A big malt kiln?

[bionut]

Hi,

I was watching this podcast from Basic Brewing http://traffic.libsyn.com/basicbrewing/bbv07-21-14pilotmalt.m4v

Do any of you know how their malt kiln is made? I would like to make a smaller one (well, smaller meaning for about 50 lbs) for making my own malt, especially speciality malts like crystal, caramel or even roasted.
I was thinking of making a oven like container and heating it with khantal or nichrome wire, but i don't know if this is the best ideea.

I can get malt cheap enough, but i like the ideea of making all my ingredients by myself. I already grow hops and cuture yeast.

Any advice will be apreciated.

 

[bionut]

Any ideeas?
What material can i use for the kiln beside fire bricks? Do you know what materials did they used for this kiln http://traffic.libsyn.com/basicbrewing/bbv07-21-14pilotmalt.m4v ?

 

[RussPDX]

If I remember correctly, I can't look at this link right now, pilot has/had (I think they expanded) a small room that they dedicated as a kiln. They do somewhat of a floor malting setup. There are some good youtube videos of their entire setup.

I toured another malt house and was fortunate enough to spend the afternoon woth the maltster and I loved his setup. He used stainless dairy tanks (you could go very small with a stainless sink) and installed a false bottom with a drain. Then he could steep and drain in that vessels and it becomes the kiln as well by forcing hot air through a duct into the dead space which then forces the air up through the grain. He used a lower and a surface temp probe and a BCS controller to drive the whole thing. It was the most cost effective setup I have seen that allows for single vessel malting with remote monitoring and automation.