Home malt; decoction or step infusion mash?

So I'm a home (apartment) malter. Not because I'm a massicist but more out of economic neccesity (import tax puts malt at about 4 dollars a pound here!) I've done about 20 batches or so with the product, so I'm quite fimiliar with the process and very happy with what I can produce.

With that said, I was listening to a podcast, THE ONLY podcast about the subject, that Chris Colby and James Spencer did about home malting sometime ago. They mentioned that under modified malt such as home malt would benefit from a decoction mash or a step infusion mash. At any rate, they didn't explain which temperatures would be helpful. Decoction seems pretty labor intense but step infusion seems within my league. Currently I hover around 50% efficiency on a mash tun that I normally hit 70% with store bought malt. I read about another home malter that said he could hit 70% but I can't find the post.

Any ideas on what I should shoot for to improve my numbers a bit? I'm not expecting a miracle but always looking to improve. Thanks

This might help: http://***********/stories/techniqu...rain-brewing/1529-the-science-of-step-mashing

Where do you live that malt is that expensive?


And you're a 30 year old woman that is a home malter?....hot.

Really, fill us in. I've malted wheat and rye, but not tested the results. I can understand if malt is expensive where you live, but can't figure why unmalted would be cheap.....

Bjornbrewer said:

Where do you live that malt is that expensive?
And you're a 30 year old woman that is a home malter?....hot.

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Well you got half that right. I'm 30 but male but nonetheless; "hot" to use parlance of the thread I'll be sure to change the profile setting.

I live in South Korea. It's the government that taxes imports so heavily. They protect their markets big time. I'd venture to say that 99.0% of the cars on the road here are from the big 3; Kia, Hyundai and Daewoo. Same holds true for beer. The worst beer on the planet calls Korea home (Yes, even North Korean beer is better. I've had Taedonggang from Pyongyang.)
They tax malted barley at 200+%. They tax DME/LME at about the same clip. An ounce of hops costs 5 USD. They also tax the few imported beers we do get here. It's changing but very slowly. Due keep in mind that Korea is soju country (rice alcohol) and paying money for quality beer is kind of a new thing.

I pick up my barley at a traditional market in town. Even that runs me about .50 cents a pound (in Montana I can get it for about 10c a pound). The only thing I know about it is it's Korean barley. Many Koreans drink barley tea so finding it wasn't too terribly difficult. Problem is they always want to crush the hell out of it so finding it unmolested was the hardest part.

St.Marcos I'd like to know more about malting wheat and rye (I haven't tried either) but am looking to branch out as soon as I find either

Bjornbrewer said:

This might help: http://***********/stories/techniqu...rain-brewing/1529-the-science-of-step-mashing
)

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Awesome link BTW!

ghohn said:

Well you got half that right. I'm 30 but male but nonetheless; "hot" to use parlance of the thread I'll be sure to change the profile setting.

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haha....please do. good luck

I think there is also some info at "http://www.bodensatz.com/index.php" about this. It's been a while sense I have been on there and it would seem that the forum is no longer active, dont know where everyone went but none the less it looks like the "info" is still availible.

rekoob said:

I think there is also some info at "http://www.bodensatz.com/index.php" about this. It's been a while sense I have been on there and it would seem that the forum is no longer active, dont know where everyone went but none the less it looks like the "info" is still availible.

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There is good info there. I think his/their right up gave me the confidence to start in the first place.

ghohn said:

They tax malted barley at 200+%. They tax DME/LME at about the same clip. An ounce of hops costs 5 USD.

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holy f**k

motobrewer said:

holy f**k

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Holy f**k is right! The home malting is one of the ways to get around "the man". Also, I bring in hops from the US. You can ship them in and they are looked at like tea. There isn't an importation tax on them. If you buy about 5 pounds, with shipping, they are about 2 dollars a pound. Not too bad. If you've got a family member/friend with an empty suitcase ....