Grouse Malting and Roasting Co?

[Maxham51]

I purchased 25 lbs of pale millet malt from Grouse Malting and Roasting Company as this was their minimum order

The results from this malt was less then satisfactory.
I first made a multi grain GF mini batch with a one hour single infusion rest. It came out a bit starchy
Next I tried a 4 gallon batch with 3 lbs of Sorgham syrup and 4 lbs of their millet malt. First I did a protein rest then one hour at 145, It tested starchy so I added a tsp of amalyse enzyme and raised the temperature to 150 for another hour, It still came out starchy so I raised the temperature to 155 for another our and to 158 for the 4th hour. It still tested starchy.
The OG was 1.060 and after fermenting for 4 days at 65, the FG tested at 1.024 a good 10 points higher then expected. It also still tested starchy.
In the mean time I did some batches with Barley malt using the same procedures which fully converted after one hour.
It this point I strongly belived I was sent a bad patch of malt and requested that they send me a small quanitiy of malt from a different batch so I could determine if it was just a problem with the current batch I recieved or if it was a general problem with their malt.
In fairness Twila did respond to my emails in a courtious and professional manner, and assured me their malt was high quality.
Since I had found the malt substandared as pale Millet malt should not have much problem self converting, I did a final test and tried to germinate it. A fair amount of it germinated in a short time and by the end of 72 hours about 10% of it had germinated.
Note: properly malted grain should not be able to germinate.

Although I would have prefered to have received some addiional grain to see if this was just a bad patch, They chose to refund me in full.

Grouse Malting and Roasting Company appears to be a honest company but with some quality control issues. If anyone else has had experience with their malt I would like to hear from you.

 

[glutarded-chris]

Bummer! I have had really good results with Grouse grain and have used grain from about 8 separate shipments but will try a germination test on some that I have. What did you do, just wet a hand full of grain, spread it out on a paper towel and let it sit for a few days spraying occasionaly with a spray bottle?

 

[Osedax]

Grouse is very easy to work with and friendly. It is a shame that you got a bad batch. It is good the refunded you. If you go with them again, ask for some safbrew enzymes. They will convert it no problem.

Interested in the germination test though...

 

[Maxham51]

Bummer! I have had really good results with Grouse grain and have used grain from about 8 separate shipments but will try a germination test on some that I have. What did you do, just wet a hand full of grain, spread it out on a paper towel and let it sit for a few days spraying occasionaly with a spray bottle?

I just did a simple test with about 1 oz of malt. Soaked for 8 hours with filtered water then drained. in a cottage cheese container. covered loosely so it could breath a little and rinsed every 8 hours for a couple of days. I noted that their was quit a bit of germination after about 42 hours and a bit more after 72 hours something near %10. At this point I knew that it was not germinated properly.

Thou they refunded me the full amount I sent them back close to %50 as I did not feel right about a full refund. This is because I was able to use much of the malt by making some into crystal and by using Sweet Potato and Amalyse to help convert it. But it fell short of being able to be a base malt for a GF brew.

I am still working with them to try and insure that they can provide me with a malt that can meet expectations.
If they can provide acceptable Millet malt I hope to do business with them in the future.