Barley drying Oast/Kiln air flow question

I have a problem maybe some of you genius' can help me with. I will be trying to malt appx. 50lbs of barley next week since I have 8 days off. I have most every process figured out but the problem I haven't figured out yet is how to create the heated airflow through my smoke house without burning up the fan motor.

Smokehouse/Oast/Kiln = Large old upright freezer with 3" pipe with butterfly valve coming from firebox into bottom of freezer, 3" exit duct with butterfly valve out of the top. Oast/Kiln additions = framed screens fitted snugly into the smokehouse nested one on top of the other.

There is some "natural" vacuum that is created to pull the air through the smokehouse due to the exit being 8' above the inlet, however my investigations tell me I will need quite a bit more air flow forced through the barley screens in order to draw the moisture out without creating too much heat in the barley bed(s).

I can install an in-line fan easy enough but this will have to run for days and I fear the motor will burn up, any suggestions will be pondered thoroughly. . .

Thanx, Vern.

I think there are few if any people here yet who have tried to malt their own barley. Good luck, I hope you post some pics of the process and give some more info and sorry I can't help you.

DISCLAIMER: I know very little about what you're trying to do.

I would think that you could pick up a cheap bathroom fan at a local home improvement store and duct it however you like. I don't know how high the exit temperature of your air will be, but it seems to me that a bathroom fan should certainly be able to run for days. The bathroom fan in my basement runs pretty much 24/7 without issue. Keep in mind that they have different noise levels if you decide to go this route. You might also consider running an 80mm or 120mm computer fan. You could probably find an old wall wart from a device you don't use any longer and use it to power a DC fan... though if you want to adjust the speed it gets a little more complicated.

Good Luck!

I need to be able to flow 85F-125F air through the kiln for up to 24hrs, then up to 160F for pale malt or 212F for crystal malt for a few hours (All this depending on air flow).

Yes the fans at wally world are cheap, unless you need 5 of them to get through 2 days of malt kilning. There has to be a way to do this without fear of burning up or having two spare fans on hand, maybe if I run 30' of 3" ducting between the outlet and the fan it would cool down enough to stop damage of the fan motor?

I do plan to document my efforts with pics, etc. I wish I knew a way to figure the efficiency of malting, I'm sure there is a way, for now, I'll just see what OG I can get from a known amount as compared to store bought 2row. I don't even know yet if this barley is 2row or 6row, but if this works, I'll be planting some.

Keep those ideas coming!!

When you say "smoke house" all i can think of is smoked malt... what are you using as a heat source?

Anthony_Lopez said:

When you say "smoke house" all i can think of is smoked malt... what are you using as a heat source?

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The smokehouse usually employs fruit wood, but for the malting I will use a simple electric heater in the firebox.

gotcha... i'd rather ask a stupid question than have someone do something stupid... I'm very interested in how this goes

The plan for now is to get some of the cheap expandable bendable dryer line and extend it out from the outlet to maybe 30' and attach the fan, might even employ a swamp cooler type squirrel cage fan (motor is outside the duct) with a dimmer switch as adjustment means for airflow adjustment.

did you ever get this set up and working? I am wanting to try to do some of this myself. Please send me a e-mail of the pics you took.

Yes, it is here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/happiness-home-malting-107409/index2.html
I have decided to go a different route however, it is in the same link towards the end of the thread.

Keep on malting my friends

You're brewery open yet? I should be in the Valley in a few weeks.

riverfrontbrewer said:

You're brewery open yet? I should be in the Valley in a few weeks.

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If you're speaking to me, I have no plans of opening a brewery, sorry.

I was! Sorry I had your name confused w another CO member!

Look for an inline duct booster fan. Sometimes they are added to a heating system if there is a long run of duct work and the airflow is low. They can handle gas heating systems which can run 100+ depending on how they are set-up. Should do what you are looking for. Just my 2 pennys though.