Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

G'day all,
Having a go at malting Barley (for the first time):-

What I've done:
Weighed out my Barley;
Filled the bucket with water, noticed the water being really dirty so I poured it out and decided to do that until I get clean water. Rinse and repeat - weavels washed out dry husks and lots of dirt...;
Then I let it sit in the water overnight;
Drained the water until nothing came out, let it sit for the day;
At nighttime I refilled the buckets to allow the grains to soak a second time over night.

What I've noticed:
After the first soak the water was I bubbling in the morning...
After the second soak there was a foam cap on top of the water...

Q1: is this a good method or completely wrong?
Q2: would the bubbling be from wild yeast and a subsequent 'unauthorized' fermentation?
Q3: apart from buying pre-malted Barley (which I will do most likely in future), how can I improve this process?

Have you seen this thread?

It's not the only way to do it but it worked for me.

One thing with your process is that you don't want to soak the grain for too long as it will drown it and do nothing. Overnight might be too long in my opinion.

Thank you Sam,
No I didn't see that post, sadly!

Sam. wrote:One thing with your process is that you don't want to soak the grain for too long as it will drown it and do nothing. Overnight might be too long in my opinion.

Yerp, looks like your on the money! Something smells rotten and there's no white 'Chit' ... So I'll give it another couple of days... Before I capitulate!

Over night probably OK to start but after that not so good i tried to do in Hessian bag it worked but started growing through the bag i was dipping in water then hang to dry some other type of bag may work like BIAB bag .Did get to sprout the kiln part did not go well and was the coldest wettest days hot sunny dry days would be advantage

Sam. wrote:Have you seen this thread?

It's not the only way to do it but it worked for me.

One thing with your process is that you don't want to soak the grain for too long as it will drown it and do nothing. Overnight might be too long in my opinion.

Ok, you win! Followed your link above to your post and BOOM success!


I did pull one open but didn't see the acrospire... yet.

Depends how warm it is to how fast the process, keep checking and you will see it :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Sam. wrote:Depends how warm it is to how fast the process, keep checking and you will see it :handgestures-thumbupleft:

We got a balmy week of 35s coming up... so fingers crossed!

Should be a pretty quick process then bud :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Sam. wrote:Should be a pretty quick process then bud :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Did you have much of a problem with uneven malting?

I've got part of the grain that's showing an acrospire past the seed tip (as in over ready), some have long roots but are not showing any acrospire, and I've even found some just at the chit stage and some completely unmalted...

Germinating grain produces heat some of the grain could over heat.

What was your source of grain?

Have you been turning it often?

Also it's hard to find the acrospire in every seed with a rootlet, sometimes it gets lost when you crack them open :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Work full time makes it hard to turn it during the day...
It seems to have some (50+%) that's gone crazy, and the rest is probably 30% low malt while the rest is pretty much unmalted!

Stirred it after I posted and have seen some big acrospires and have wetted it once more for over night. Tomorrow it's going into the drying table (no longer have trampoline!)...

Can only do what I can do... Just hoping this is 'normal' :D

We bought 25Kg of Barley so I think I'm just going to keep going. Once all is done, I'll dry it and grind it and bag it, ready for use!

I'm not certain that this was best us of my $$ and time. Certainly was interesting...
Thank you for your guidance, Sam.

What did you pay for the barley the cheapest malted barley is $50 a bag in Brisbane that is trucked from Victoria .There are malting facilities in Brisbane but that does not go to the home brewer .Malting the grain is only a learning experience no way could it be an advantage to buying.

wynnum1 wrote:What did you pay for the barley the cheapest malted barley is $50 a bag in Brisbane that is trucked from Victoria .There are malting facilities in Brisbane but that does not go to the home brewer .Malting the grain is only a learning experience no way could it be an advantage to buying.

We paid $28.95 for a 40Kg bag (sorry got th size wrong), so still cheaper and interesting to get going, but I need to improve my method greatly to get a more consistent result!

I've got the rest of the bag to play with and MAY have another go down the track...

How much malted barley do you get for the $50 bag?

$28.95 for 40kg is that feed stock? That's what I was thinking of buying. I was looking at malted grain by the 25kg sack other day was between $50 and $ 75 but then there's freight, which would add a fair bit unless your close to the seller that is.

bluc wrote:$28.95 for 40kg is that feed stock? That's what I was thinking of buying. I was looking at malted grain by the 25kg sack other day was between $50 and $ 75 but then there's freight, which would add a fair bit unless your close to the seller that is.

Yes, I believe it is. It's malting like crazy, tho.just don't soak it over night, repeatedly... :laughing-rolling:
With our current weather (balmy 35-40 degrees) it takes only one session... Then they explode.

First batch went to mush - too much soaking.
Second germinated very quickly and I didn't check it enough, so it grew into the covering towels and thru the flyscreen I had it resting on, to stop it rotting (airing thru);
third batch on now in its first soak, got an old door ready to spread it out on because towels provide a place for toots to grow into and the same goes for the fly screen I used! :angry-banghead:

Guess you can read all you want but if it doesn't sink in ... :teasing-tease: you're destined to repeat others learnings...

Ok cool. Looking at building a dehydrator box seen them made with a lightbulb for warmth and a pc fan. Gunna look at a reptile mat or fermenter heater mat and a large pc fan for airflow for drying the malt.

bluc wrote:Ok cool. Looking at building a dehydrator box seen them made with a lightbulb for warmth and a pc fan. Gunna look at a reptile mat or fermenter heater mat and a large pc fan for airflow for drying the malt.

If you going to do that, you should look up biltong boxes or bolting makers - it's very much sounding like what you're proposing...

:handgestures-thumbupleft: exactly what I'm going to make