Home Malt Systems

[LlewelynBeer]

Hi

I have been watching some great videos on YouTube on how to create your own malt at home.

That said does anyone know of a malt system/s (or malting making equipment) that you can purchase for the home brewer. Most I have been able to find are on a much larger scale (industrial) than I currently need. If there are any Aussie companies that would be a bonus.

Advice welcomed.

Cheers.

 

[manticle]

There was a guy on here who somehow used/modified a washing machine or tumble drier (drier makes more sense). I'll see if I can find it.
I don't know of specific equipment aimed at homebrewers but if you understand principles and are inventive, it can be done.

 

[manticle]

Of possible interest:
http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/78098-micro-malt-house-diy-for-home-malting-automation/

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/35419-malt-dryerkiln/

 

[manticle]

Sorry for 3rd post - Be aware there can be some safety issues. Not sure what scale you need to get to for issues to occur but grain dust can be dangerous as both particulate matter and as a potential explosive hazard.

Do your research.

 

[klangers]

Hi

I have been watching some great videos on YouTube on how to create your own malt at home.

That said does anyone know of a malt system/s (or malting making equipment) that you can purchase for the home brewer. Most I have been able to find are on a much larger scale (industrial) than I currently need. If there are any Aussie companies that would be a bonus.

Advice welcomed.

Cheers.

I'm currently building my own plant. Now, to set the scene for the below, I'm not trying to discourage you but let you know that if you choose to make your own it won't be easy, and perhaps this will explain why there aren't any off the shelf home malt systems available.

In short - there are no commercial systems for home malting. There are small scale malt systems, but these are geared towards R&D and are very expensive indeed (try $20k +). The smallest malt system I could find was 2.5 tonne batches, and EUR300k. There are probably smaller plants if you search AliBaba.

It is not a simple exercise like building a brew rig and it's a massive challenge for me despite being an engineer who works in the brewing and beverage industries. Just like brewing, the more you learn about malting the more complicated you realise the system has to be in order to produce consistent and quality product. Just like internal combustion engines have improved out of sight due to the more refined fuels we use today, the beer that we're developing when we brew is massively influenced by the fact that today's malts are so consistent and well-produced. Yesteryear's beers used malt that was far more variable, and required a greater integration of the recipe with the particular malt used. Today, we can simply order pale malt and know that it's going to be within coo-ee of another brand of pale malt, despite being grown and malted on a different continent.

The malt plant is comprised of several different sub-plants (just like a brew-rig). Typically these are steeping (2-4 days), germination (5 days-2 weeks) and kilning (~12 hours). Each process has its own unique set of chemical and physical reactions that need to be controlled. The difference is, malting has more variables that need to be controlled through adjustments (rather than just temperature like during fermentation in brewing). These include:

• Steeping:
  Draining and air rest timing
• Aeration timing
• temperature of steep water

[*]Germination/kilning:

• Temperature
• Relative humidity (RH)
• CO2 levels/proportion of fresh air
• Water injection
• Grain turning

In brewing, you'll be pretty much occupied all brew day and can therefore manually control the brewing process and leave fermentation temperature up to a simple and cheap STC-1000. However, the timeframes of the malting process mean that unless you hang around all day of everyday of the week watching, you're going to have to automate temperature, RH, fresh air proportions etc. This automation is what will make things incredibly difficult if you are like me and don't have heaps of cash to splash around on off-the-shelf air damper actuators, servo motors and so forth. Thankfully, we're in an age where Arduino has come about and this is what I'm using as the basis for the control system.

I'll be sharing my project after completion.

 

[BradG]

It amazes me that beer was invented at all with all the steps involved in the malting, mashing, and fermentation process.

So much more complex than just squashing a grape or an apple and drinking the result

 

[NewtownClown]

It amazes me that beer was invented at all with all the steps involved in the malting, mashing, and fermentation process.

So much more complex than just squashing a grape or an apple and drinking the result

It is generally accepted that Beer was most likely discovered rather than "invented". "...All the steps involved" are refinements that came into being over many millennia; the oldest beer recipe, Hymn to Ninkasi, describes making beer from bread (bappir)

 

[BradG]

blessed be the beer makers

 

[LlewelynBeer]

Hi Everyone

WOW. Thank you all for all your replies. Particularly Klangers for your detailed reply.

Yes I have seen several German and even an UK company but they all do seem to be on an industrial level.

Looks like that I will have to keep practicing on a small scale with the kitchen oven

I understand now why the big breweries ship in their malts now.

 

[mojonojo]

There is an english group that build a 50kg unit - there designed as test plants for the big maltsters - http://maltbox.com/ no idea on price though

 

[MHB]

The following is a snippet from an article I was writhing on where beer styles came from, some might find it interesting.
Given the history behind agriculture and brewing I think both were inevitable and at their most basic very simple, our knowledge of the processes has evolved some what since then.
M

[SIZE=medium]That’s nearly enough history of brewing for now it will crop up again, as mentioned the history of beer and the styles of beer we know and love is intimately mixed with people and place. When we come to talking about various styles of beers, the history of those styles will be important.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]In the back of this book are some references for those interested in the history of brewing.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]I said nearly enough, I find history fascinating and am about to indulge in some personal speculation, this started when talking to a farmer friend about his barley crop, he was happy that he got all but a tiny bit harvested before it rained, that was Shot and Sprung (Okay I looked pretty blank too).[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]He explained that if it rained at the wrong time the barley would sprout in the seed head and that the crop was valueless and he would let the cows eat it, which got me to thinking.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]It wouldn’t be valueless if you were a Stone Age subsistence farmer – to them the harvest could be a matter of life and death, so of course they would harvest it. At the time there were no watertight let alone airtight containers so they would “Parch” the grain (dry it over a fire) to preserve it. Malt perhaps the defining ingredient in beer is dried sprouted cereal seed (grain). From there it is inevitable that some got wet and as yeast is found everywhere started to ferment.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Remember that these farmers were just a smart as us it wouldn’t have taken them long to figure out that they could deliberately sprout grain and make malt and from malt, beer. Bread that rises and beer are both a product of yeast acting on modified cereals, so is it any wonder that the two do and always have gone hand in hand.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]One to sustain the other to alter our consciousness – amazing how little people have changed.[/SIZE]