Home Malting..... lots of rootlets, but no acrospire

[Owly055]

I'm malting about 15 lbs of malting barley. I went through the steeping cycle (wet / drained ), and then into a large plastic tote. I have an abundance of rootlets, and am keeping the grain moist, but not wet, but as yet I have no acrospires breaking out. Temps are in the 50's. Do I need a warmer environment for this? It's been about 5 days since the rootlets started showing. I run my hands through the works frequently to keep the rootlets from forming a solid mass, and rotate the grain on the bottom to the top. When I moisten the grain, the water will initially end up going through to the bottom, but I bring the grains up and distribute it well so the grain is moist to the touch, but not wet.

H.W.

 

[bitteritdown]

Acrospires shouldn't "break out", "poke through" or "stick out", the acrospires is a "hump" that runs along the center of the kernel beneath the husk and should reach 75%-100% of the kernel length before kilning. What was your steeping schedule? Did you test the moisture content with a moisture meter? Mid-Upper 50's is good and should allow the grain to germinate. Warmer temps can be used but you need to be mindful of the faster growth rate.

 

[Owly055]

Acrospires shouldn't "break out", "poke through" or "stick out", the acrospires is a "hump" that runs along the center of the kernel beneath the husk and should reach 75%-100% of the kernel length before kilning. What was your steeping schedule? Did you test the moisture content with a moisture meter? Mid-Upper 50's is good and should allow the grain to germinate. Warmer temps can be used but you need to be mindful of the faster growth rate.

Oops.......... I misunderstood. This morning I've got some breaking out....not many, so I transferred things to my drying system. I have no moisture meter.... I think for my purposes the hand should be sufficient. I'm shooting for moisture about like good bread dough. My "steeping schedule" was a bit lackadasical. I'd fill the bucket when I thought about it and drain it when I thought about it.... more or less 8 hour intervals, until it became obvious that it was getting ready to sprout.

H.W.

 

[bitteritdown]

Generally, when the steeping schedule is finished and the moisture content is 42-45%, you want to spread it out on the floor 1-2 in. thick, allow it to fully modify (i.e. grow that acrospires 75%-100% the length of kernel), while keeping it moist, constantly turning it so that it doesn't heat up, mold etc... (i.e. "floor malting"). When the moisture content has dropped to 8-10% (for a base malt) - only at that point do you want to put it under any sort of kiln temperature profile, starting to kiln with higher moisture contents creates different types of malts. Of course you can accelerate to kilning moisture content by drying at no more than about 90F.