# brewing with malt grade barley from the paddock? help



## peterl1981 (13/4/15)

Hi lads, 

Just wondering if anyone has used barley direct from the paddock, my uncle has silos full of malt grade barley and im wondering it I can brew with it or do I have to modify it before brewing.

has any one done this before?


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## gap (13/4/15)

It has to be malted first.


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## spog (13/4/15)

gap said:


> It has to be malted first.


Gap said it, but to satisfy your curiosity why not try malting some and see how it turns out.
Malt a small amount first to get the process right,you might find you enjoy doing and with a supply to be had the skies the limit.


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## wynnum1 (13/4/15)

_roasted barley_. It is made from unmalted barley,


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## Ducatiboy stu (13/4/15)

As long as its malt spec barley you should be right

Its not a very hard process, but you will need some practice. Basically ou soak the grain until it starts to sprout, then once the sprout is a certain lenght you then dry/kiln it.

Different kilning temps affect the malt. 

Of course, what looks simple on paper is not always the case in practice.

Not For Horses is the man you probably want to talk to


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## mr_wibble (14/4/15)

I'd be interested in buying some to have a go myself.

Would you be interested in selling some ?
I'd only want about 10kg (I guess) given AusPost wont take > 20kg.

But happy to pay for your trouble.

cheers,
-kt


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## klangers (15/7/15)

Mr Wibble said:


> I'd be interested in buying some to have a go myself.
> 
> Would you be interested in selling some ?
> I'd only want about 10kg (I guess) given AusPost wont take > 20kg.
> ...


Me too - but a hellava lot more than 20 kg if you have it.


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## bronson (21/7/15)

On my phone so I can't see where you guys live. But on Gumtree I've seen someone selling unmalted grain in Bayswater vic. Advertised as could be used for brewing. Check it out.


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## micblair (21/7/15)

Feed grade barley is inferior to malting grade barley. Specifically being too high in protein content. This will lead to low extract yields, non-biological haze and excessive break material in the kettle. The only benefit it offers is increased diastases. Cant comment on the quality of the beer it makes. Probably pretty average.


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## dent (21/7/15)

There would be no problem using it alongside commercial malted barley - up to about 50% or so in the grist next to pilsner malt or whatever. There's enough enzymes in the malt to convert the barley next to it.

Probably would turn out some nice easy drinking pale beers for summer.


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## mash head (21/7/15)

As above malt it or add a portion to some base malt with enough power to modify it. Throw some in the oven and darken it up for some different flavours


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## slcmorro (21/7/15)

Or, just use professionally malted barley - the time, money and effort invested in a non-professional product is swiftly over-run by a failed batch. 'Real' stuff is not that expensive, especially if you can get on a bulk buy. Just my $0.02.


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## hoppy2B (22/7/15)

micblair said:


> Feed grade barley is inferior to malting grade barley. Specifically being too high in protein content. This will lead to low extract yields, non-biological haze and excessive break material in the kettle. The only benefit it offers is increased diastases. Cant comment on the quality of the beer it makes. Probably pretty average.


You can add low protein corn flour or something of that sort to lower the overall protein content. Another way to get around it might be to do a protein rest, cold break etc. The guy has malting barley so none of that applies.

It is pretty easy malting on a concrete floor. Just shovel the grain around every so often and spray some water on it until you achieve the desired level of conversion. If you don't have a suitable concrete floor you can do it in a tub but only on a very small scale.

If you have tonnes of barley it is well worth mucking around with a small amount of it to perfect the malting process. If it doesn't work out the sheep are always keen to eat it.


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## mash head (22/7/15)

hoppy2B said:


> You can add low protein corn flour or something of that sort to lower the overall protein content. Another way to get around it might be to do a protein rest, cold break etc. The guy has malting barley so none of that applies.
> 
> It is pretty easy malting on a concrete floor. Just shovel the grain around every so often and spray some water on it until you achieve the desired level of conversion. If you don't have a suitable concrete floor you can do it in a tub but only on a very small scale.
> 
> If you have tonnes of barley it is well worth mucking around with a small amount of it to perfect the malting process. If it doesn't work out the sheep are always keen to eat it.


I was hoping to play with some malting this year but had to feed all my barley to the sheep, I still have a tonne of wheat I might throw a bit in a beer unmalted as an experiment.


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## klangers (24/7/15)

Malt grade vs feed grade is often simply down to the consistency of the kernel size. I wouldn't say the difference is night and day.


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## hoppy2B (26/7/15)

klangers said:


> Malt grade vs feed grade is often simply down to the consistency of the kernel size. I wouldn't say the difference is night and day.


What you're saying is only applicable if a malt barley variety failed to achieve the necessary quality for malting due to adverse weather conditions or something of that nature. Some barley varieties simply don't produce good quality beer when made into malt.

And some varieties of barley have a higher protein content than others, for example six row barley has a higher protein content than two row barley.


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## hoppy2B (26/7/15)

mash head said:


> I was hoping to play with some malting this year but had to feed all my barley to the sheep, I still have a tonne of wheat I might throw a bit in a beer unmalted as an experiment.


You could have malted it, mashed and made beer with it and then fed the remains to the sheep. You could even have used the spent barley malt to grow mushrooms on and afterwards fed the spent mushroom medium to your sheep. h34r: :lol:


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## Feldon (26/7/15)

Another important factor that separates malt grade from feed grade barley is that malt grade barley is tested in the lab to determine the uniformity of germination.

Ideally all the grains should germinate at the same time and grow at the same rate. This ensures that all the grains respond to the malting process in the same way at the same time. 

With feed grade barley you could expect that after several days into the malting process there are some grains that have germinated early and are ready now for kilning, while there are still other grains that have only just started to germinate - and other grains inbetween. 

A mate of mine who works in the grain trade says that Chinese breweries buy a lot of Aussie feed barley. He said he always tells them its no good for brewing (in fear of them coming back at him and complaining) but they keep buying it by the ship load. I assume the Chinese brewers just grind it to floury dust and add synthetic enzymes to convert the starch to sugar.


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## Spohaw (26/7/15)

I know it would cheating but ..........

Couldn't you just buy the enzyme and add it to the mash of unmalted grains to be able to use it for beer without malting it first ?


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## Feldon (26/7/15)

Spohaw said:


> I know it would cheating but ..........
> 
> Couldn't you just buy the enzyme and add it to the mash of unmalted grains to be able to use it for beer without malting it first ?


That's what I said.


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## spog (26/7/15)

Feldon said:


> That's what I said.


Not a Chinese brewer are you ?.


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