Acrospire ideal lenght

[BrewingWisdom]

Hi there
When malting wheat and barley what should be the ideal lenght of a acrospire which originates from the grain during the germination. And at which lenght this process should be stopped by drying the grain?

 

[bracconiere]

well they say let it grow the length of the kernel...

in my experience though, i get better effec with a 'whole batch' if i let most pop out and get bit over done. because i have no way to make them all even, and it's better if most are over, then under done...

 

[lurker18]

Ideally, the pros stop it at 75% of the kernel length, but they are malting selected malt barley, all 1 variety, and it should be performing all the same. Letting it go more than that, the grain starts to consume itself (over modified), so you will loose extract. Less than 50% it will be under modified, and brewing performance will not be as good.

It would be better to overmodify and add a bit more, than under modify and not know how your enzyme activity will be affected.

 

[Hopalong]

Ideally, the pros stop it at 75% of the kernel length, but they are malting selected malt barley, all 1 variety, and it should be performing all the same. Letting it go more than that, the grain starts to consume itself (over modified), so you will loose extract. Less than 50% it will be under modified, and brewing performance will not be as good.

It would be better to overmodify and add a bit more, than under modify and not know how your enzyme activity will be affected.

Hi there
When malting wheat and barley what should be the ideal lenght of a acrospire which originates from the grain during the germination. And at which lenght this process should be stopped by drying the grain?

Hi there
When malting wheat and barley what should be the ideal lenght of a acrospire which originates from the grain during the germination. And at which lenght this process should be stopped by drying the grain?

From the Journals of the IOB:
Degree of Modification.
Acrospire length:
0 - 1/4": Cereal malt, unmodified.
1/2 - 2/3": Steely lager malt.
1/2 - 3/4": Lager malt.
3/4" to full: British malt, American brewers' malt.

 

[BrewingWisdom]

From the Journals of the IOB:
Degree of Modification.
Acrospire length:
0 - 1/4": Cereal malt, unmodified.
1/2 - 2/3": Steely lager malt.
1/2 - 3/4": Lager malt.
3/4" to full: British malt, American brewers' malt.

So complicated

 

[bracconiere]

So complicated

get out the exacto knife, and the graphing paper for a kernel count!

https://www.staples.com/Ampad-Effic...yWTils2odQIy1BrbTEu9Pd6QDuUy6XbRoCyHIQAvD_BwE

edit: oh and you're going to need some calipers too while your at it j/k


@Hopalong at the home malt level reaching that level of consistancy in a batch is damn near imposible....

 

[BrewingWisdom]

get out the exacto knife, and the graphing paper for a kernel count!

https://www.staples.com/Ampad-Effic...yWTils2odQIy1BrbTEu9Pd6QDuUy6XbRoCyHIQAvD_BwE

Yeah man even multinational breweries like grolsch and heineken are not that much advanced lol.
I agree brewing is both art and science but that's too much.

 

[bracconiere]

Yeah man even multinational breweries like grolsch and heineken are not that much advanced lol.
I agree brewing is both art and science but that's too much.

speaking of eveness, i need to mix up my barley i put on to soak yesterday, gave it a watering this morning, should be chiting! malting for the weekend!

for the record i plan to let it go until "it just feels right" takes a bit to get used too but doable, no need for a caliper and microscope.....


edit: damn, mixed it up just now, three hour soak yesterday, 5 minute soak this morning...it's even got rootlets already!

 

[BrewingWisdom]

speaking of eveness, i need to mix up my barley i put on to soak yesterday, gave it a watering this morning, should be chiting! malting for the weekend!

for the record i plan to let it go until "it just feels right" takes a bit to get used too but doable, no need for a caliper and microscope.....


edit: damn, mixed it up just now, three hour soak yesterday, 5 minute soak this morning...it's even got rootlets already!

Good luck with your upcoming batch mate.

 

[bracconiere]

Good luck with your upcoming batch mate.

well i know it's going to be an ale! but i haven't decided what color to make it yet....or even what temp to put it in the oven at!

 

[BrewingWisdom]

well i know it's going to be an ale! but i haven't decided what color to make it yet....or even what temp to put it in the oven at!

Darken it and make a stout .

 

[bracconiere]

Darken it and make a stout .

being that i'm drinking a brown now, a 100% pale malt in the fermenter... i will sooo acrospire to use up the rest of my store bought chocolate malt in it!

at least after they're popping out, and ready to get dried before, thrown into toasty oven....

honestly, what do you think for the stout you recomend? light munich? for a base malt? dark munich? standard pale ale?

 

[BrewingWisdom]

honestly, what do you think for the stout you recomend? light munich? for a base malt? dark munich? standard pale ale?

Sorry I am not aware of these terms. All is know is that the colour of the malted grain determines whether it's pale, amber or stout.

 

[bracconiere]

Sorry I am not aware of these terms. All is know is that the colour of the malted grain determines whether it's pale, amber or stout.

there's a bit more to it then just color...

Pale malt is kilned at ~160f or so, munich at ~200f. both can be used as a base malt with enzymatic power....

Crystal malts are converted in the kernel while still wet, so that they produce sugar. then they are carmelized to whatever color you want.

and then roast barley is just black barley that was roasted un malted....

at least that's my understanding...

 

[lurker18]

http://howtobrew.com/book/section-2/what-is-malted-grain/malt-types-and-usages
probably more than you are going to do at home, but this pretty much covers all of them. Each individual malt company will have a slight variation of each, but they are all basically the same thing as long as they are all in the group.

 

[bracconiere]

http://howtobrew.com/book/section-2/what-is-malted-grain/malt-types-and-usages
probably more than you are going to do at home, but this pretty much covers all of them. Each individual malt company will have a slight variation of each, but they are all basically the same thing as long as they are all in the group.

that doesn't give temps and times for them?

 

[BrewingWisdom]

there's a bit more to it then just color...

Pale malt is kilned at ~160f or so, munich at ~200f. both can be used as a base malt with enzymatic power....

Crystal malts are converted in the kernel while still wet, so that they produce sugar. then they are carmelized to whatever color you want.

and then roast barley is just black barley that was roasted un malted....

at least that's my understanding...

Just curious which yeast you are going to use for your upcoming batch?

 

[bracconiere]

Just curious which yeast you are going to use for your upcoming batch?

i've been using APEX San Diego recently, but i've used wine yeast before and it will settle out just as good as ale yeast, just a little lighter in body.

 

[marc1]

i've been using APEX San Diego recently, but i've used wine yeast before and it will settle out just as good as ale yeast, just a little lighter in body.

Although you use glucoamylase so the wine yeast can eat all the simple sugars it chops up. I don't think all wine yeast can eat the complex grain sugars, so using wine yeast without gluco could yield high final gravity beer.

 

[bracconiere]

Although you use glucoamylase so the wine yeast can eat all the simple sugars it chops up. I don't think all wine yeast can eat the complex grain sugars, so using wine yeast without gluco could yield high final gravity beer.

good point, didn't think of that! i do add gluco to all my beers, and pectic enzyme to my ciders...

 

[bracconiere]

honestly, this a bit over...but not by THAT much, i'd call it over because it's turning green....but i'm sure i'll get good conversion with it...

 

[BrewingWisdom]

View attachment 767481

honestly, this a bit over...but not by THAT much, i'd call it over because it's turning green....but i'm sure i'll get good conversion with it...

With such a barley malt usually what's the abv you get?

 

[bracconiere]

With such a barley malt usually what's the abv you get?

well i can get whatever ABV i want? how much barley it takes is the question...

it usually takes me ~20lbs malted barley to get 10 gallons of 1.060 wort, which would be ~6% ABV...but i dope it with glucoamylase to get it dry and hit 8% ABV...


it has less body that way, but so do I! lol