grain,as anything less also risks leeching tannins out of the grain.

mark_68 wrote:I have been told to cold steep this stuff or any roasted malt overnight to get the flavours out.You aren't supposed to get too much astringency out of this method,the only thing being to use 5 times the water as amount of grain,as anything less also risks leeching tannins out of the grain.

Sounds good like a good method
It would be a wise move to boil the liquid after removing the grain.

Beware using too much Roast, Black or Chocolate grain.

Too much Roast/Black can give an aroma I like to descibe as "Ashtry" while too much Chocolate is like "Potting Mix".

My last Stout I feel is on the edge of too much Choc malt. Keep records & keep trying different amounts.