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poopyhead · 02-13-2011, 06:37 PM

how did this ever turn out?

zamlock · 12-05-2012, 09:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by weaks

So, first attempt malting the sunflower seeds went all wrong. They attracted soooo many fruit flies. Second attempt went well. With 10 lbs of sunflower I made 3 gallons with a OG of 1.050. So it is fermenting as I type and smelling oh so good! I didn't take the husk off and so far no problems with oil. We'll see.

I'm getting ready to malt sunflower seeds. Would you mind telling me how you did it? I'm experienced with malting corn.

I liked your analysis of pounds and gallons to OG. Very informative.

Thx

zamlock · 12-09-2012, 12:16 PM

I was asked by a friend to make beer with sunflower seeds, (his natural food business is called Sunflower). I was inspired by weaks' post and analysis, and so I malted 10 pounds of black oilers. The germination rate was quite good, (I malt corn, and it never does that good). It smells great. See attached picture of it on the drying rack.

Anyway, I plan to do a mini mash just like weaks did to see if there are enzymes and fermentables, and make a beer that is 75% barley and 25% sunflower.

I'll keep you posted.

**muench1** · 12-11-2012, 02:10 AM

Ressurrected thread! You may want to call up Colorado Malting Co and ask them about sunflowers. They've actually taken orders and commercially malted some for a micro out there.

zamlock · 12-16-2012, 12:45 PM

So I malted 10 pounds of sunflower seeds and dried them. I tried several ways to crack them, and found that a blender worked best.

I mashed 6 pounds of 6 row barley and 3 pounds of sunflower seeds for a 3 gallon batch of beer. The color of the sparge water was gray and not nice to look at. After I boiled and hopped and all that, the color was a very nice brown. The OG was 1.020, which tells me that the sunflower seeds didn't add anything to gravity. I chucked in some light DME to get to 1.040. The amount of sediment was incredible. I cleaned up all the odds and ends of hops in my freezer, so it has 4 different kinds in it.

I pitched Wyeast's American Lager yeast, and after 48 hours there was nothing happening. There was no indication of CO2, and not one little bit of krausen. So I threw a pack of champagne yeast in. It started slowly, and after another 48 hours it's very active. Smells great, too. It's still in the primary as I write this.

I've got several pounds of malted sunflower seeds left if anyone wants some.