Malting

[BackyardBrewer]

Pete is it possible for you to post some vids or pix? Be good for business and fascinating for us backyarders.

I will see what I can do. It may take a few days as I am very busy at this time of year. I will firstly have to work out how to attach photos :think:

The forum software will allow you to just attach them like you would to an email on your pc or mac.

If you have a smart phone it's worth getting the 'Tapatalk' app, this forum runs on it like a dream. You can post to the forum and upload pix straight from your phone easily.

[PeteBignell]

Malted oats are hard to come by as ....................... oats are mostly in hulls so vigilance against bacterial infections is more important than some other grain as the husk and hulls can provide a place for them to develop . ............................ I was told once the spout is the same length as the grain they are ready to use or dry

I read this a few days ago and it reminded me of a scientific paper I had read. I have just found it.
In this malting experiment with barley, "All samples were washed in 1% hypochlorite for an hour prior to steeping"
Journal of The institute of Brewing, Vol 107, No. 1, 2001
Last year tried to malt a sample of oats but it went mouldy. I might try again starting with a hypo soak.

[crow]

In which case I would suggest you do two side by side batches one with and one without treating them both the same. I have never has any go mouldy but I did get a bit of a lactic ferment due to not changing the water for a day, so my fault

[hillzabilly]

hey guy's,had the same idea of making my own malt ,after a lot of trial's with mixed results . I decided to take some of mac's advice to another I bought the book MAKING PURE CORN WHISKEY THE PROFESSIONAL GUIDE FOR AMATEUR AND MICRO DISTILLERS by IAN SMILEY BSc .it gives all you need to know ,not just for corn .also it has plans so you can build your own malt kiln ,30 bucks very well spent cheers yall.

[Kimbo]

Hi Everyone,
I just thought I would share with you my method for Malting.
This is by no means the one and only way of doing it, it's just my way.
In this thread, I have chosen to use Rye but it works just as well with Barley, wheat and I assume Oats.

9pm Friday night
This is the unmalted grain, straight out of the bag, this was organic Rye @ $6/Kg coz its all I could find around here

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My Home made sieve tray ( from an old security screen)

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The grain in the sieve

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9am Saturday
I water it about 3 or 4 times a day with warm water and keep it covered to try and
keep it warm

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As you can see, the grain has started to germinate by the next morning

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12pm Sunday
The rootlets have developed and a small shoot

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Monday am
The shoots are as long as the grain, so it's time for drying

The grain grows about 3-4 times its original size at this stage(but shrinks back)

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Into an old pillow case and in the clothes dryer for about 3 hrs

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Now its into the drying cupboard till the next day.( its not a necessity just a luxury)
the cupboard stays between 30c and 35c.
(you can leave it in the dryer for longer, lay it out on hot tin-(see Crow) :mrgreen: or a low oven)

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The final product :dance:

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I hope this helps all you folk out there, It is really easy to do.
If you intend on giving it a go, just try a small amount first ;-) (that's a whole other story :mrgreen: )

[crow]

yeah my brother in Law just malted a heap of barely I'm not 100% sure how he dried the, I think just next to a fire

[ticknaylor]

Giving it a go tonight found this method as it suits me time wise i.e. sleep 8 hours wok 8 hours etc so steep for two hours drain let breath for 8 hours steep for another 2 breath for 8 one more cycle then turn and keep moist from then on. What I'm interested in is why kimbo and crow say warm water? everything I've fund on malting says use cold water and keep at around 18 degrees till its ready for drying

[Kimbo]

What I'm interested in is why kimbo and crow say warm water? everything I've fund on malting says use cold water and keep at around 18 degrees till its ready for drying

It must be the green thumb in me that makes use warm water, The warmth helps with kick starting the germination ( think spring time)
So how many times do you steep/ breath?

[crow]

I want the process over as soon as possible, warm is faster :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[ticknaylor]

The instructions I found say steep and breath 3 times so two hours in water 8 hours breathing. Through research I found some people steep for up to 8 hours. Interesting about the temperature factor as I've found 18 degrees and 12-18 degrees from a couple of youtubes and webpages dunno how credible they are might try a warm water next and report back any differences in the malt surely they use these temps for a reason.

[crow]

less chance of a bacterial infection is the reason but if the grain is drained and turned that should not happen anyway . 18' and upwards would be fine, I don't think 12 degress would suit most grain you would likely get here. back home cockies don't much like to seed after June (April, May is better) and the reason is the ground becomes to cold and the grain takes way too long to germinate and they are likely to run past the rainy season (into summer) while still developing

[Kimbo]

Yeah mine's usually ready to dry in 3 days ( unless i've been slack with the watering)

[ticknaylor]

Thanks fellas :handgestures-thumbupleft: I didn't think about the strains in Aus the research I found was from Europe so probably different scenario temperature wise. Must say I love the smell of malt I wouldn't turn it as often if didn't smell so good

[Kimbo]

Yeah turning it is quite important, I've had issues in the past where the barley has just matted together like one big dreadlock.
Another time it started growing mould ;-)

[crow]

as is changing water every day while steeping and turning , Lactic ferment is not funny less ya like sour milk whiskey

[ticknaylor]

as is changing water every day while steeping and turning , Lactic ferment is not funny less ya like sour milk whiskey

Yeah first go was a failure spare room smelt like sour shit, gunna do a little less got a bit carried away when I bought 40kg of barley and tried doing 8kgs think I'll just do 2kg now.

[crow]

yeah do around 6 kgs at a time. it is sort of determined by what sized containers you have. buckets are ok for steeping but not so great for turning and airing the malting grain :handgestures-thumbdown:

[Bucky]

Was watching a doco the other day on a few of the australian distilleries and the way they turned it was with a rake sort of deal. Well it was like a rake that had about 10 or so long wire tines that where dragged through the grain. May be able to whip something up or adapt a rake to do the same job. Also they dried on a concrete floor of which they did talk about but i didnt really listen to what they were saying.

Bucky

[crow]

yeah you'd have to be doing a fair bit for that to be worth it, dying use to be done on wooden floors in a heated shed, raked into rows and then shovelled with a wooded malt shovel. I'd imagine there are easier ways now :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[5 o'clock]

Yeah turning it is quite important, I've had issues in the past where the barley has just matted together like one big dreadlock.
Another time it started growing mould ;-)

I've been malting some barley and have a mould growing. Is it going to be any good or do I throw out and start again?

I was doing it all in a tray which held some water in the bottom of the grain so the grain at the bottom was always wet after adding water each time and I couldn't really rinse it.

I've now made up some wire mesh trays lined with fly screen to dry the grain in. I will use them for future germinations to allow proper rinsing during the first few days.