Malting Grain

[Draco]

Hi All,

I going to try and malt a small batch of wheat to experiment with a few different flavourings. I have a general idea of the malt process and how I might go about doing it, but would like to here from anyone who has tried malting at home and any problems or more importantly any success they might have had.

 

[Jovial_Monk]

I think you should try to malt some barley first. Wheat is difficult to malt due to lack of a husk. Oats apparently are difficult to malt because the grains contain a bacterium that can flourish in the moist conditions in the germinating heap.

You planning to do most of the malting in a fridge?

Jovial Monk

 

[pint of lager]

Give it a go Draco. I have only done barley (about 40kg,) but if all you have access to is wheat, go for it.

Have a read of the online BYO article, plus any other malting articles you may wish to google up. There is also some hands on ideas from the HBD.

A few tips.

Do a small first trial batch of about 1-2 kg to give you an idea of what to expect and look for. After the grain swells, it takes up more space and weighs more. This doesn't matter so much with a small batch, but if you launched into 5-10kg, it would become an issue.

An old zapap bucket setup is an ideal rinsing device.

You are aiming to uniformly germinate the grain, and then halt this germination when the acrospire (shootlet) is almost at the length of the grain. Soak the grain till it swells (with frequent changes of water to keep oxygen levels up,) then keep the sprouting grain damp, and then, watch carefully and get ready to stop it.

As the grain germinates, it generates heat, which speeds the germination up.

To check on germination, grab ten grains at random, when about 1/2 have reached full conversion, stop the germination.

 

[Jovial_Monk]

"Homebrewers Garden" and "The Craft of Housebrewing" contain detailed instructions on malting

JM

 

[Draco]

JM

What did you mean by using a fridge? and thanks for the info Pint of Lager.

 

[Jovial_Monk]

The grains are usually steeped at low temperature, like 8C. Four days steeping at 8C is just right for barley, less for wheat, oats

JM

 

[Gulf Brewery]

Draco

The main thing is to give it a go. On the subject of wheat malting, I don't see how the lack of a husk is going to prevents its malting - if it doesn't germinate, then it obviously can't be sown so we can get some more :lol:

On the subject of malting barley, the image is derived from Narziss in "Technology Brewing and Malting" by Kunze. It says that the steep temperature should be about 12 and it shouldn't go above 17. The grain may do this as the germination causes heat which makes the grain germinate faster etc etc.



Cheers
Pedro