Growing Barley for brewing

[good4whatAlesU]

That sounds like a good idea wynnum. Bigger bricks, the longer they will last.

I think too because I am leaving the esky bags open to allow respiration/ gas exchange things are warming up more quickly than they would otherwise. Anyone doing this on a larger scale would be better off using a thermostat controlled fridge/ ducted cooling.

Thought bubble: Ducted Cooling: I was thinking the other day a hose running from my keg fridge to a sealed cupboard with a electric solenoid valve would work. The valve hooked up to a thermostat which opens/closes when temp inside the cupboard gets above or below a certain point. These solenoid valves can be had for $20 or so. ... hose is pretty cheap. That way you could run a number of fermenters/ germinators set at different temperatures, with multiple cooling coming off the same fridge (also being used as a kegerator).

 

[Benn]

Might be worth checking out the latest Beersmith Podcast, has a bit of info regarding small scale Malting.

 

[good4whatAlesU]

All's going well this-afternoon. The acrospires appear to be around 1/3 to 1/2 way along the grain.

I finally figured out how to check the acrospires - instead of cutting the grain in half, just peel back the long (back) side of the hull and you can see the acrospire inside.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I have noticed there are a few threads on here covering this, don't know if you have checked them out.
Smoked peat if it could be incorporated might be the go, only need a small amount of grain to add to a brew, wife may cause a fuss if done in your conventional oven in the kitchen, my wife doesn't allow me to grill kippers in the house. Or microwave.

 

[good4whatAlesU]

Thanks weal. Fortunately I have access to a big computer controlled drying oven at my work. The boss is a good bloke and the company owe me a few weekend hours from past work, so they said I could use it if it's not being used.

 

[wynnum1]

How is the malt dried would think that if the temperature was high enough that the enzymes would denature and if the temperature was too low that flavor would not be good.

 

[mr_wibble]

One of the reasons malting is not recommended for home production of brewing grain is due to production of nitrosamines.
The potential production of these strong carcinogens was mentioned at the latest ANHC meeting by Bert Van Hecke, from the BOM maltbakery/ brewery.

You (home maltsters) may want to review his talk from ANHC 2016 and perhaps check if he provides reference material before making yourself crook.

Is it possible to see a video or audio-recording of his talk Les?
There doesn't seem to be anything on the ANHC website.

 

[good4whatAlesU]

How is the malt dried would think that if the temperature was high enough that the enzymes would denature and if the temperature was too low that flavor would not be good.

It is usually a stepped process - incrementally raising the temperature, drying the malt down gradually. Depends on the type of malt you are trying to create. I'm yet to decide exactly the program (advice welcome for a basic ale malt).

The acrospires are moving slowly (at 72 hours) mostly at 50% of the grain length, so I have 2-3 days germination left yet I think before the grain is ready .

 

[good4whatAlesU]

Had a closer look today and it looks like we are ready for the kiln. Acrospires 80-100% of grain length. Would have liked the germination a bit more even but it will have to do.
Spread 4cm or so deep onto 8 alfoil trays and into the oven. 33 degrees for a couple hours then 50 degrees for 24 hours. I'll check them tomorrow and see how it's looking.

Note: The grain really 'fluffs up' as it germinates so don't overfill your trays or they will spill over like mine did. 2 full trays of grain became 8 for the kiln.

 

[good4whatAlesU]

Looking okay today. The trays on the top shelf with slightly less grain have dried out more rapidly as you would expect.

I've raised the temp to 65C for a few hours and switched the top trays to the bottom and visa-versa.

Next increment to finish will be 85 C - I'll have to do this last step at home in the kitchen as the work oven will be needed tomorrow (Monday morning).

 

[good4whatAlesU]

Into the oven at home for 85C to finish off. A couple hours and we are done.

It's smelling fantastic, sweet and 'malty'

 

[good4whatAlesU]

7 days graft and I'm the proud owner of a 5kg sack of fresh malt!

Needs 'de-bearding' but it might be more 'hipster to leave it be? Anyway I read your supposed to leave it for a few weeks to age before use, so we'll work that out then. It was a fun experiment, thanks for the motivation DrT.

 

[wynnum1]

What type of malt is it and what did it cost to produce.

 

[seehuusen]

That's Cool, thanks for sharing
Would love to hear how a brew turns out

 

[good4whatAlesU]

That's Cool, thanks for sharing
Would love to hear how a brew turns out

Thanks seehuusen, can't wait to give it a try. Hopefully it will be drinkable! If not I'll let you know.

Wynnum I'm not really sure to be honest, temperature of kilning is probably comparable to a regular pale malt. Cost $0.67 a kilo + a bucket load of electricity and a few alfoil trays. Plus a fair bit of time. I don't think anyone would really do this to save money, more just for the fun of it.

 

[mash head]

I made some malt which I havnt used for any thing yet a while back, I found the germination to full modification was the easy part. Tryng to dry 25 kg of wet grain without thinking it through was the hard part. I now have some industrial size clothes dryers that I am going to modify to produce pale base malt.
Being a grain grower I have a few tonnes of 2 row barley kicking around, most pale malts have enough diastic power to convert a fair bit of un malted grain, so I will probably start using it mixed so I can say that my beer is made with some of my grain.

 

[wynnum1]

I made some malt which I havnt used for any thing yet a while back, I found the germination to full modification was the easy part. Tryng to dry 25 kg of wet grain without thinking it through was the hard part. I now have some industrial size clothes dryers that I am going to modify to produce pale base malt.
Being a grain grower I have a few tonnes of 2 row barley kicking around, most pale malts have enough diastic power to convert a fair bit of un malted grain, so I will probably start using it mixed so I can say that my beer is made with some of my grain.

Have you looked at http://www.whitelabs.com/other-products/wln4050-brewers-compass a 20 kg would do 2.5 tons of grain who in the brewing industry is using this product been around for many years so would think beer is being produced.

 

[good4whatAlesU]

Sounds like the go mh. Something to turn the grain to get even germination and stop matting would also be good. Temp control has to be reasonably accurate or things can go pear shaped quickly.

I'm sure the people that make breadmakers could easily whack out a 'maltmaker' for less than $200 if they wanted to. Would be quite a market I suspect.

Where there's a will there's a way.

 

[mash head]

I was unaware of that product, thanks. Still like to stick to traditional methods though. As for the grain matting I just used a rake and moved it around every day on the concrete floor until the acrospire was the correct length, never noticed any matting problems. Unfortunately I tried the same method to dry it, raking it around a fire drum, pretty quickly worked out not to do it this way.
The clothes dryers will only be for drying the grain to kill it, as Ive seen a similar mod done on the net with some stainless fly wire to stop the grain falling through the drum it also debeards the grain as well. The dryers are gas fired with 3 buttons (warm, medium and hot) for temp control so it will take some experimenting to get it right.

 

[good4whatAlesU]

Sounds like a great project - I think Klangers was working on something similar so maybe drop him a message.

Bigger batches would be the way to go, mucking about with 5kg was fun but hardly economical.

The breadmaker/maltmaker things don't exist, just an idea.

It's possible to buy small commercial units that do minimum 50kg batches but I'm guessing they would run in the 10's of thousands e.g. http://maltbox.com/

 

[good4whatAlesU]

On the grain growing topic, there's a heap of land up this way going to waste that could be growing grain. A lot of the horticultural crops (blueberries, bananas, macadamias, custard apples) have a 2 metre wide interrow space where they don't grow anything (just grass which is mowed).

I reckon a little 3 to 5 tine disc seeder would work wonders, but nobody seems interested. Lots of fiddling about and small hectarage but it's awesome soil and high rainfall.

 

[good4whatAlesU]

Hundreds of kilometers of this sort of thing going on...

 

[mash head]

Planting and growing would be ok, harvesting would be a bitch, and grain prices are pretty poor atm. Would be better to grow something inter row that will build or feed the soil.

 

[wynnum1]

Lots of growing space could be created if large growing containers where used that could be moved like IBC containers they could also be used as fire breaks because they kill the weeds and grass under them and can be moved progressively .

 

[wide eyed and legless]

It's great to do a project like this, the best one I undertook was converting chicken **** to methane gas and making a gasometer out of 2 barrels, my dad dismantled it said I was going to blow us all to kingdom come.
I had read a book about a farmer who converted a diesel engine to run on methane and the slurry which was left spread over the land.

 

[good4whatAlesU]

Planting and growing would be ok, harvesting would be a bitch, and grain prices are pretty poor atm. Would be better to grow something inter row that will build or feed the soil.

Yep a little 1.5m header would be slow going ..

Some of the guys grow legumes (Pinto peanut) in the inter-row which adds Nitrogen to the soil.

Just coming from a low rainfall area myself .. I see all this green grass getting mowed (not eaten, made into hay or done anything with) and I think .. man, there must be a better way. We are talking about arguably Australia's best agricultural land (Alstonville plateau) and only 30% of it's being used. The rest of it's being mowed by lawn mowers. Crazy.

 

[good4whatAlesU]

Bit of a funky krausen coming off the feed malt. Pitched with K-97

 

[klangers]

Bit of a funky krausen coming off the feed malt. Pitched with K-97

I'd imagine the significantly higher nitrogen/protein in feed-grade malt would contribute towards a stronger tendency to foam.

 

[good4whatAlesU]

Cheers Klangers could be the case.

I've not used K97 before but I've read it's a bit of a notorious "foamer" so it could just be living up to it's reputation.

 

[good4whatAlesU]

And down she goes.. that was quick.