Happiness is: Home malting

[farmersteve]

Has anyone had problems with voles, rats or mice? I have a pretty big garden next to my house and have all types of vegetables, lettuce, herbs and whatever. I know I have rodents digging holes and such, but they don't usually touch my veggies. I decided to plant a 32sqft bed with barley for the hell of it figuring I'll get a few pounds this summer. Twice now I've come out in the morning after I saw my barley starting to break through the ground to have it all mowed down the next morning. I was thinking about putting chicken wire over the bed, but not sure that would keep them out. I could build a fine mesh screen around the bed until the shoots are big enough that the rodents won't eat them. Poison? Ideas?

 

[CtrlMaltDel]

Farmersteve, congratulations on your ambitious plan! I've been pursuing a similar scheme as you, growing hops and barley in the hopes of creating an estate beer. My research indicated that 100 square feet ought to yeild between 5 and 15 lbs of grain, dependent mostly on the levels of nitrogen available (https://www.daf.qld.gov.au/plants/f...ld-crops/barley/planting-nutrition-harvesting). I'll send you a pm with my full notes on nitrogen and phosphorus, with some more links.

For seed, I contacted the University of Idaho Foundation Seed program ([email protected], ask for Christopher Rogers). For $25, they sent me 25 lbs of Endeavor barley, which is a malting barley they've created for Washington climate. It's a winter barley, and I planted 200 square feet last September. As a matter of fact, I harvested it just this week!

I'm not sure how much yield I have, but I'm guessing it's closer to 10 lbs than it is to 30. Here's the action:

I just went out with scissors and cut it up. It took maybe an hour.

Barley is a pretty rough customer, and doesn't seem to need much pampering. I don't know about quality beer-making product, but without much work at all I can now say I grew and harvested my own barley. I'll keep the forum posted.

 

[richl025]

Has anyone had problems with voles, rats or mice? ... Poison? Ideas?

There's a reason farmers used to keep cats....

 

[farmersteve]

@CtrlMaltDel Where in WA state are you located? I'm in Woodinville... I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I could possibly lease an acre or two of prime farm land down in the valley here and grow barley, but I think my wife would have a fit! Plus what would I do with a couple of tons of barley?

Anyway, I bought one of those sonic mole/vole chasers. I'm not quite sure if it's birds or voles, but I put up some bird scare tape too. I know planting them now is kind of a crap shoot but I wanted to work out the kinks before I scaled up to a couple hundred sqft. I have the farm equipment, I need to prep the land. I need to lime and fertilize before the rains come again in October.

I found a feed store in Mt. Vernon, WA that sells barley and I plan on buy a couple of sacks to experiment malting with, also to get my system down so when I actually grow this stuff, I don't screw it up! I malted some wheat last week and it went pretty easy.

 

[CtrlMaltDel]

I live in Richland, where it's been nice and hot lately and rain is something that happens to other people.

An acre of land sounds like a big operation! But if you have a tractor and you have the time, don't let me dissuade you. 60 bushels per acre is a modest yeild, and even that is 3000 pounds of barely.

For me, I was satisfied with the prospect of one or two batches of beer from estate grain. That's 20-30 lbs, for which I only needed my 200 square foot plot. That amount is easy to dry in the dryer or sun and kiln in the oven.

 

[farmersteve]

Ah Richland, I've been there a few times. I was in the wine industry for many years and traveled to the tri-cities for our annual convention every year. Of course, I spent a lot of time in the Yakima valley for grapes and stuff...

I'm going to try winter wheat and barley starting in October. Probably 2/3 of my plot in Barley and 1/3 in wheat. We'll see what happens next spring! I hope to grow 50lbs of grain and use it mainly for beer but I am interested in making some bread and pizza dough from the wheat too...

 

[farmersteve]

There's a reason farmers used to keep cats....

I'd love to have a barn cat. I used to have a cat that killed everything within a 1/2 mile of my house, but he died years ago. My wife and kids are allergic to them so it would truly have to be a barn cat. I think my sonic rodent repelling device is working. I'll know for sure when my latest batch of seeds sprout. Once they get 2-3" high, they seem to ignore them after that...

 

[Seattle2k]

I used to work on a family-owned wheat farm, in Kennewick, off Hwy 395. Every time I go to the LHBS, the smell of grain brings back memories of being in the top of the grain elevator, 100+ degree weather, knee-deep in wheat. I'm now living in Lynnwood.

By the way, our neighborhood here in Lynnwood is being attacked by voles and either moles or gophers. Several neighbors, including myself have the ultrasonic devices and yes, we're still finding dirt mounds near them. Neighbor was telling me yesterday, she found a mole/gopher mound right where the ultrasonic device was suck in the ground!

 

[farmersteve]

Sooo... I wasn't sure if it was birds or rates/mice/voles and now I'm pretty sure it's the rodents. I planted for a 3rd time in one of my garden beds (I know it's June, but this is to work out the kinks for a much larger plot of land). I ordered one of those ultrasonic rodent scaring devices and at the same time put up some flash tape on a bunch of tomato cages to scare the birds away. This time I could see the barley shoots come out of the ground which is about the furthest I've gotten and wham the next morning all dug up and eaten. So, I put out some rat/mouse poison next to the bed as my last resort for my next attempt. Actually, my last resort is 1/2" mesh hardware cloth over top of the bed. BTW a few seeds did make it past this and are growing 5-6" tall now. So, it seems if they get past a certain stage then the rodents leave them alone (until I have ripe barley!) I'm not sure I will have this problem when I plant out in a big field since we have tons of owls, hawks or whatever that would pick off the critters if they were in an open field. Garden bed is next to the house and hard for raptors to get in there. We shall see! It so funny because I have many other beds of vegetables growing and they only eat the damn barley shoots!

Lesson learned this time, ultrasonic repellent devices are worthless.

 

[CtrlMaltDel]

Another Tri-Citian! We're having loads of that 100 degree weather right now.

 

[farmersteve]

Minor update... After about 4 attempts I think I took care of my rat problem. I put out rat poison next to the garden bed. Rats ate it. Did it again just to make sure. Planted barley and this time no digging or eating the young shoots. I still have about three dry months in front of me so I think I should be able to get some barley before the rain comes in October.

I'm think ahead in October when I will plant my winter barley. I am going plant a fairly big plot. Soil isn't the best and I plan to amend with lime and some compost. I've seen people broadcast spread seeds and rake but I am thinking about getting a walk behind seeder to better control the seeding process. Has anyone used one of those?

 

[CtrlMaltDel]

I'm brewing tomorrow! I malted up a ten-pound batch of grain I got from the university last year (the grain I harvested this summer is being saved for later), and I just finished the dark malt last night. I had half a pound of my pale malt in the oven at 450 F for 30 mins. It got quite smokey and made the house smell like popcorn, but I think I got the job done. Many of the kernels looked merely amber on the outside (hulls), but they all proved to be black or very dark brown when I split them open.

I'm still worried, since the first time I malted I got very light-colored beer. I'm going to grind my dark malt at the homebrew store and compare its color to ground chocolate malt. If mine is too light, I'll buy some chocolate malt to augment my home-malt.

I'm repeating the recipe I've used the last two times. My first attempt used my first attempt at malting, but ended up contaminated with wild yeast during a very dis-organized cooling. My second attempt used store-bought malt and came out wonderful, so I'm hoping this time will be a successful home-malt.

 

[farmersteve]

I know I was late to the party this year, but in my garden bed I'm starting to see stalks of barley with heads forming so I'm fairly confident I'll get a tiny crop! It will go with my tiny crop of hops! I might do a BIAB 1 gallon batch with all home grown ingredients.

I never did track down a bag of unmalted barley around here. Summer got in the way. Vacations and family visits. I plan on picking this back up when the rains come back to Western Washington. That's when I'll start preparing my large bed of barley and wheat. I'm hoping to plant winter wheat and barley in October. I probably could plant an 1/4 acre but I don't want to commit that much to something I'm not sure is going to work yet. I'll probably plant about 625 sqft (25x25) and see how that goes!

I bought a dehydrator to experiment with the drying part of malting, my oven sucked for the wheat I malted. It's a small one but if it works, I'll upgrade to a big unit. I really don't want to build my own dehydrator like ive seen other guys do.

 

[farmersteve]

This guy is a little late to the party! https://www.theguardian.com/beer-for-that/2017/jun/07/meet-the-man-trying-to-grow-his-own-beer

 

[CtrlMaltDel]

Wow, that guy is going to the extreme- isolating his own yeast and gathering his own rain water!

For my part, I've had a hiccup with my current brew (using my home-malt). My AC went out while I was on vacation, and the fermentor got to at least 88 F. It must have been like that from day 15 to day 17 of the fermenting.

Is it okay to put in the keg and drink?

 

[sfish]

of course you can. it probally fermented lower. what is your expected FG and what did you get?
Lucky you have brewed this resipe before and will be able to compare the finished brew.

 

[CtrlMaltDel]

The beer is a success! Gravity started at 50 and got down to 05. The color is a wonderful near-black, the taste is mild with dark notes, and the head is thick and rich off the nitrogen tap. I'm very pleased with this one.

 

[CtrlMaltDel]

After harvesting my grain in June or July, I got a little side-tracked with the newborn daughter. Now in November, I've finally got around to processing the grain.

I started by stomping on the grain with my moon-boots to break down the long pieces of straw I cut during harvest. This reduced the volume to about 1/3.

I had to push handfuls of this into a sleeping bag case and swing it against he concrete floor, getting lots of spikey barley bits in my clothes along the way. After an hour or so of this, I had pounded it all out, and went back through with gloved hands to make sure everything was broken up.

Eternally windy eastern Washington came to my aid for the winnowing. I went out back and tossed the grain into the air and lifted handfuls up and dropping it back into the box, with the wind sending the non-grain away. It was surprising effective.

In the end, I got 8 pound of good grain from my 200 square feet. I'll malt this up soon. I have several handfuls of hops in the food dehydrator that will complete the batch.

 

[CtrlMaltDel]

I've begun the first steep. There was a few handfuls of chaff that floated to the surface, which I was able to remove. Water temp is about 50 F. I wanted to add some hydrogen peroxide (I was worried about germs on the grain) but I did not have any.

 

[bitteritdown]

I've begun the first steep. There was a few handfuls of chaff that floated to the surface, which I was able to remove. Water temp is about 50 F. I wanted to add some hydrogen peroxide (I was worried about germs on the grain) but I did not have any.

Grain is covered with bacteria and molds, some good (i.e. lactobacillus) and some bad (mycotoxins). Viruses may attach themselves to the grain, soil-borne viruses might also but with most of these you will know and see that your grain doesn't look normal.

The first step is to clean the grain with a fanning mill, the next step is to rinse the grain changing the water each time and skimming the chaff and dirt that floats to the top. By the time you're done rinsing your grain, your steeping water should be clean with a slight yellow tinge. It should also have a raw barley smell to it. You then begin the steeping cycle.

Hydrogen Peroxide or Sodium Metabisulfite would be used to control mold. If you have fusarium (a lot of red color in the grain) then you may want to think twice about using it for malt.

 

[CtrlMaltDel]

Thanks for the info! I got several rinses in, and the last one yielded clear-ish water with a yellow tint and a nice smell. I didn't see any reddish color.

My third go at home malting is underway.

 

[CtrlMaltDel]

Hour 36, I've been giving it a stir and spritzing it with water ever six hours or so. Last night it went almost 10 hour while I was asleep but it appears to still be growing. I think the moist paper towels (which I change every day) are helping, my last malt was uncovered and dried out on night two when I didn't water it for about the same amount of time.

 

[CtrlMaltDel]

Here is hour 60, with most of the acrospires about half the length of the grain. My daughter, who was planted the same time as this barley last year, is included for scale.

 

[CtrlMaltDel]

AFter 72 hours of germinating, a few percent of the barley had acrospires emerging. I began the drying process.

Half the barley (now puffed out with all the rootlets, maybe twice the original volume) could fit in my dehydrator, so the other half went in the oven on 170 F with the doors open. 170 is way too hot since the water in in germinating barley can denature the enzymes at that heat (they should be dried before heating past 110 or 120), but the oven doesn't really get that hot.

Heating gradually from 95 F to 125 F over several hour, and rotating the position of the trays, was done to try and get an even and gradual drying. It took part of last night and tonight. I'll have nice brittle-dry barley tomorrow that will loose its rootlets easy, so I can sift it and roast it in the next few days.

 

[CtrlMaltDel]

I roasted my malts this week. Four of the ten pounds went in the dehydrator set to 165 F for two hours (the highest it will go), while the other ~5 lbs went in the oven at 200 F. I took all the grain out of their respective heat-treatments after two hours. The 200 F grain had a nice smell to it.

Later, I hooked up my grill and set 1/2 pound of barley to roast. I set the burners up high and the grill's thermometer read ~400 F. I stirred the grain every 5 mins or so, and pulled it off after 40 mins. This is about what I did last time, and that yielded a nice dark beer. The barley smoked a fair amount, and some of the grains were burned to a crisp, but I figure I'm working on averages. Here's a photo right before I took it off the grill:

I brew on Tuesday. I'll let you know on Christmas Eve how this all turns out.

 

[CtrlMaltDel]

Brew day was a success. We got the whole process down to less than four hours, and were able to develop a technique of squeezing our grain bag into the kettle between a pair of ceramic plates, which turned out to be very simple and effective.

Since this was a fully homemade batch I didn't use any oats or flaked barley like I usually do. My dried hops smelled super delicious, and we added them with only five minutes left in the boil. I had a little shy of the 2 oz I usually put in.

We ended up with a shorter boil than we usually use, and unfortunately had to dump about three pints of wort because we couldn't fit it all in the fermentor.

Our original gravity was 1.40, which was a little lower than previously (due to too much water and less than usual bill of grain). The color is a little lighter due to dark malt not being roasted enough. Here is our wort versus a stout from the store:

We'll see how this tastes at the Christmas party!

 

[sfish]

great going~please keep posting

 

[CtrlMaltDel]

It's beer o'clock!

After two weeks in the fermentor, bubbling had almost ceased and I decided to put it in the keg. I ran some sanitizer through the keg and tap system first, then made a siphon and filled up the keg. This is the first time I've made a siphon work out well, previously I'd decanted the fermentor like an idiot.

The keg is now under gas, and I'll be keeping it cool and rolling it to get it carbonated by Saturday.

The beer tasted like beer! It has a mild chocolatey taste I've come to expect from my home brew. There is a grainy/grassy taste in there too that isn't great, but it doesn't ruin the beer. A souvenir from having home-grown everything, I guess. I think this is much better than my first batch, and almost as good as my other ones.

Cheers!

The color is very dark amber but not quite black. The final gravity is 1.015 down from 1.040, so I didn't get much attenuation. Alcohol content is about 3.3%, calories are 133 per 12 oz according to brewers friend. It's a dark, light beer.

 

[sfish]

awesome
Merry Christmas

 

[CtrlMaltDel]

Merry Christmas everyone!

We broke out the beer for the holiday party last night, and it was well received. Even if it wasn't the best beer on the planet, folks were excited to try completely home-made booze. I'd been shaking the keg every few hours for the last couple of days, and I think it carbonated up pretty well since Monday. The nitro gave it a very pleasing head and I'm happy to have some left over.

About a year and a half ago I decided I wanted to serve a drink that I had made myself. I looked into spirits and cider before settling on beer. This thread was a major reason I thought I could pull it off, so thanks everyone for their input. It feels very rewarding to have accomplished this goal after so much time and effort. I'm proud I could pull this off, and I'm happy to be able to share my updates here. Brewing has turned out to be a lot of fun, and has really turned on a crafty/artsy side of myself that I'm enjoying. I'm glad to say this hobby isn't as hard as I thought it would be, and plus I get cheap beer into the bargain.

Happy malting, everyone!