Hey dudes. I don't post here a lot, but I have been reading tons for about a year now. Anyways, Im seriously obsessed with brewing so I decided to start malting some grain. I could only find wheat at the feed stores (I have some unmalted barley on order from Colorado Malting), but I thought some of you might be interested in how I'm doing it! There is a more detailed and fun to read version on my blog, but I will keep this thread updated as well.
I used a Homer bucket for steeping. I started with about 20 lbs, which was my first mistake since I seriously undersetimated how much the grains would swell!
Anyway, it took just two 8 hour rinse/soak cycles for them to start chitting.
Which was too soon, because I hadn't built a malting floor yet. So I jacked some ideas from COLObrewer and THIS SITE and made a malting floor out of cement board, some 2x4's and Plaster of Paris!
While I waited for that to cure, I decided to soak the grains one last time for a couple hours in a StarSan bath to kill any gross stuff that might have found a home in there. Then I drained and started "couching" on my new malting floor. I wonder if having a malting floor in my basement increases the value of my house? Hehe, I keed.
After 24 hours of going outside to stir them up every few hours, I decided it was time to spread them all out. I also mixed in another batch of StarSan for good measure.
Here's how the malt is looking!
Can't wait to brew a kick ass hef with this.
I used a Homer bucket for steeping. I started with about 20 lbs, which was my first mistake since I seriously undersetimated how much the grains would swell!
Anyway, it took just two 8 hour rinse/soak cycles for them to start chitting.
Which was too soon, because I hadn't built a malting floor yet. So I jacked some ideas from COLObrewer and THIS SITE and made a malting floor out of cement board, some 2x4's and Plaster of Paris!
While I waited for that to cure, I decided to soak the grains one last time for a couple hours in a StarSan bath to kill any gross stuff that might have found a home in there. Then I drained and started "couching" on my new malting floor. I wonder if having a malting floor in my basement increases the value of my house? Hehe, I keed.
After 24 hours of going outside to stir them up every few hours, I decided it was time to spread them all out. I also mixed in another batch of StarSan for good measure.
Here's how the malt is looking!
Can't wait to brew a kick ass hef with this.