Ignorant newbie seeking info

Okay, so the recipe for starter calls for flour with malt in it. My local health food store sells soft, red wheat berries. So, since malt is sprouted grain, if I soak the wheat berries and let them sprout, dry them, and grind them to flour, will this give me flour with malt?

Thanks

What recipe? Post it so we can help.

What kind of starter are you making? One for bread, or one for beer?

For "malt" in a starter, you need dry malt extract (DME). You can't malt your own out of wheat berries- they are processed, so they won't sprout for one thing. For another, even if that worked, you'd need barley malt, not wheat malt.

Welcome to HBT! Homebrewing is a great hobby, but it takes a bit of education before you can consistently make good beer. The first thing I can suggest is to go and to the Wiki and read the free information there about getting started.

Now, a few tips to get you in the right direction: First, unless you are making a sourdough bread starter, you do not want wheat flour in the mix. Second, you do not have to malt your own grains, as there are some very good professional maltsters out there. Third, go shopping at a homebrew supply store (check your local listings for one or find any of the good ones on-line).

I hope that helps a bit.


TL

Thanks. I'm making a starter for gruit.
http://yankeeharp.googlepages.com/gruitale.html

Here's the recipe for the starter: http://yankeeharp.googlepages.com/starter.html

It says "Grind some cereal grain finely in a blender. Examples of what kind of grain to use are: malt flour, whole wheat, oats, barley, millet etc. Any flour will do; flour with "malt" in it is preferable."

I figured I'd go the "preferable" route. The store also carries barley flour. Will this do?

Wow. I know some guys that make gruits and other unhopped beers, and I've never seen nor heard of anything like that recipe. I don't know what to tell you, man.


TL

I'm all for experimenting and I'm not trying to be a smartass but why would you go to all the trouble of making a "sourdough?" starter when you can buy a packet of beer yeast for 49 cents? It seems like you are going the long way around the block to make your gruit. Are you just trying to see if you can do it? Just curious because we would love to help you, but it's a out of the normal realm for most of us.

I'm pretty sure what they're talking about is crushed barley for the 'malt flour'. You can buy malted barley from the healthfood store but it's quite expensive. It's cheaper to get it from the homebrew store. They'll even crush it for you! Just ask em for a 1/4 lb in a bag.

And pick up a packet of beer yeast while you're there too. They're cheap.