Garage Malting "Plant" build

[Angstead]

So my brother in-law works at a ranch that grows 2-row for a major beer producer. For his graduation his boss brought him a 60lb sack of grain and said go make some beer. He is not familiar with the process so he handed off to me and said I could have it if I shared some beer with him. This spring I malted and kilned approx. 15 lbs worth of grain just enough to make 2 batches of beer. It went fairly well but I have decided to make my setup more user friendly.

The Steeping portion of the Malting "Plant" is in progress. I plan to be able to malt 6 to 8 lbs of barley at a time. I am setting up two 5 gallon buckets on will be a false bottom for the other. The bottom bucket will have a valve to facilitate running of the steep water. It will also have an inlet for an air line so an aquarium pump and air stone can be run during steeping. Pictures to follow.

 

[hopsalot]

look forward to the pictures

 

[tuckferrorists]

subscribed. hope this thread will be epic

 

[Ramitt]

Now that is dedication to your craft.

 

[alangione]

Subscribed. Looking forward to this one.

 

[Angstead]

The wife has kept me doing chores outside and I havent made as much headway as I have been hoping for. Last night I fitted up the drain portion of the steeping vessel. I also marked up the 2nd 5 gallon bucket for the false bottom. Tonight drilling and assembling the drain line. I also plan on taking some pictures.

Some of my initial thoughts for the germination vessel is to possibly run wort chiller through the bed with water circulating from an aquarium pump through a cooler with ice. Is there a simple way to make the pump come on at a certain temperature and run until it reaches a certain temperature. I know there are system which whill do this I am just not familar with them. So if you have any ideas please let me know.