Quinoa Malting Failure

Just threw out five pounds of smelly Quinoa. Arghh!

I had run a small malting experiment a while back and was confident I could scale up a bit and then start brewing.

Unfortunately after about four or five days the grain developed a funky (rancid? fermenting?) smell. I'd say less than 5% of it actually sprouted.

Anybody want to speculate what might have gone wrong? I was keeping it in a 5 gallon stock pot inside of a paint strainer bag. I gave it an initial 2-3 hour soak and then rinsed it thoroughly every eight hours. It just never took off. Has anyone done this much grain all at once?

I am beginning to suspect the grain wasn't viable for malting. It was Roland brand and we got 10 pounds off of Amazon for a decent price. So I may give this another chance (with a smaller batch next time). I suppose I could also just roast it, but I doubt the flavor would be nearly as good.

I'm thinking that it may not be a viable grain. If you can, can you contact the seller and ask if it is possible to sprout the grain? Or when you did a small malting experiment, did you use the same batch of grain to test if it was viable?

i think quinoa will sprout under water.

I've only malted something once (teff), but I'm not sure if you can do it in a "bag" like you did. I'm guessing the funky odor was mold/mildew/yeast of somekind. I remember when I did it (a few years ago so don't take anything I say as expert advice by any means) it was on cookie sheets so there was just a thin layer of grain and damp towels on top to keep it moist. I'm not sure if the grain will germinate if it's densly packed.

Used a different batch of grain from the first successful experiment. Just bought it, but it might have been 'old', or in some other way not viable.

I wonder whether putting in a bag and/or having it densely packed (several inches deep) would perhaps prevent sprouting. That said, there should have been areas around the edges or on top which should have sprouted. I didn't see hardly any that sprouted.

quinoa gets as funny smell malting it. its more pronounced in larger quantities. i would also highly recommend that you sprout it under warm water. place grain in bucket. fill bucket with warm water to fully cover grain. strain and replace water 2x a day and let it go for a week at the most. i use a sheet like a hammock to air dry in the back yard. then reinforced pillowcase tied shut and tossed in the dryer to knock the sprouts off the grains. and i roast in the oven on brownie sheets.