How Do I Malt Barley?

[mattcarty]

So I was talking to the old man last night and we decided to grow enough wheat and/or barley for about 20 kgs of grain on my dads land.

so how do we malt the barley? we know all about the type of barley that needs to be grown as malting barley as opposed to feed barley but the malting process itself is a bit of a mystery. so many people i have talked to have dismissed the idea as being too hard but seriously if we were worried about the effort wouldn't we just save the time and effort and go buy a carton at the bottle shop and give away all this home brew nonsense?

any links or tutorials would be appreciated

cheers
carty

 

[scott_penno]

Matt, there was a great thread a few months ago on malting and the author was drying/kilning the malt in a converted clothes drier - I'll see if I can dig it up...

Here it is - http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...showtopic=35419

sap.

 

[Sammus]

This might help, not a step by step guide but kinda tells you what to do.

http://www.howtobrew.com/section2/chapter12.html

 

[thelastspud]

theres a book by Charles Bamforth called
beer tap into the art and science of brewing
and it has a decent section on malting but it prettyy complicated and its a science all to itself.

There are a couple of soaking steps then youve got to klin it to dry it out. there are fungal infections that can set in.
The steps in the book go like this
soak for 48 - 72 hours at 14-18 degress C
then let it germinate for 4 - 6 days at 16 - 20 degrees c
kiln it for 24 - 36 hours between 50 - 220 degrees depending on how dark you want it.
then its finished.

so i reckon it goes into the too hard basket. but i still hope you try it. my old man has a farm as well and
Im already growing hops there Id love to make a beer with compleatly homemade ingredients.

 

[absinthe]

theres a book by Charles Bamforth called
beer tap into the art and science of brewing
and it has a decent section on malting but it prettyy complicated and its a science all to itself.

There are a couple of soaking steps then youve got to klin it to dry it out. there are fungal infections that can set in.
The steps in the book go like this
soak for 48 - 72 hours at 14-18 degress C
then let it germinate for 4 - 6 days at 16 - 20 degrees c
kiln it for 24 - 36 hours between 50 - 220 degrees depending on how dark you want it.
then its finished.

so i reckon it goes into the too hard basket. but i still hope you try it. my old man has a farm as well and
Im already growing hops there Id love to make a beer with compleatly homemade ingredients.

i wouldn't say it goes in the to hard basket..

i have always made my own malts (the first link is my setup although it has evolved a little now), you do have to be clean and be on the ball and she does need attention regularly but not to hard...


the change i have made to the dryer is to add a hole in the side with a flap so i can regulate the amount of air going through the malt and also means i can get to kilning temps (you can get to about 75C tops without the vent)

you need to germinate for longer than 4-6 days more like 6-8 days and try and keep the temp in the malt at about 15C so it requires lots of turning, the soak normally only takes 48 hours. i have tried lots of methods and the "hole in my bucket" method works the best so far, the grain needs water AND air otherwise it will drown, the other way is to soak for an hour then drain and leave it for 6 hours or so then soak again. the "hole in my bucket" does this without you having to drain it.

if you have any questions you want to ask me im happy to help, i have made 200kg+ of my own malt with most of it being a success, i do recommend doing it in the winter as the malting process is hard to keep cool otherwise and mold will be an issue

some good sites

http://mosquitobytes.com/Den/Beer/Hmbrewing/Malt.html

http://oz.craftbrewer.org/Library/Methods/.../roasting.shtml

 

[mattcarty]

great thanks for that it is a good starting point

it is going to be a massive amount of work, before i even get to the malting stage, the land has not been used for farming for decades so the ground has to be prepared and because we don't own any equipment the soil prep, sowing and reaping will all be done manually.

so a few obstacles to overcome before we even get to the malting part but i think it would be worth it if it all comes together and i can sit down with a good beer that we not only brewed but also grew all the ingredients ourselves, how cool would that be!

thanks again, i will keep you all posted on how it goes.

matt

 

[katzke]

Say there is more to it them just growing grain and sprouting it.

While you are working up the land and getting ready to harvest your grain why not try out roasting pale malt and see if you are really into the process. Sure you will not be able to make crystal grains but you can make some of your own dark grains.

great thanks for that it is a good starting point

it is going to be a massive amount of work, before i even get to the malting stage, the land has not been used for farming for decades so the ground has to be prepared and because we don't own any equipment the soil prep, sowing and reaping will all be done manually.

so a few obstacles to overcome before we even get to the malting part but i think it would be worth it if it all comes together and i can sit down with a good beer that we not only brewed but also grew all the ingredients ourselves, how cool would that be!

thanks again, i will keep you all posted on how it goes.

matt

 

[absinthe]

Say there is more to it them just growing grain and sprouting it.

While you are working up the land and getting ready to harvest your grain why not try out roasting pale malt and see if you are really into the process. Sure you will not be able to make crystal grains but you can make some of your own dark grains.

i have successfully made my own crystal malts

i use my herms with the mash tun full of water and the baggie method works a treat


http://twinorbsbrewery.blogspot.com/2007/1...ystal-malt.html

http://homebrewinghobby.blogspot.com/2007/...lt-at-home.html

 

[katzke]

Wish I would have known about this before our clubs SMASH competition. Least I get the better part of a year to test it out and refine the process.

Just think of the possibilities. Things like Golden Promise crystal or even malted wheat crystal.

i have successfully made my own crystal malts

i use my herms with the mash tun full of water and the baggie method works a treat


http://twinorbsbrewery.blogspot.com/2007/1...ystal-malt.html

http://homebrewinghobby.blogspot.com/2007/...lt-at-home.html

 

[Bizier]

Good work Matt. Please post updates.