Home Malting and Kilning

[Aclay]

well...Dark Horse has some good brews. I had a couple of pub only ones at the Winter Beer Festival in Grand Rapids in Feb. it was an awesome time. I'm sure the guys at Dark Horse could help you out as well. Maybe Bryan at Arcadia. They're all great people. You've also got Jolly Pumpkin to your north. How's it feel to be in the Microbrewery heartland? Good Luck on your Raspberry. I think I'm going to do a Chocolet Cherry RIS when the cherries in Traverse start up.

Too bad it's still snowing out.

 

[keiths]

Well your not to far from me then if you are in Hillsdale, I live in Coldwater/Kinderhook area. I have 12 acrs and was thinking about planting some as well just dont know where to get the seeds.Let me know if you get any extra.

 

[rurounikitsune]

Wow, I haven't lived here too long so I didn't know about all the micros around. Never even heard of Arcadia or Jolly Pumpkin. I'm going to have to go on a road trip soon with SWMBO driving. I haven't even made it over to Bell's yet.

 

[Aclay]

next time you go to Dark Horse pick up an issue of Michigan Beer Guide or Brew News. You can also go to Brewnews.com they have a map of a lot, not all, of the micros and brew pubs in Michigan. You'll be surprised at how many their are. Kalamazoo has 3 alone. Grand Rapids has some where around 5-7. Lansing has a couple. Then Battle Creek has Arcadia. Marshal has Dark Horse. Then Ann Arbor has 3 or 4. Lawton has Old hat brew pub. Benton Harbor has The Livery. I think there are even more in the South West Michigan area too. Kraftbrau just closed however .

As I said Michigan is a Great Beer State!

 

[rurounikitsune]

Well I said I'd keep everyone updated on this crazy project!

Thanks to fifelee, I have just received ten pounds of barley ready to plant this spring. I should have a few hundred pounds of barley to malt and kiln this year. The hop rhizomes will be started this year as well - probably not enough yield for more than a few batches, but that's OK. I tried to get a good mix of German and English style hardy hybrids to brew Alts and Stouts (and perhaps, in the winter, Bocks).

I have acquired lots of reports, temperatures and times and methods for drying and heating the barley. Because I will be dealing with malt of questionable modification, I am considering brewing with the Triple Decoction mash - an acid rest, protein rest and saccharification rest, and then mash-out. The decoction mash should help with possibly undermodified malt. I will also have an oversized grain bill as I have heard homemade malt is reported to have a lower enzyme level. Hydrometer readings will tell the full story, though.

Planting will come very soon. I will try to have pictures for you all. The rest of the seeds for our 10,000 sq ft garden have also come, so busy days ahead!

 

[fifelee]

Glad to hear you got the barley. It makes me smile to think that barley we raised will be grown in other parts of the country. We have 250 bushels (about 12,000lbs) of barley left, but only need 10,000 lbs to seed the 150 acres we are putting into barley this year. I plan keeping the rest around to try some malting or in case anyone else on this great forum would like some.

 

[tranceamerica]

Michigan is such a great beer state,

+1 to that!

 

[EvilTOJ]

Cool, glad to see you're still working on this project. Pleased to be keeping us on updates in the future please.

 

[Poindexter]

I got a ferw pounds of barley in from Montana also.

The first pound of dry barley got to 1lb 11.2ozs in ~24 hopurs of soaking, so I pulled them out of the water and into a couch.

After 12 hours in the couch at 70-75°F I already have rootlets, so out of the couch and on to the floor.

I was googling home malting looking for a kiln when this thread popped up ;-)

 

[fifelee]

I got a ferw pounds of barley in from Montana also.

The first pound of dry barley got to 1lb 11.2ozs in ~24 hopurs of soaking, so I pulled them out of the water and into a couch.

After 12 hours in the couch at 70-75°F I already have rootlets, so out of the couch and on to the floor.

I was googling home malting looking for a kiln when this thread popped up ;-)

Glad to hear the barley I sent sprouted quickly. We have had good luck with that variety (Harrington). Would love to see some pictures.

 

[Poindexter]

I understand now about thins. Some of my grains are fat and some of them aren't. In the below the two small piles on the right are 50 fat(?) grains each. The smear on the left is probably about another 150 grains.

So my fats are 100% germinated. My thins, I found one that didn't germinate.

New how to thread coming. Vid coming. Pic attached.

[YOUTUBE]vl9H1tjuU0s[/YOUTUBE]

 

[fifelee]

I understand now about thins. Some of my grains are fat and some of them aren't. In the below the two small piles on the right are 50 fat(?) grains each. The smear on the left is probably about another 150 grains.

So my fats are 100% germinated. My thins, I found one that didn't germinate.

New how to thread coming. Vid coming. Pic attached.

[YOUTUBE]vl9H1tjuU0s[/YOUTUBE]

Yes thins where a problem last year. Just not enough rain for the seeds to plump. You should have seen it before we had it cleaned and sized. We started with 315 bushels and ended up with 240. There were 75 bushels of even thinner kernels that where screened out. It is still good quality grain and will make good malt, we just don't get to use everything we harvest. Thanks for the video.

 

[Poindexter]

I am thinking if all the grains are about the same size everything will come out fine. The bother is the thins germinating more slowly than the plumps.

Is plumps the right term?

Anyway, no complaints here. I have a pound of Crystal "something" in the dryer on the lingerie setting per Uncle Charlie (knotted pillowcase), and a couple more pounds coming out of couches that will end up as pale. It will be enough to use up my whole hops before they go stale.

 

[fifelee]

I am thinking if all the grains are about the same size everything will come out fine. The bother is the thins germinating more slowly than the plumps.

Is plumps the right term?

Anyway, no complaints here. I have a pound of Crystal "something" in the dryer on the lingerie setting per Uncle Charlie (knotted pillowcase), and a couple more pounds coming out of couches that will end up as pale. It will be enough to use up my whole hops before they go stale.

Ideally they are all plump, but mother nature doesn't always cooperate. Plump is a kernel size measurement used by malt plants, but I don't know the actual dimensions. Malt plants usually want at least 70% plump. The barley you got was about 45% plump before we had it cleaned/screened. I am guessing it is right about 70% plump now.
The other thing malt plants look at is protein content. Typically the lower the better. The barley you received is about 13% protein which is a good level for malt.

 

[Wort*hog]

I am thinking if all the grains are about the same size everything will come out fine. The bother is the thins germinating more slowly than the plumps.

Is plumps the right term?

Anyway, no complaints here. I have a pound of Crystal "something" in the dryer on the lingerie setting per Uncle Charlie (knotted pillowcase), and a couple more pounds coming out of couches that will end up as pale. It will be enough to use up my whole hops before they go stale.

I am at day five of malting #110 of feed barley from IFA. While turning the barley I notice that much of the grain has developed well and some not much at all. What has developed seems to mat. In a few hours I plan on screening out the matted with a 1/2' mesh screen and separate the modified from that which doesn't have rootlets dry the modified and continue malting the rest. Looking pretty good. Thinking if I waited for warmer weather I would have more uniformity but more chance of molding.

 

[Poindexter]

I am at day five of malting #110 of feed barley from IFA. While turning the barley I notice that much of the grain has developed well and some not much at all. What has developed seems to mat. In a few hours I plan on screening out the matted with a 1/2' mesh screen and separate the modified from that which doesn't have rootlets dry the modified and continue malting the rest. Looking pretty good. Thinking if I waited for warmer weather I would have more uniformity but more chance of molding.

I find the seeds at the bottom of the pile on the floor grow the longest roots and mat together while the seeds at the tops of the piles lag bnehind.

When I turn my piles on the floor I kind of breakup the mats as I flip them so the seeds with the shortest rootlets end up at the bottom to sort of "catch up".

Just FWIW.

 

[Wort*hog]

I find the seeds at the bottom of the pile on the floor grow the longest roots and mat together while the seeds at the tops of the piles lag bnehind.

When I turn my piles on the floor I kind of breakup the mats as I flip them so the seeds with the shortest rootlets end up at the bottom to sort of "catch up".

Just FWIW.

Did as you suggested.Got called off to work for two days. Wife turned the pile while I was gone. Most are just right now. a few under modified and a few over. Going to dry it in a few hours.

Also called Scoulor in Idaho. They have malt quality Harrington for $15.oo a hundred wt. Only about a 3 hour round trip. I could get a half ton and be good for a long time!

 

[Wort*hog]

When I malted my barley I made a box 3'x5' out of 2x10s.I covered it with screen to keep rats ,mice and birds off of the grain.. My neighbor loaned me a carpet drying fan to dry the malt. Today I cut a slot at the end of the box for the fan and now have my malt drying on top of the screen. Like a giant hair dryer. It's all coming together!

 

[rurounikitsune]

Today I bought a countertop convection oven like the one in the YouTube video above. We also have plowed up our entire front yard. Planting day is rapidly approaching! Harrington matures in 98 days so we are talking mid July before I have anything ready to thresh. (It gives me time to sharpen my sickle anyway.) I am hoping for at least a hundred pounds of barley, twenty or so of which will become seed for next year, and the rest of which will be used in heinous experiments to try to replicate different types of malt in my little oven. I also need to brush up on the decoction malt since that is what I will be using. A Doppelbock is in my future. I'm thinking some special dark Crystal, some CaraAroma, a bunch of Munich, and some two row... and about twelve hours....

 

[rurounikitsune]

Here it is. The glorious barley. A few pounds of seed, a few hundred square feet, and a lot of potential beer. Since I took this photo the heads have actually emerged... it's so beautiful. I'll take more pics when it's ready to be threshed.

 

[EvilTOJ]

It's beautiful.

 

[fifelee]

Looks good. I have 26 acres in my front yard with the same seed. I'll snap a picture sometime.

 

[EvilTOJ]

How goes the barley growing, gentlemen?

 

[brehm21]

What happened??????

Anyone get any barley malted out of this project?

 

[fifelee]

Update????

 

[feyr47]

Hey there.
just joined the sites and was following this story with interest.
Im planning on growing some barley this spring. i've got 50 lbs of barley
from a co-op north of me. I dont know what variety of barley this is as it was the guy's last bag and he didnt have the paperwork. but he told me it was grown with other crops to protect them from the wind. Anyhoo I figured what the hell lets go for it. for 15 dollars im not out much if it fails and i get some nice bird seed.
i took ten lbs as a test batch ad malted it. bucket type germination with a hop oast for kilning. I'm going for base malt, to start with. im at the deculming stage and not really sure how to do it efficently. Im thinking about a pillowcase and clothes drier but am a little apprehensive. any other ideas?

 

[lurker18]

Bringing this one back from the dead here. Any updates on the experiments. I am planning to start home malting, but have the advantage that I get already accepted grain from the malting houses, all I have to do is the malting. Luck that I can pick and chose varieties, and should be able to get the best of the best.
Fifelee, just a jab here, but you guys down there are lucky in your selection process for malt. Up in Canada, nothing is selected with less than 85% plump and more than 4% thins. And for what it's worth, plumps are anything that stays on top of a 6 slot sieve (2.38mmX19.05mm or 6/64in.X3/4in.) and thins are those that pass through a 5 slot sieve (1.98mmX19.05mm or 5/64X3/4)

 

[Way2pass]

COME ON FOLKS , UPDATES UPDATES , just got 50 lb bag ,

 

[rurounikitsune]

good things come to those who wait

 

[Brewbecca]

Hi guys
I'm also going to malt some barley I just grew, harvested about 60 kg, this is the first time so I'm taking it slowly!

So I was wandering, has anyone discovered what dimension is a plump? I read somewhere malting plants want barley at least 2.2 mm diameter, can help? Do you use a filter to select grains of a same size before malting?

Cheers

Stefano