Malting Gluten Free Grains

Whole foods still has not gotten back with me regarding the storage and testing of their bulk grain millet. I think that may have been my problem. I ordered my new grain from eden foods, day 3 of malting looks great. They get their grain from north dakota and it is tested and properly stored. For the whole foods bulk grain prices ordering right from eden was actually cheaper anyway even with shipping.

http://www.edenfoods.com/store/product_details.php?products_id=113035

So since my wife almost certainly has Celiac (we find out later this month) I'm starting my own experiment malting GF grains. I got about a half a cup each of quinoa, millet, and amaranth from the Whole Foods bulk bins. Was hoping for buckwheat and sorghum as well, but no such luck.

I did a 10-hour soak with each, with a rinse and water change halfway through, and rinsed them once after straining them out. I did another rinse this morning, and I'm going to rinse again when I get home from work and then again before bed.

It has been less than 24 hours and the quinoa has already sprouted acrospires nearly double the size of the seeds. The amaranth appears to be doing something inside the seed but has not sprouted yet, and I can't really tell what's going on with the millet. It seems to really like to clump up into a thick, messy paste and doesn't strain well.

Now, I'm a little confused as to how to proceed from here. I guess I'm supposed to wait until the roots (not the acrospires) are 1.5x the length of the seed? And then what, I just toss them in the oven on low until they're dried out?

That seems right to me, but other people are starting at 175 and increasing by 25 degrees every so often, even putting them up as high as 400 degrees. Won't this kill the diastatic enzymes and prevent them from mashing?

If this works out well, I'll probably order 5-10 pounds of red and white quinoa and try to make a whole beer out of it. I can get you guys pictures, but my camera isn't great at close-ups.

bernerbrau said:

So since my wife almost certainly has Celiac (we find out later this month) I'm starting my own experiment malting GF grains. ..........
That seems right to me, but other people are starting at 175 and increasing by 25 degrees every so often, even putting them up as high as 400 degrees. Won't this kill the diastatic enzymes and prevent them from mashing?
..........

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I would set the oven about 200 and check the grain regularly until dry. If the grain STINKS (literally if it doesn't smell good don't use it). I had one of those grains smell bad when attempting to sprout. I did have pretty good luck with buckwheat though. I'm still experimenting but I would say that the higher temps are more for roasting than for creating dry malt.

One final tip gained from a doctor about determining whether you are Celiac or not. Stop eating any and all gluten products (which is a LOT of stuff). If the problems clear up then that is your "gold standard". I'm not celiac but I actually felt better when I was eating gluten free. Odd but true. :rockin:

kontreren said:

I would set the oven about 200 and check the grain regularly until dry. If the grain STINKS (literally if it doesn't smell good don't use it). I had one of those grains smell bad when attempting to sprout. I did have pretty good luck with buckwheat though. I'm still experimenting but I would say that the higher temps are more for roasting than for creating dry malt.

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Hmm, there was a bit of a smell from the quinoa. I didn't know if that was normal or not.

kontreren said:

One final tip gained from a doctor about determining whether you are Celiac or not. Stop eating any and all gluten products (which is a LOT of stuff). If the problems clear up then that is your "gold standard". I'm not celiac but I actually felt better when I was eating gluten free. Odd but true. :rockin:

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She gets itchy and swollen in her mouth and throat when she eats bread... her makeup makes her eyelids break out... sometimes she even itches when I kiss her after eating... some wines cause very bad reactions in small amounts that make her violently ill (turns out some of the cheaper wines use flour paste to seal cracks in their aging barrels)... and recently she's been getting these really bad rashes that very closely resemble DH. This weekend when she broke out, she went off gluten for a couple days and started taking folic acid supplements (marked gluten free), and the symptoms seemed to improve.

The stupid thing is she's had milder forms of the rash on and off for years now, and her lady doctor just prescribed topical antibiotics and said it was normal.

bernerbrau said:

It has been less than 24 hours and the quinoa has already sprouted acrospires nearly double the size of the seeds. The amaranth appears to be doing something inside the seed but has not sprouted yet, and I can't really tell what's going on with the millet. It seems to really like to clump up into a thick, messy paste and doesn't strain well.

Now, I'm a little confused as to how to proceed from here. I guess I'm supposed to wait until the roots (not the acrospires) are 1.5x the length of the seed? And then what, I just toss them in the oven on low until they're dried out?

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I've successfully malted quinoa, amaranth and buckwheat. The quinoa will be sprout a couple days before the amaranth, so your time frame is similar to what I have experienced. You won't get roots like you would get if you were malting barley. You'll have to make a judgement based off the sprouts. I aim for 1.5 to 2 X's the length of the grain, but I'm not claiming to know the proper lenth.

Next, you want to dry the grain out. I use a dehydrator at the lowest setting. The lower the better. You definately do not want to go above 175 because you will be destroying enzymes. If you want flavor and color from roasted grains, roast some unmalted grains instead.

BBBF said:

I've successfully malted quinoa, amaranth and buckwheat. The quinoa will be sprout a couple days before the amaranth, so your time frame is similar to what I have experienced. You won't get roots like you would get if you were malting barley. You'll have to make a judgement based off the sprouts. I aim for 1.5 to 2 X's the length of the grain, but I'm not claiming to know the proper lenth.

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So you think it might already be time to dry the quinoa when I get home then? Have you had them ready within 24 hours?

And once they're dried, do I need to do anything else or is the malt stage done?

bernerbrau said:

So you think it might already be time to dry the quinoa when I get home then? Have you had them ready within 24 hours?

And once they're dried, do I need to do anything else or is the malt stage done?

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Quinoa is pretty fast, but I can't say if 24 hours is enough. There are a lot of variables that play into the germination rate (temperature, moisture content, light, the grain itself).

After it's dry, you'll want to break off the little sprouts. I think everyone here just puts the grain into a pillow case (tied shut) and puts in in the dryer (fluff - no heat) for a while. Then you can shake the grain in a colander to get rid of the acrospires.

Yeah, but these acrospires are looooooong now.

I spread out the quinoa to air this morning. Oven only goes down to 170, so I'm going to put it on the highest rack for 30 minutes then leave it in there while the oven cools, and repeat until dry.

Someone mentioned not using it if it smells bad, but what is "bad"? Right now it sort of smells like alfalfa sprouts. That doesn't strike me as abnormal...

bernerbrau said:

I spread out the quinoa to air this morning. Oven only goes down to 170, so I'm going to put it on the highest rack for 30 minutes then leave it in there while the oven cools, and repeat until dry.

Someone mentioned not using it if it smells bad, but what is "bad"? Right now it sort of smells like alfalfa sprouts. That doesn't strike me as abnormal...

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Vinegar would be abnormal.

BBBF said:

Vinegar would be abnormal.

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OK, no vinegar then.

I also forgot to mention, but it looks like I have a couple sprouts in my millet and amaranth.

Only question about the millet is how the heck do I separate the root from/crush something that's so small??

Dried the quinoa out last night by repeatedly setting it at 170, waiting half an hour while it preheated, then turning it off and leaving it to cool. Unfortunately I got distracted the third time, and left it in there for a couple hours. So I may have denatured the amylase enzymes.

But it sure smells and tastes like malt! I've got about 83 grams which, assuming OK efficiency, should yield about 2 cups. I'll try mashing it tonight, and if I can't get any conversion I'll add some amylase from the LHBS.

If I manage to get wort, I figure I'll boil it with 3 or 4 hop cones for 15 minutes, then transfer to a sanitized mason jar and let it cool in the fridge, then strain into a growler with about 10-20 grains of US-05.

Went to mash the quinoa tonight. Did a gelatinization rest and a sacc rest, even added amylase enzyme. But I forgot to crack the seeds. I wound up with what looks like milk, and not all that sweet. *sigh* Failure. And the amaranth and millet are not sprouting.

Maybe I'll try again with a couple pounds and try mashing in the mash tun instead of on the counter in a bowl wrapped in towels...

I've never had success with millet, but I've only tried the hulled stuff from the whole foods bulk bin.

I've gotten amaranth to malt. I used Now Foods. Unfortionately, that grain is way too expensive. I'm going to try growing it this summer, but I doubt they'll be enough to do anything with.

Figured it would be a good idea to link this thread

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f164/colorado-millet-malting-project-236251/

I figured I would try to post up some of what I've been doing over the last couple weeks. I keep forgetting to take pictures!!!

Anyway, after my moderate success soaking and roasting millet and quinoa, I decided to try buckwheat. I started off by just soaking/rinsing some buckwheat and roasting it, I made a 1/4 lb of something darker than chocolate, but not quite black, which I REALLY wish I'd have snapped a picture of, as it was beautiful. That got used as a steeping grain in stout, and like a moron I forgot to crush it.

Anyway, I then soaked some buckwheat and left it for a few days, until I got a little bit of sprouting (probably about 1/4 to 1/2 the length of the seed), then I roasted that. I did another batch, letting them sit for another day longer, and that stuff had sprouts not quite as long as the picture BBBF posted back on page 6. This stuff, when I roasted it, was a little more 'troublesome' than the others, in that it took a long time to dry, and some of it exploded (I assume in a manner somewhat similar to popcorn, the seeds burst and globs of starchy goo puffed up to about twice the size of the original seed). I'm not 100% sure why, but my guess is it is because I started ramping the over temp up too fast, so there was too much free moisture in the seeds and the evaporation rate was more than the seed could handle.

Still, not all that bad, I tried to pick the mangled wreckage out of the remaining seeds, and probably only lost 5-10% of what went into the oven this way.

Also, this buckwheat I bought last year, and there were more seeds that broken open during the malting than I liked, so that might be related as well.

I'm hoping to use this stuff as specialty grains in the near future, and I've got maybe half a pound of buckwheat left that I want to try to malt and dry at a very low temperature to see if I can get a mashable base malt.

Oh, and a note for anyone trying to malt buckwheat: rinse, rinse, rinse, and rinse more. This stuff gives off a lot of starch when it soaks, so it needs a lot of rinsing to keep it clean. I've read online that wet starchy residue on the seeds is a common cause of malting problems (especially mold).

Hello, I'm not even sure if this is the right thread to be posting on, except that I do plan on malting my own GF grains. I'm a total newbie to brewing- I don't even understand half of the vocabulary you're using- wort, mash, etc..or the measurements... I haven't had a good beer since I was diagnosed over 12 years ago. My kids and I are doing home science and we thought going through the malting/brewing process would be a great home chemistry project. The problem is that I don't know where to start. The malting information is very informative, but I'm wondering is there a Gluten-Free 'how-to' step by step for beginners? I know we could go with extracts, but I don't like them in commercial beers, and would rather go through the process of malting. I cook with all these grains and already have them on hand. Even if there's a good basic book that I can convert to GF, that would be helpful. Any recommendations will be most appreciated. Thanks- Jennifer

AdventuresomeKitchen said:

Hello, I'm not even sure if this is the right thread to be posting on, except that I do plan on malting my own GF grains. I'm a total newbie to brewing- I don't even understand half of the vocabulary you're using- wort, mash, etc..or the measurements... I haven't had a good beer since I was diagnosed over 12 years ago. My kids and I are doing home science and we thought going through the malting/brewing process would be a great home chemistry project. The problem is that I don't know where to start. The malting information is very informative, but I'm wondering is there a Gluten-Free 'how-to' step by step for beginners? I know we could go with extracts, but I don't like them in commercial beers, and would rather go through the process of malting. I cook with all these grains and already have them on hand. Even if there's a good basic book that I can convert to GF, that would be helpful. Any recommendations will be most appreciated. Thanks- Jennifer

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In a nutshell, malted grain is cracked open and steeped in 148-158 degree water for an hour or two to convert its starches into sugars using the enzymes naturally developed in the malting process. This is the mash. The grain is then rinsed ("sparged") and the resultant liquid ("wort") is boiled for an hour with hops. Then it is cooled, yeast is added, and it is allowed to ferment for a few weeks. The beer is then bottled with additional yeast and sugar to carbonate naturally, or it is kegged and CO2 is forced into solution.

To start I'd check out www.howtobrew.com. Familiarize yourself with extract brewing, then learn how all-grain brewing is done. Learn the terminology. Homebrew can be a somewhat involved process even without the malting step. In fact most homebrewers skip the malting step entirely and brew with pre-malted grains. Since pre-malted GF grains are near impossible to acquire commercially, most GF brewers either stick to extract brewing or go through the process of malting their own with varying degrees of success.

Unfortunately, home-malted grains are rarely as well modified as commercially available malts, and some GF malts have no diastatic (starch-to-sugar converting) power at all, so the mash may require enzyme additions and additional steps like protein and gelatinization rests.

Extract brewing skips all that. Despite your desire to jump in with both feet, let me encourage you to start out with extract brews, or at least learn what you're getting into. Buying all the equipment necessary to malt your own grains and brew all-grain can be dauntingly expensive, especially all at once, and having a few simple batches under your belt will improve your chances of success when/if you do move up.

And whatever you end up doing, good luck!

Adventuresome- while you might not like the taste of extract, I think you will find starting with extract to be rewarding and it will help you familiarize yourself with the brewing process. I don't know if too many commercial examples use a blend of brown rice syrup and sorghum syrup, but I'd suggest going that route. There are many threads in the GF brewing forum about this and you'll even did some recipes too. Besides, most of us are usually around to help answer questions, so feel free to ask. +1 on howtobrew for terminology and basic process

Thanks Casanova & berner- I will look at that site, and consider an extract first time around (at least) There was an espresso stout posted earlier on this thread that uses syrup as well as a dark roasted grain that looks really yummy.

But along those lines- how does one crack a grain? And is that grain to be malted first? Perhaps the site you referenced will tell me, and that will be my next stop, but if you can explain= I'd be most grateful. We're putting in a veggie garden this week- once that's planted, the next stop is the local homebrew store to look for ingredients. I have brew equipment given to me by someone who doesn't do it anymore so I'm set in that department. Thanks again.

AdventuresomeKitchen said:

But along those lines- how does one crack a grain?

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The recommended method is a grain mill. The Barley Crusher is a favorite: http://www.barleycrusher.com/

If you're doing all-grain GF, I'd say a mill is an absolute must. Many non-GF all grain brewers simply have their homebrew supply store mill their grain for them, but obviously this is not an option for GF brewers, given the contamination risk.

However, if you only need a small amount of grain for an extract recipe (say half a pound to 2 pounds), or you're willing to put in the time to grind the 8 or more pounds of grain necessary for an all grain batch, you can also use a rolling pin, or a blender on low speed in quick pulses (you want to crack your grain, not grind it into flour).

AdventuresomeKitchen said:

And is that grain to be malted first? Perhaps the site you referenced will tell me, and that will be my next stop, but if you can explain= I'd be most grateful.

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If you're not doing an all-grain brew, the grain can simply be roasted/toasted for flavor, since you'll be getting all your sugars from the syrup. For all-grain, malting is important for releasing the enzymes that convert the starches in the grain to the sugars that the yeast convert to alcohol.

AdventuresomeKitchen said:

We're putting in a veggie garden this week- once that's planted, the next stop is the local homebrew store to look for ingredients.

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You won't find much in the way of gluten free grains for malting. Those will have to come from a health food store or online supplier. Quinoa is not great as a home-grown GF grain because it has a bitter coating that has to be removed (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Quinoa). However, you will find hops and yeast, and you'll probably find sorghum syrup and rice syrup/rice syrup solids at the very least.

Be aware that liquid yeasts do contain gluten so you will want to use dry yeast to start out. Diluting liquid yeast to remove the gluten is possible, but I wouldn't recommend it to a beginner.

AdventuresomeKitchen said:

I have brew equipment given to me by someone who doesn't do it anymore so I'm set in that department. Thanks again.

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What specific brew equipment do you have? If it's your basic kit setup (boil kettle, buckets, racking cane, tube, and bottles) then you're probably set for extract brewing, but at a minimum you will also need a mash tun (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Converting_a_cooler_to_a_mash_tun) to properly do all grain brews.

I'm guessing it's the regular set-up as they homebrewed a batch and decided the process wasn't for them... I'll know when I go collect it, and what if anything I need to replace. Thanks for the link about how to make a mash tun. I think I will start off with some of the extract recipes posted, and try adding a few roasted grains to start. Baby steps

Buckwheat is sprouting, and I think my quinoa is as well. No luck with millet just yet. But it looks like only the root is sprouting and it is getting to be about the size of the buckwheat now. Should I kiln it tomorrow?

I just malted some quinoa and it smells very sweet- hard to imagine it has a bitter taste to it. I am going to boil it and see what it tastes like.

Question: how much did you start with and how much did you end with for each grain? Can you tell us either the volume or weights during the malting process. I want to plan another homebrew, but want to purchase the right amount, or a little more for the style/ recipe. AND have the correct amount after malting. Basically I want to know if the process increases, decreases or maintains the weight of the grain.

I think you would need around 10 lbs of grain for a 5 gallon batch... can someone confirm this?

10 lbs final weight? Or starting weight? I malted 8.5 lbs of buckwheat starting wt and the final weight is just under 7 lb. after kilning. I'm wondering if I should do another 3-4 lbs.

Decided to try using a [ame="http://youtu.be/OY2Ezu5GYMo"]misting unit in a large storage container [/ame](rubbermaid tote) to try sprouting (malting) some sorghum. We'll see if it works. I should have picked up the food dehydrator that I think I keep at my parents though, would have been useful. Cost about 50 bucks 80 if I include the timer that I'm still considering,and I'm using window screen netting as a draining layer. (I may see if I can fit two layers with a second set of misters). Seems to hold 2 pounds, though the screen is ripping (it was cheap)

It's taking up my kitchen sink though. Still looking for the adapter to connect where a showerhead would be instead.

Sorghum was short term soaked in an alkaline solution (about 5 hours, when it should be 2 days). Doesn't have the wierd smell at the moment, I'll see if it continues. *Edit, I need a better source of grain, I'm fairly sure this one was treated, but it was just an experiment. I do know that 2 pounds of lentils or mung beans sprout fairly well.*

I'm hoping to brew a few 1 gallon test batches with a few gf grains. Probably millet, quinoa, and buckwheat - one at a time to find characteristics of each.

It seems imperative to malt each of the grains but can someone explain the options of adding amylase?

Why not soak, toast, and mash with amylase without malting? (I'm sure there is an obvious answer i am missing). I'm new to the malting scene.

Also, was a consensus reached on hulled millet? Good to go?

I found these today while at work and thought they would both be pretty useful.

http://www.nogy.net/roaster/index.htm

http://www.nogy.net/malthouse/index.htm

Ok! I will certainly keep you guys posted on my recipe. Due to the fact of how old this is (at least 1000 years old), I think I will stick to buying the flour, which is pretty much the ground up grain, and stick in a pan on the stove and roast it till it is brownish. I'll make maybe a 16 or 32 oz batch at first, and then move on to a bigger batch if it works.

Jason's Deli now sells GF sandwich bread. If you have one near you buy a loaf. It is expensive (naturally) but you don't have to make it yourself and risk making a brick.

kontreren said:

Jason's Deli now sells GF sandwich bread. If you have one near you buy a loaf. It is expensive (naturally) but you don't have to make it yourself and risk making a brick.

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Get a Breadman Breadmaker w/ Gluten Free Setting. The worst gf, bread that we have have made from it is better than our best from the oven.

Hey guys, I've recently started malting Millet, and I have a question. Can you malt with chlorinated water? I've found forums saying people had been watering plants with chlorinated water, and they were less healthy, but still grew. Apparently the chlorine affects the nutrients, PH, and micro-organisms in the water, but if you're starting from chlorinated water and dechlorinating it for the purpose of malting, afaik, all the detrimental effects of using chlorinated water may not apply. Does this make sense? Has anyone out there tried malting with municipal/chlorinated water? Also, apart from making things far easier, it might prevent mold from growing.

I do not have a lot of experience with millet, but with buckwheat and quinoa I had some problems with getting consistency in my malting process (some grew super long, some not at all, etc.). I started only using water through a Brita filter and it has improved my malting quality and my process has become routine. I have shortened my time and been able to produce a more consistent product. These grains/seeds already have a hard time with making a quality beer, I would definetly use some sort of filtration system. Anything to help the process!

Well, until I get a good answer I've decided to just treat the water with campden tabs. Anyway after 2.5 days of soaking, and rinsing in the morning and evening, I did pick out a couple that looked a bit moldy (black), but in general they're developing small tails. I assumed I should just keep soaking them until the tails are 1.5x the length of the millet seed, but at the rate they're going, thats going to be almost a week... do the tails grow only when they're spread out on pans, or will they grow when underwater (im using a cooler with a screen glued over the drain to soak them, its easy to rinse this way, and has a lid) How long should the tails be before I transfer them to pans?

Edit: Dec 12: Actually, I was mistaken, there were no tails as of a week ago, and I had to toss it. Too bad.

I've heard and read the same from many sources. That chlorine isn't the greatest for plants, but if there isn't too much, and there's occasional other sources, they can shrug it off. Otherwise the chlorine reacts and creates various mineral salts which isn't great for plants either. Malting though, is usually quicker, compared to years and years of watering with chlorinated water where there's a chemical buildup.

While my last and only malting attempt so far didn't go as well as I'd liked, my attempt at sprouting other seeds using plain, from the tap water, worked quite well. However, it does turn out that my water is not chlorinated, but rather contains chloramine.

Having read through the entire thread, I now feel ready to take on this step in my GF brewing.

One question I have is where are you all sourcing the grains? I see Eden Foods as one option..

I got my quinoa from Costco, buckwheat from Whole Foods and amaranth was purchased from Amazon.

Hi. I work at Montana State University with a focus on gluten-free crops and products. We were directly with a gluten-free production and processing company called Montana Gluten Free Processors. We are currently working with two gluten-free grains (Nude oats and Timothy). Traditional oats have a seed coating like barley. Some people with celiac disease have an adverse reaction to these oats. Nude oats are a related species and are naked like wheat. In a small study, 95% of the people who reacted to traditional oats did not react to nude oats. This company sells a number of gluten-free flours and mixes (best gluten-free bread, I have ever eaten!!!).

My questions are in regard to malt. We made malt from the gluten-free oats. To date, we have incorporated the oat malt into bread. The bread with malt has improved crust (It is crispier) and improved flavor. We want to find out if the oat malt can be used for production of beer. We approached several micro-breweries. They need a minimum of 200 pounds of malt.

I am hoping that there is a better approach. Would anyone be willing to work with us to evaluate the nude oats for beer malt production? I can make small quanities of malt but from the thread, I think that you are much better. The oats are gluten-free (all product coming in to the facility is tested using an immunological test). The product would come directly from the gluten-free facility. the facility is dedicated to gluten-free processing and is certified by the CSA (Celiac society of America).

We also work with a second gluten-free grain called Timothy. We have no information on malting. Thanks, Alice