Distillers Malt?

Anyone know anything about it? I have access to some and was wondering what make it distillers malt. A google search didn't turn up much.


Thanks
Bryan

If it is what it think it is, it is the end product of distilltion of grains for the purpose of making ethanol. The "mash" is flash dried, like instant coffe, which causes it to clump up into little balls. Used as animal feed if it is good, or fertilizer if it has been totally stripped of anything useful. As far as brewing with it, it would be nearly useless as this has basically been done once already.
Of course if this is not what you are talking about, then ignor the above.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distillers_grains

If it is malt prior to being used though it is essentially the same as any other malt, however, it depends on how it was malted. For instance most maltings in Scotland (For the making of scotch whiskey) use peat to kiln with, thus all malt for use in making scotch is peated malt, etc.

Moisture % Max. Color °L Protein Total Max. Extract CG Dry Min. Usage Rate %

Distiller's Malt 4.1 1.4-2.1 13.5 80.0 up to 100

Canadian 2-Row 4.1 1.5-2.1 12.5 80.0 up to 100

It looks a lot like the 2-row but with more protein? Why would it need more protein?



I

It's 6-row. Distillers take advantage of the extra diastatic power in the 6-row. It helps out, considering its like 10% of the grain bill.

So...unless you are up for making CAP, don't buy it.

What is the rest of their grain bill?

Well, I was referring to bourbon and whiskey makers. In that case its corn and then either rye or wheat depending on the maker.

A while back I was looking into the same thing this is what I came up with
Bourbon:
6 parts corn (not malted)
2 parts rye (not malted)
2 parts barley (malted) 6 row most likely

Old thread, but Wikipedia says that Distiller's Malt is high in nitrogen, so presumably that makes in useful when a lot of adjuncts are being added to the mash. Same idea as its diastatic power.

Distillers malt is all about diastatic power. Distillers don't care about protein it just comes with it. Most likely the malt is not even kilned and just dried to preserve as much of the enzymes as possible.

Darn it. I fell for and old thread add well.

Kai

even older thread now, but second hit on google for distiller's malt. has anyone tried adding distiller's malt to the grain bill and what were the results?

It was recommended to at the LHBS instead of the 6 row I was seeking for it's conversion power on a largely adjunct mash. Just to guess it may come out a bit thin in higher quantities on an all barley mash but could be effective helping out some more poorly modified malts, or for that matter some gelatanized or cooked starches. Just to speculate, I've been wondering if it could be used to convert some less traditional starch sources for low-barley beer to experiment

dfohio said:

It's 6-row. Distillers take advantage of the extra diastatic power in the 6-row. It helps out, considering its like 10% of the grain bill.

So...unless you are up for making CAP, don't buy it.

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Yep. It's highly likely to be 6 row. Which means higher protein, higher enzymatic power, higher DMS-precursors and lower extract potential.

Not good for beer brewing except for high % adjunct beers, like CAP.


Don't go there unless it's just as a wild experiment.

SteveH43055 said:

It was recommended to at the LHBS instead of the 6 row I was seeking for it's conversion power on a largely adjunct mash. Just to guess it may come out a bit thin in higher quantities on an all barley mash but could be effective helping out some more poorly modified malts, or for that matter some gelatanized or cooked starches. Just to speculate, I've been wondering if it could be used to convert some less traditional starch sources for low-barley beer to experiment

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I'm sure it COULD be used for that, but you're probably better off just using 2 row or continental pilsner malt instead.

Please post the grist that you're proposing including the % of each malt and I can calculate the total diastatic power of the mash for you; I can't forsee any remotely reasonable beer grist that couldn't be converted in 60 minutes with 2 row or pilsner as a basemalt; even if you have a borderline diastatic power of say 40ish Lintner increasing the mash time to 90 minutes seems preferable vs. using 6 row and dealing with all that protein and SMM (DMS pre-cursor).

Adam

Old thread but new info...

Distillers malt is two row, but it is grown and processed for maximum enzymatic potential. It is kilned very light and is used in making mashes with mostly adjunct grains, like corn. So it doesn't add much color or flavor. It has more protein because that is where the enzymes live.
I was intrigued because I found some very cheap, but if you are not doing heavy adjunct, not malty beers it doesn't seem like a good choice.

noiz2 said:

Distillers malt is two row, but it is grown and processed for maximum enzymatic potential.

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It depends on the maltster. There is plenty of 6 row 'distillers' malt. Unless the maltster states that their malt is made with 2 row, you have a pretty decent chance of it being 6 row...no matter the name or class of the malt: pils, pale, crystal, roast, etc.

How about pHDI, a, b and c?

mabrungard said:

It depends on the maltster. There is plenty of 6 row 'distillers' malt. Unless the maltster states that their malt is made with 2 row, you have a pretty decent chance of it being 6 row...no matter the name or class of the malt: pils, pale, crystal, roast, etc.

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Good point I was quoting Briess talking about their distillers malt. Theirs was the only one I had seen available for sale to home brewers. As of a year or two ago they only use two row for their distillers malt. They also talked about the very low kilning. They have a page about the differences between their brewers and distillers malt.