amylase and grain milk

[Owly055]

With issues I ascribe to lactose intolerance (undiagnosed), I've begun making grain milks. I won't consume soy intentionally. I will branch out to nut milks.

Currently I'm playing with oat and rice "milk". I'm adding "sugar" and a tad bit of salt, but would like to use amylase to process these products as I would mash beer. I have almost a quart of AG300, and a pound of powdered amylase (Ebay).

Has anybody here done anything of this nature? I'm also looking at sprouting malting barley, and using it in the sprouted state. Liquefying it in the blender it with water and then heating to 152 or so for an hour or so to achieve some nature sweetness. Also the use of crystal malts and of course the same malted grains I use in brewing is on my agenda.

I also plan to try souring it with kiefer grains (which I have), or using commercial yoghurt as a starter, or using naturally occurring lacobacillus plantarum by pitching some malted barley in after it's cooled. It seems to be a pretty much "open field", with none of the health nuts having done anything like this except by pitching so called "probiotic" cultures from your local health food store..... at exorbitant rates.

I'd be interested in hearing about any experiments in this area. It's "off topic", but not entirely.




H.W.

 

[dmtaylor]

I have no experience to offer, but am intrigued by all the possibilities and will follow the thread.

I love the Pacific Oat Milk, which is very expensive, and while they say it has zero added sugars, I'm certain they must use amylase or something to break starches into sugars because it is extremely sweet. If you could duplicate that, I think it would be wonderful, and way cheaper. Then experiment with other grains... that would be really cool I think.

Wish you luck.

 

[Owly055]

I have no experience to offer, but am intrigued by all the possibilities and will follow the thread.

I love the Pacific Oat Milk, which is very expensive, and while they say it has zero added sugars, I'm certain they must use amylase or something to break starches into sugars because it is extremely sweet. If you could duplicate that, I think it would be wonderful, and way cheaper. Then experiment with other grains... that would be really cool I think.

Wish you luck.

I think you'd like my oat milk. I soak 2 cups of old fashioned rolled oats from Costco in water for a few hours. I then rinse well, and put in the blender with 4 cups of water and blend very fine. I then strain the oats out with a fairly fine kitchen strainer into a bowl, and sparge with 2 cups more water. Once most of the liquid has drained out, it start tossing it in the strainer until it's fairly firm. This can be saved for cooking, or used as a breakfast food, etc. At this point, I place a colander in a bowl, and a clean plain cotton cheap dishtowel doubled up in the colander, and use this as a filter. It's about like pillowcase material. In the end, I wring the last remaining liquid out, and it's done.
The result is a rich creamy prouduct, and it doesn't take long to make. I never drink dairy milk except as kiefer, buttermilk, etc, but this is like drinking half and half. It has virtually no natural sweetness, so I would assume that Pacific probably sprouts oats. Oats can be malted just as barley, wheat and rye can. At least one person uses sprouted oats for oat milk, but she does a cold process. I would imagine sprouting the oats, the liquifying them, and doing a mast at 152 or so until the desired sweetness is reached would be a workable solution. Oats are easily purchased at any elevator or feed store, and are cheap. REALLY CHEAP. I'd rinse them very well before doing anything with them, but if malting, that goes without saying. Most of the malting process can be ignored here I think. We are using sprouted grain, and not trying to make beer. Drying and kilning are not necessary unless one wants toasted oat milk.

H.W.

 

[Owly055]

Yesterday I made oat milk that came out with some "natural sweetness" without of course adding any sugar. The procedure was typical. 4 cups of old fashioned rolled oats and 12 cups of water. Blended in two batches using 2 cups of soaked oats and 4 cups of water in the blender each time and straining. The grain removed from the strainer was then dunk sparged in the remaining water. The oat milk was then poured through a very fine sieve..... actually a splatter screen, and then filtered through a clean cotton dishtowel (purchased for the purpose). The resulting liquid was mixed with half a teaspoon of powdered amylase and poured into a growler. It filled the growler and a pint canning jar (10 cups total yield). The two containers were placed in a stainless steel stock pot partially filled with water and processed with my Sous Vide (Annova) at 152 for about 2 hours, after which it was shut off and allowed to cool at it's own rate. The stock pot I use is insulated with half inch foam (el_Cheapo backpacker foam pad taped over with duct tape.
The resulting product is still fairly creamy, though the conversion of some of the starch did thin it somewhat. It's really about like whole milk, and the "sweetness" is very understated, much like whole milk. Flavor is mild, and less "oaty" than the product made without sous vide processing. On the whole I'm very satisfied with it. The sous vide product does not settle out like the raw product.

Souring experiments thus far have not been a run away success by any means. Souring with kiefer grains brought out the yeast fermentation, but the lacto didn't like it. In another souring experiment I pitched some malted barley into some and covered it with floating saran wrap. There is "action", as the saran wrap inflated, but no real souring yet.... not quite 24 hours.
I don't have any yogurt on hand, and I doubt that it will like the oat milk any better than the kiefer did
The LHBS is about 100 miles away, so I haven't obtained a brewer's culture of lacto yet...... if they have it. Lactobacillus Plantarum is probably the correct bacillus.

Several positive health effects from this have showed up very quickly, as I am consuming the pulp in various ways, and not using dairy milk nearly as much. Some obvious, and needing no mention, others less obvious, like a reduction in bloating and gas, and larger firmer and longer lasting erections. What more can a guy ask for.... well perhaps an object for one's new found virility ;-)

H.W.

 

[Owly055]

I'm not entirely happy with the amylase system, so I'm combining normal brewing techniques with grain milk making. today I'm making a mash up with a pound of grain and a gallon of water. The entire product will combine with my soaked grains to provide the liquid for my grain milk.

The primary grain is soaked white rice. In addition I'm using sprouted barley, oats, and of course the grain in my one gallon mash.

I plan to use other sprouted grains and seeds in the future. Soaked unsprouted fenugreek is on my list, as well as whatever I can find in the way of inexpensive nuts &c


H.W.

 

[piersede]

I am researching this very topic. Have tried multiple homemade oat milks and they are thin and nothing like as good as Oatly. Wondering @Owly055 if you got any further with making your own ? Looks like you were on the right track? I've read that some kind of 'patented enzymatic process' is what turns it sweet and creamy...

 

[sandrae.price]

I think you'd like my oat milk. I soak 2 cups of old fashioned rolled oats from Costco in water for a few hours. I then rinse well, and put in the blender with 4 cups of water and blend very fine. I then strain the oats out with a fairly fine kitchen strainer into a bowl, and sparge with 2 cups more water. Once most of the liquid has drained out, it start tossing it in the strainer until it's fairly firm. This can be saved for cooking, or used as a breakfast food, etc. At this point, I place a colander in a bowl, and a clean plain cotton cheap dishtowel doubled up in the colander, and use this as a filter. It's about like pillowcase material. In the end, I wring the last remaining liquid out, and it's done.
The result is a rich creamy prouduct, and it doesn't take long to make. I never drink dairy milk except as kiefer, buttermilk, etc, but this is like drinking half and half. It has virtually no natural sweetness, so I would assume that Pacific probably sprouts oats. Oats can be malted just as barley, wheat and rye can. At least one person uses sprouted oats for oat milk, but she does a cold process. I would imagine sprouting the oats, the liquifying them, and doing a mast at 152 or so until the desired sweetness is reached would be a workable solution. Oats are easily purchased at any elevator or feed store, and are cheap. REALLY CHEAP. I'd rinse them very well before doing anything with them, but if malting, that goes without saying. Most of the malting process can be ignored here I think. We are using sprouted grain, and not trying to make beer. Drying and kilning are not necessary unless one wants toasted oat milk.

H.W.

I want to follow your directions but you lost me at "At this point, I place a colander in a bowl..." Are you putting the strained liquid through this towel? It's confusing because then you say "in the end, I wring the last remaining liquid out..." which I assume means wringing out the towel? Sorry... sounds like you get a great product and I want to understand how you're doing it! Thanks for the clarification.