Malting my home grown barley

all about mashing and fermenting grains

Malting my home grown barley

Postby dans.brew » Wed Jun 27, 2018 11:27 pm

Got my first batch of home made malt!
2018-06-27 23.20.08.jpg

Pretty happy how it looks and smells for a first timer. The true results are when i mash it.
Grew it here at home, malted it here... now i just have to mash it, ferment it and distill it.

Side note... finally got my stupid photos to stay upright!!
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Re: Malting my home grown barley

Postby Dig Brinker » Thu Jun 28, 2018 1:45 am

Nice work. Like a modern James Squire lol. How did you dry it? No smoke or anything fancy?
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Re: Malting my home grown barley

Postby db1979 » Thu Jun 28, 2018 6:07 am

Well done mate :clap:

Do you have the standard agri equipment for harvesting and processing? I've read a blog on someone who did the same but the didn't have the right equipment and struggled to separate all the chaff efficiently. Yours looks great.

Now you've sorted out your photos you'll have to give a detailed account :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: Malting my home grown barley

Postby coffe addict » Thu Jun 28, 2018 7:46 am

:text-+1:
Definitely worth a detailed write up, Any soil prep, organic or chemicals, how much did you grow, Any machinery involved or did you go full amish :laughing-rolling:
Well done, I also one day aspire for paddock to glass all in house! Though I want mine to taste like a cigar so I'll need to smoke dry mine!
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Re: Malting my home grown barley

Postby dans.brew » Thu Jun 28, 2018 11:01 am

Cheers fellas!
I plan to do another batch so ill take a few photos while i do it this time... everyone loves photos! :handgestures-thumbupleft:
Being a broad acre farmer, it was grown out in the paddock with the rest of it. It wouldnt be hard to grow a patch in your backyard though. As long as you feed it and water it you should be fine. Prob make sure your site is free of weeds before you start too, grass weed cant be sprayed out of barley very easy, but broadleaf weeds can if you use the right chemical.

I didnt do anything real special to clean the sample apart from scrape the chaff off the water in a bucket trick. When i sifted the roots out some of the real fine chaff came out too.
Mostly i followed Sam's write up on it.
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Re: Malting my home grown barley

Postby fattima » Thu Jun 28, 2018 1:33 pm

Very interested in seeing a write up.
Great stuff.
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Re: Malting my home grown barley

Postby dans.brew » Thu Jun 28, 2018 9:43 pm

Well made a start on another batch of malt tonight.
Instead of putting up my method up at once, I'll put them up as i do it. Just be aware that ive only done one batch, so by no means is this foolproof or even close. :laughing-rolling:
Firstly i cleaned grain in a bucket of rainwater. Just fill and stir until chaff floats to the top and the grain sinks.. then tip the chaff out without distubing the grain at the bottom of the bucket. I did a couple kgs of grain at a time.
2018-06-28 20.57.37.jpg


For soaking the grain i used a cotton sheet and a foam box. Gather the grain up in the sheet and secure with a rubber band. Place in foam box and fill with rainwater until covered. I soak for about 2 hours.
2018-06-28 20.53.19.jpg


After 2 hours lift it out the water bath so the grain doesn't drown and drain. I have been using a roasting rack across the foam box to sit the grain on while it drains and rests for 8 or so hours. Its fairly cool here at the moment so i don't really have to worry about the grain drying out, but if it was warmer you would need to dunk the grain in the water every couple hours to prevent drying out. The piece of wood on each side is just to stop the rack from squashing the foam box, the grain is fairly heavy when wet.
2018-06-28 20.55.17.jpg


I found i had to do the 2hrs soak, 8 hrs drain about 4 times. The cold nights would be slowing this process down a lot though, you may only need 3 cycles in warmer conditions. Once the grain has germinated and you can see some roots showing, you no longer need to soak the grain. Ill put up a pic when i can get one.
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Re: Malting my home grown barley

Postby dans.brew » Sun Jul 01, 2018 4:06 pm

So my barley has been soaked 4 times and rested in between. It now has little shoots coming out the end of the grain.
20180701_142725.jpg


This is when i just put it loosely in a foam box and just keep it damp. I use a spray bottle full of rainwater to dampen, but dont create a pool of water in bottom or that layer will likely drown. Give it a good stir with your hand as well to mix the grain on the top in and stop all the roots clumping together, this is no good come the drying stage. I put a sheet over the top and keep it damp, it helps keep the grain damp.
2018-07-01 15.34.14.jpg
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Re: Malting my home grown barley

Postby db1979 » Sun Jul 01, 2018 5:00 pm

:handgestures-thumbupleft:
I've tried this myself but I tried a continuous soak with bubbling air through it, mixed results. I'll give your method a go, it looks easy. Thanks to Sam too for sharing his.

Like the wooly tree :handgestures-thumbupleft: we've got three going well up here in Brissie
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Re: Malting my home grown barley

Postby dans.brew » Sun Jul 01, 2018 5:16 pm

db1979 wrote::handgestures-thumbupleft:
I've tried this myself but I tried a continuous soak with bubbling air through it, mixed results. I'll give your method a go, it looks easy. Thanks to Sam too for sharing his.

Like the wooly tree :handgestures-thumbupleft: we've got three going well up here in Brissie


Yeah i didnt find it too hard... the critical bit is catching the acrospire at the right length and getting the drying process happening quickly before it comes out the end of the grain. In nice sunny weather this would be easy, but we seem to be only getting frosts and cold cloudy days atm. I suppose it is winter after all. Better come up to brissy i think db! :laughing-rolling:
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Re: Malting my home grown barley

Postby dans.brew » Sun Jul 01, 2018 5:19 pm

:text-+1: on the wooly trees! They are great... they are so soft to touch!
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Re: Malting my home grown barley

Postby dans.brew » Tue Jul 03, 2018 8:59 pm

A couple days later and this is what it looks like. The roots are growing out of the grain and all you really need to do is keep the grain damp. I'm dampening the grain about 4 times during the day.. thats with 12-15 degree days. Obviously in warmer climates more often may be necessary.
20180703_081722.jpg


Today the roots are really in overdrive now. At this point it is crutial that as you mix the waterspray into the grain, that you stir up every part of the foam box. If you dont the roots clump and intertwine and thats the way they stay. I thought i was doing a good job on my last batch, but had 2 golf ball size lumps that are just a pain in the butt from here on in.
20180703_203425.jpg
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Re: Malting my home grown barley

Postby Troy » Wed Jul 04, 2018 1:10 pm

This stuff looks great.

I have been doing a bit of malting at home, I was lucky enough to get around 50 kg of grain while working for CBH in WA.would love to grow some at home though. Doing a whisky from start to finish would be such a good project.

My troubles cam in drying also. Wasnt too bad in summer with a nice 35 degree day but winter I need to use the oven on real low.I found this site though
https://brewingbeerthehardway.wordpress.com/

It some champ, like you, growing and malting his own malt. So much information there. He has some youtube videos too. One is of a kilning box he built so gonna look at that I reckon.

But great work, your living the stiller dream!
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Re: Malting my home grown barley

Postby bluc » Wed Jul 04, 2018 1:56 pm

Bit like how long is a piece of string but how much barley in kg do you get per acre average? :-B
Last edited by bluc on Wed Jul 04, 2018 1:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Malting my home grown barley

Postby dans.brew » Wed Jul 04, 2018 2:16 pm

Troy wrote:This stuff looks great.

I have been doing a bit of malting at home, I was Doing a whisky from start to finish would be such a good project.

My troubles cam in drying also. Wasnt too bad in summer with a nice 35 degree day but winter I need to use the oven on real low.


But great work, your living the stiller dream!


Cheers Troy!
Figured i might as well give it a crack once, got about 20 ton of malt quality barley there in the silo to play with. :laughing-rolling:
Like you I'm keen to make a nice drop from start to finish.
I actually made up my own drying box for my first batch also, just to get the shoots to stop developing quickly. I just couldn't snag a warm sunny day at the time. I finished it off in the oven too. Had to leave the oven door ajar because it wouldn't go low enough in temp.
20180624_145739.jpg


Bluc.. we normally aim for about 15 bags or so (1ton or 1000kg), but the last couple years we have had really good yields and have been around 20-30 bags/ acre.
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Re: Malting my home grown barley

Postby db1979 » Wed Jul 04, 2018 6:10 pm

Just a bit jealous at the moment :?

Good onya Dan :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: Malting my home grown barley

Postby db1979 » Wed Jul 04, 2018 6:13 pm

Love the drying box, so simple :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: Malting my home grown barley

Postby dans.brew » Wed Jul 04, 2018 7:32 pm

Thanks db! :greetings-waveyellow:

Well, had another look at my grain when i got home and she is ready to dry. Once it gets substantial roots coming out the end you need to keep a good eye on it so it doesnt go too far. Ive found that when you put your hand in the grain and its quite warm in the middle its getting close to done. Once the acrospire is 75- 100% of the length of the grain it is ready to dry.
To check this you just scrape the husk (shell) of the grain with your fingernail to expose the acrospire.
20180704_171642.jpg


20180704_171935.jpg


Next step is drying grain to stop the growing process.
I have made up a drying box to do this process as its winter atm and sunny days aren't often.
I just used wire shelves from a couple old fridges, some bricks to stack them on, a big cardboard box and a little heater. I layer the racks with a cotton sheet and spread grain on them, but not too thick... i work on no more than 10-15 mm. The thinner the quicker it drys.
2018-07-04 19.19.15.jpg


2018-07-04 19.19.54.jpg


When drying the grain the key is to not let the grain drying environment get any hotter than 50 degs C . I didnt get the grain properly dry this way, but it was good enough until i did get my warm sunny day to lay it ouside on a table to dry better. I just dried it until the grain weighs the original weight when i started, or until the grain has a bit of crunch to it when you bight it.
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Re: Malting my home grown barley

Postby bluc » Wed Jul 04, 2018 8:30 pm

1000kg malt :mrgreen: now that would make a decent amount of whiskey :D looks great :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: Malting my home grown barley

Postby dans.brew » Wed Jul 04, 2018 8:42 pm

bluc wrote:1000kg malt :mrgreen: now that would make a decent amount of whiskey :D looks great :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Sure would... it would keep the bubbler busy for a while.
Gonna need a bigger boiler! :laughing-rolling:
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