How to Malt at Home: An In-Depth Guide

[homemaltster]

Just wrote a guide on how to malt at home, using whatever equipment you already have lying around. If you've ever considered trying your hand at home malting, this should help you start. Happy malting!

http://www.sprowtmalt.com/2017/02/23/how-to-malt-at-home/

 

[Owly055]

Just wrote a guide on how to malt at home, using whatever equipment you already have lying around. If you've ever considered trying your hand at home malting, this should help you start. Happy malting!

http://www.sprowtmalt.com/2017/02/23/how-to-malt-at-home/

Thanks for this effort....... I plan to begin malting this year. Unlike the majority of brewers, I'm not trying to achieve a specific result..... brewing should be an adventure, and it has been said that variety is the spice of life. Unlike the commercial maltster who has to create a 100% uniform product, variety in my malts will add variety and interest in my beers......... which is what I am seeking. The range from wind malt to pilsner to two row to munich, and all the in between variants and crystal malts is exciting!

H.W.

 

[Owly055]

Just to elaborate a bit, I live in cattle ranching and grain growing country. I don't know anybody who is currently growing malting barley in my area, but I plan to pursue that, I have a few leads. I can buy seed barley (malting barley) for about $20 for a 50 pound bag from a nearby elevator, about what I used to pay for two row malt........now it's twice that. It's the wrong time of year to be looking for malting barley. Wheat is another matter. I can get wheat from the bin for next to nothing from friends and neighbors. Both winter wheat and spring wheat. I would expect that irrigated spring wheat would be the most desirable for it's low protein (relative) and high starch. Hard red winter wheat is probably the worst choice....just guessing.

I plan to make a malting drum for sprouting........ about the simplest system it would seem. It will be built from lumber beveled like those old wood pipes, and banded together with steel banding. "spokes" on either end will attach to a center shaft that will allow it to rotate in wooden bearings......... Even if it doesn't work well, at least it should look good ;-)
My idea is to buy one of those counter top convection ovens with a rotisserie, and do some "creative" mods to use it for drying and kilning, using an STC 1000 to control the temp and a screened drum in the rotisserie to contain the grain. That system if I modify the oven properly should allow me to do numerous different processes. A solid drum for stewing grain for making crystal malt, as well as containment versus venting off water vapor to mimic Munich or Vienna. I brew small, so I can see being able to malt for a single batch.

Someday I'd like to make beer where all the malt is home made from local grain, and the hops are home grown........ perhaps even wild yeast, but propagating and slanting wild yeast is another whole process I'm not sure I'm ready for.


H.W.

 

[homemaltster]

Good to hear from you, H.W. Sounds like you've given your malting setup some thought.

If you don't mind, I'll offer some input. Rotating drums have certainly been used for germination before, but if you're looking for simplicity, there are other options. It doesn't get much simpler than a germination floor or bucket to spread the grain out. If your grain bed is thin enough, you don't need to turn it that often.

Is your main reason for the drum design to automate the grain turning? Would yours be hooked up to a motor and rotating constantly? In my experience on a home malting scale, you can get by without turning the grain that often.

I don't want to dissuade you at all if you're psyched about the drum design. It would be cool and would sure look damn good.

 

[homemaltster]

To add, what I've found most important is to nail your climate control. Cool and humid for germination. What kind of space were you planning to germinate in?

 

[brieuxster]

We live in the middle of the North American Grain growing area. I have yet to meet a farmer who does not want to make a batch of beer from barley he has grown on his own land.
Thank you for your write up.

 

[Owly055]

In answer to both comments........... I had no intention of constant rotation, but rather making it possible to rotate for perhaps a minute every 4 hours or something of that sort. Initially at least it would be hand cranked, and quite likely never progress beyond that. I've also thought about "floor malting"

Climate control is a concern....... I have one fairly controlled climate area, and that's my pump house which stays in the 60's in summer, and 50's to 60's this time of year. Heating is far easier than cooling, and malts like Munich are germinated at a higher temp. Again, as I'm not about creating an identical product every time like a commercial maltster, the idea is to make "the malt of opportunity" using pump house temps in some cases, and ambient indoor temps in others.
This is a very dry climate, so maintaining humidity is the biggest issue I see. The temp range from 55 to 65 for pale up to as high as almost 80 for darker malts like Munich offers a lot of leeway. More important than "control" it seems to me is knowing what your germination temp was so you can proceed accordingly and know what you are going to get. I expect to be a "sloppy" maltster just as I'm a sloppy brewer. Sloppy in the sense of not attempting to closely control things, but still knowing what I have and what to do with it. I have no intention of creating a temp controlled environment. Humidity is another matter, and something that is easily controlled.

I ferment beers without a temperature controlled environment, using either house temp or pump house temp, and in summer often letting Belle Saison "run wild" at in house temps that will hit the high 90's during the day when I'm not there. I have ambitions neither to be a microbrewer or a craft malter. i have no problem with brewing with what I have on hand. I'm more interested in good beer than in the ability to replicate a brew from one batch to the next. I've found that replication is not easy with many variables to control, but that it IS easy to make good beer if you know your ingredients and conditions.
I'm not a precision brewer...... I'm a sloppy brewer. I know how much grain I need for a given brew off the top of my head, and often walk out to the shed as I did this morning while the strike water was heating, and weigh out and crush grains for the flavor and color I want without looking at software or a recipe. I'll dough in, then sit down in front of Brewer's Friend and enter the amounts, then look in the freezer at what I have in hops... If I have a package about empty, I will often make that the recipe around that hop, or if I have a lot of some hop. I know the flavors and how they interact well enough that I can then decide what other hops to include and when to achieve a flavor profile that appeals to me. I use Brewer's Friend to nail the IBUs, and confirm my grain bill. I may do one of my 30 minute "inline mash" processes, or I may mash for an hour or may leave it all afternoon and complete it in the evening, or all morning and boil in the afternoon. I may do a 30 minute boil (usually), or a longer boil, or I may do no boil / no chill.
You will probably not find a sloppier brewer on this forum. I've learned that it is so easy to make good beer that if you follow a few simple rules you really can't go wrong.


H.W.

 

[homemaltster]

We live in the middle of the North American Grain growing area. I have yet to meet a farmer who does not want to make a batch of beer from barley he has grown on his own land.
Thank you for your write up.

That's awesome. Next time a farmer says that, tell em they can make it happen!

 

[homemaltster]

In answer to both comments........... I had no intention of constant rotation, but rather making it possible to rotate for perhaps a minute every 4 hours or something of that sort. Initially at least it would be hand cranked, and quite likely never progress beyond that. I've also thought about "floor malting"

Floor malting would be much simpler to set up and would have about the same effect. You can turn grain on the germination floor with your hands every few hours just as easily as you could hand crank the drum. And you'd have a more level grain bed.

You will probably not find a sloppier brewer on this forum. I've learned that it is so easy to make good beer that if you follow a few simple rules you really can't go wrong.

Nothing wrong with sloppiness! The way you brew sounds a lot like the way I cook. Not really following a recipe but knowing the ingredients well enough to make something that tastes good.

 

[Owly055]

Floor malting would be much simpler to set up and would have about the same effect. You can turn grain on the germination floor with your hands every few hours just as easily as you could hand crank the drum. And you'd have a more level grain bed.



Nothing wrong with sloppiness! The way you brew sounds a lot like the way I cook. Not really following a recipe but knowing the ingredients well enough to make something that tastes good.

What do you recommend for a germination floor..... My inclination would be a wooden box rather than something like a plastic tote, as it would tend to absorb moisture.

My neighbor who I got started brewing a year ago recently bought an air fry, which seems to me about perfectly adapted to kilning small batches of malt. Very controllable temp and lots of air motion. I can see building a simple dehydrator, perhaps using solar energy only, and storing the "wind malt" to be later kilned just prior to use in something like this.

H.W.

 

[ain]

Great topic. Subscribed.

 

[MaltMaker]

Good job on the article and thanks for the resources.

A couple of comments:

1.) A grain moisture meter helps, it's a lot easier than weighing, though a bit difficult to find one with the needed range.
2.) Spreading unscented black plastic trash bags on the floor allows the steeped malt to be spread out to a desired depth, misted and also allows more malt to be made than in a container.
3.) The profile of moisture/heat/time is usually what I'll go by when drying / kilning, for example if after germination the malt is @ 25% moisture, dry @ 85F - 122F or less until 8% moisture, kiln @ 155F ramping to 170F until <= 4% moisture, makes a nice lager malt
4.) The grain temperature always takes a while to ramp to oven temperature and stabilize.
5.) Adding hydrogen peroxide to the steep water may help increase the sprout rate.
6.) Adding SMB to the steep water bleaches the malt
7.) Adding gibberellic acid to the steep water may help increase the sprout rate in certain varieties
8.) Allowing the malt to air out for 1-4 weeks after kilning and removing the rootlets can help eliminate any green malt flavor, however I've not had a problem using the malt right away.

 

[Owly055]

Good job on the article and thanks for the resources.

A couple of comments:

1.) A grain moisture meter helps, it's a lot easier than weighing, though a bit difficult to find one with the needed range.
2.) Spreading unscented black plastic trash bags on the floor allows the steeped malt to be spread out to a desired depth, misted and also allows more malt to be made than in a container.
3.) The profile of moisture/heat/time is usually what I'll go by when drying / kilning, for example if after germination the malt is @ 25% moisture, dry @ 85F - 122F or less until 8% moisture, kiln @ 155F ramping to 170F until <= 4% moisture, makes a nice lager malt
4.) The grain temperature always takes a while to ramp to oven temperature and stabilize.
5.) Adding hydrogen peroxide to the steep water may help increase the sprout rate.
6.) Adding SMB to the steep water bleaches the malt
7.) Adding gibberellic acid to the steep water may help increase the sprout rate in certain varieties
8.) Allowing the malt to air out for 1-4 weeks after kilning and removing the rootlets can help eliminate any green malt flavor, however I've not had a problem using the malt right away.

Please translate SMB..... Perhaps it's an acronym I should know, but it escapes me....... Server Message Block?

 

[MaltMaker]

SMB is an abbreviation for Sodium Metabisulfite which acts as an antimicrobial and antioxidant agent when dissolved in water. The reaction with water produces sulfur dioxide, sulfite and bisulfite. The sulfur dioxide is a gas which stuns/kills bacteria and is released into the atmosphere. The sulfite and bisulfite are bound to free oxygen introducing sulfates and bisulfates, the left over sulfites are left waiting in solution. The sulfate is left in solution adding to the sulfate content. The bisulfate is a sulphuric acid salt thus reacted with water it lowers the pH of the solution and introduces additional sulfate.

Unfortunately I haven't had the chance measured the amount of sulfite in a mash when SMB is used in steep water to any extent.

 

[Owly055]

I've been wondering if using beautiful young women to agitate the grains with their recently washed toes, preferably scantily clad (or less) as a part of the floor malting process would improve the quality of the malt............Somewhat like stomping grapes, but without the stomping. If nothing else it would be entertaining and make good drinking conversation, which always makes beer taste better ;-)

 

[brewbama]

I've been wondering if using beautiful young women to agitate the grains with their recently washed toes, preferably scantily clad (or less) as a part of the floor malting process would improve the quality of the malt............Somewhat like stomping grapes, but without the stomping. If nothing else it would be entertaining and make good drinking conversation, which always makes beer taste better ;-)

I think she would. Like a Cuban Cigar rolled on the thighs of a beautiful woman.

 

[homemaltster]

What do you recommend for a germination floor..... My inclination would be a wooden box rather than something like a plastic tote, as it would tend to absorb moisture.

My neighbor who I got started brewing a year ago recently bought an air fry, which seems to me about perfectly adapted to kilning small batches of malt. Very controllable temp and lots of air motion. I can see building a simple dehydrator, perhaps using solar energy only, and storing the "wind malt" to be later kilned just prior to use in something like this.

H.W.

Wood is actually not great for germination floors for that reason - it absorbs moisture from the grain and prematurely dries it out. Plastic is a good impermeable surface, and I like MaltMaker's suggestion of trash bags laid out on the ground. A single sheet of plastic or a tarp might be even better for turning purposes. If your germination space has concrete floors, those work well too. Floor-malting operations typically germinate on concrete.

 

[homemaltster]

Good job on the article and thanks for the resources.

A couple of comments:

1.) A grain moisture meter helps, it's a lot easier than weighing, though a bit difficult to find one with the needed range.
2.) Spreading unscented black plastic trash bags on the floor allows the steeped malt to be spread out to a desired depth, misted and also allows more malt to be made than in a container.
3.) The profile of moisture/heat/time is usually what I'll go by when drying / kilning, for example if after germination the malt is @ 25% moisture, dry @ 85F - 122F or less until 8% moisture, kiln @ 155F ramping to 170F until <= 4% moisture, makes a nice lager malt
4.) The grain temperature always takes a while to ramp to oven temperature and stabilize.
5.) Adding hydrogen peroxide to the steep water may help increase the sprout rate.
6.) Adding SMB to the steep water bleaches the malt
7.) Adding gibberellic acid to the steep water may help increase the sprout rate in certain varieties
8.) Allowing the malt to air out for 1-4 weeks after kilning and removing the rootlets can help eliminate any green malt flavor, however I've not had a problem using the malt right away.

Thanks for the additional info, MaltMaker.

Moisture meters certainly make moisture tracking easier, though they're unfortunately out of the budget of most home maltsters. There are the field moisture meters that a farmer may have, like the Dickey John, that cost a few hundred bucks, but those aren't designed to measure high moisture contents, like you'll see at the end of steeping and throughout germination. Craft malthouses invest in lab moisture analyzers to get accurate readings, which generally cost over a grand. Do you own and use a moisture meter?

I'm intrigued that you mentioned those chemical additives. Industrial malthouses use an array of additives to speed up or control the malting process, though I've never heard of a home maltster using them. What's your experience been with them?

 

[MaltMaker]

I've got an older Agratronix MT-16 which works quite well, however, after following various steeping schedules, I've got a feel for moisture content at the end of the steep and really use it to measure the moisture content after germination to determine when drying can begin.

I've used hydrogen peroxide and SMB. One cup of hydrogen peroxide and 1 campden tablet per water change while steeping (12.5 lb batch). You'll get a lot of off gassing (bubbles) so be sure to stir the malt every hour or so with your hand while steeping (watch out the water is cold!). Both appear to help increase germination rates (though can't speak for certain) but more over they bleach the malt, the sulfur dioxide appears to scrub the malt, making the malt light and "fluffy". I haven't measured residual sulfites with this method but would imagine that it would be quite low to none if the amount of SMB is kept in check as it is acting as an antioxidant.

 

[eagle23]

Awesome information! Do you have any insight into instructions for specialty grains?

 

[homemaltster]

I've got an older Agratronix MT-16 which works quite well, however, after following various steeping schedules, I've got a feel for moisture content at the end of the steep and really use it to measure the moisture content after germination to determine when drying can begin.

I've used hydrogen peroxide and SMB. One cup of hydrogen peroxide and 1 campden tablet per water change while steeping (12.5 lb batch). You'll get a lot of off gassing (bubbles) so be sure to stir the malt every hour or so with your hand while steeping (watch out the water is cold!). Both appear to help increase germination rates (though can't speak for certain) but more over they bleach the malt, the sulfur dioxide appears to scrub the malt, making the malt light and "fluffy". I haven't measured residual sulfites with this method but would imagine that it would be quite low to none if the amount of SMB is kept in check as it is acting as an antioxidant.

Have you had much of a problem with microbes when you don't add hydrogen peroxide or SMB? I know many home brewers that try to malt have mold problems, and then get turned off malting, which is a major bummer!

I've stayed mold-free without adding antiseptics just by not letting my grain bed temps get too high. I aerate my steep water and then blow air through the germination bed, so there's plenty of oxygen available to the grain (or to microbes). But the oxygen gives me relatively fast germination periods (3-4 days) so mold doesn't have much opportunity to grow.

 

[homemaltster]

Awesome information! Do you have any insight into instructions for specialty grains?

Thanks! I like where you're going with this. One of the coolest things about home malting is being able to play around with any grain ever, and make malts that you can't buy anywhere.

My advice is similar to what many beginning home brewers are told: start with something simple to get a feel for the process, then get into more of the adventurous stuff. If you can get an understanding of what it's like to malt barley, then you'll have more success adjusting your malting process to rye or buckwheat or quinoa.

That being said, feel free to throw that advice right out the window. If you're experimenting with malting anyway, why not get right into the weird stuff?

Each grain will malt somewhat differently - some grains take up water a lot faster than barley. Start messing with different steep schedules or germination temps, while keeping a close eye on the progress.

There's not a lot of info out there on malting specialty grains, but the best resource I can refer you to is Brewing Beer the Hard Way. He's at the forefront of experimental malting and loves to share his knowledge.

 

[MaltMaker]

Have you had much of a problem with microbes when you don't add hydrogen peroxide or SMB? I know many home brewers that try to malt have mold problems, and then get turned off malting, which is a major bummer!

I've stayed mold-free without adding antiseptics just by not letting my grain bed temps get too high. I aerate my steep water and then blow air through the germination bed, so there's plenty of oxygen available to the grain (or to microbes). But the oxygen gives me relatively fast germination periods (3-4 days) so mold doesn't have much opportunity to grow.

Have never had problems with mold or microbes, either with or without any steep water additives. Malting is easy if you're even the least bit motivated to keep the process going.

 

[eagle23]

Thanks! I like where you're going with this. One of the coolest things about home malting is being able to play around with any grain ever, and make malts that you can't buy anywhere.

Maybe not different grains ( yet)? But I'm curious about finding recipes for things like munich, and crystal malts and such. To malt them on my own somewhere down the road.

I've been looking and there isnt a lot of information online. But that link is a huge help, thanks for posting it.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Would I end up with 1 lb. of UK style aromatic malt if I roast 1 lb. of Maris Otter Pale at 325 degrees (oven preheated) for 30 minutes?

 

[homemaltster]

Maybe not different grains ( yet)? But I'm curious about finding recipes for things like munich, and crystal malts and such. To malt them on my own somewhere down the road.

I've been looking and there isnt a lot of information online. But that link is a huge help, thanks for posting it.

Ha I gotcha now. A lot of brewers use the words "malt" and "grain" interchangeably, but for a maltster, you have "grain" before the malting process and you have "malt" afterward.

For info on specialty malts, I would have sent you to Brewing Beer the Hard Way anyway. Most of his posts are about a new specialty malt he's made, and he's put together a nice list of malting times and temps for a bunch of different kinds of malt.

Many specialty malts can be made by taking base malt one step further and roasting it at higher temps. Then there are some that need adjustments earlier in the kilning process, like crystal malts, which are sort of stewed in their own juices when they're still high in moisture. And there are a few specialty malts need higher germination temps or other changes even earlier in the malting process - just check out the link above and I reckon you'll find the specific malt you're looking for

 

[homemaltster]

Would I end up with 1 lb. of UK style aromatic malt if I roast 1 lb. of Maris Otter Pale at 325 degrees (oven preheated) for 30 minutes?

I haven't personally tried this, so I can't speak from experience. But I can refer you to Brewing Beer the Hard Way for those details. He says between 220-235F for 3-5 hrs.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

I haven't personally tried this, so I can't speak from experience. But I can refer you to Brewing Beer the Hard Way for those details. He says between 220-235F for 3-5 hrs.

I was going by the guidelines seen on this website:

http://barleypopmaker.info/2009/12/08/home-roasting-your-malts/

 

[eagle23]

Ha I gotcha now. A lot of brewers use the words "malt" and "grain" interchangeably, but for a maltster, you have "grain" before the malting process and you have "malt" afterward.

Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction. After looking through that, I can tell I have a lot to learn.

 

[homemaltster]

Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction. After looking through that, I can tell I have a lot to learn.

Yeah it's similar to brewing in that way - there's a bit of a learning curve at first, but you can start making good malt fairly quickly. And then there's always more to learn, so it can stay interesting for a long time.

 

[homemaltster]

I was going by the guidelines seen on this website:

http://barleypopmaker.info/2009/12/08/home-roasting-your-malts/

Right, Barleypopmaker has one of the more extensive guides on home roasting that I've seen out there. Have you tried any of his recipes before?

In most malthouses, roasting schedules are usually longer lengths of time at lower temps, but Barleypopmaker has converted those times and temps to more typical home oven temps. It would be interesting to do a side by side comparison of an aromatic malt made his way and one made the standard way.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Right, Barleypopmaker has one of the more extensive guides on home roasting that I've seen out there. Have you tried any of his recipes before?

I have not, but I may take my first foray into this with the aromatic.

 

[Owly055]

I called a local elevator today about malting barley. Next week, I plan to pick up 100 pounds (2 bags), and a plastic trash can to store it. I anticipate that my initial experiments will be 5 pound batches. Price is $15.00 per bag. Location is convenient, right in downtown Bozeman. They have 50,000 bushels of it that has yet to be shipped to Minnesota somewhere for malting.

H.W.

 

[homemaltster]

I called a local elevator today about malting barley. Next week, I plan to pick up 100 pounds (2 bags), and a plastic trash can to store it. I anticipate that my initial experiments will be 5 pound batches. Price is $15.00 per bag. Location is convenient, right in downtown Bozeman. They have 50,000 bushels of it that has yet to be shipped to Minnesota somewhere for malting.

H.W.

Nice. Very convenient indeed. I think I might know where that barley is going in MN to be malted...

 

[Owly055]

I plan to try using Aspergillus oryzae on some of this barley just for the fun of it. I have a lot of questions about how this process works, and how much conversion is done during the time the fungus is growing. This information does not really seem to be published on the net, at least in useful form. Everything I find is specific to procedures for making saki, rice wine, miso, soy sauce, etc.
I intend to pursue this as well as home malting, as I anticipate being in a situation where malt and maltable grain may not be readily available and/or affordable, and thus forced to use alternative fermentables and methods.

H.W.

 

[Owly055]

yesterday I picked up 100 lbs of malting barley in Bozeman to start my various malting experiments. Initially at least, I'll just sprout it in a plastic tote.

I also picked up a "cheap" Hamilton Beach counter top convection oven with rotisserie at about $70 at Walmart. The plan is to make a rotating screened drum which will be about 8" diameter and 12" long and ride in the rotisserie. This will be used for both drying and kilning This will contain about half a gallon of sprouted barley. I've already dismantled it and am planning my modifications, which will involve a toggle switch to kick the convection fan on independently of the setting on the oven.

Like a kid, the first thing I did was tear the new oven apart ;-)

The temperature control is a simple bimetal unit with points that connects to the side of the oven to sense temperature. I will mount an STC 1000 with a themocouple "strategically" placed inside the oven, and use it to control the temperature more accurately, but probably not before trying it with it's own thermostat and an oven thermometer.

I of course am looking at very small quantity malting, but I brew small..... 2 gallon batches. I suspect that this will come close to kilning the amount of grain I need for a brew, but not quite.

If I like the way it works, I'll build a decent size unit that will handle considerably more. I think convection and a slowly rotating drum for drying kilning and roasting makes sense. I have an evolving vision of a complete stand alone unit that can be used for soaking, sprouting, drying, kilning, roasting, stewing, but one step at a time.....


H.W.

 

[homemaltster]

Very interesting. So let me get this straight: you'd be using the Aspergillus to make amylase accessible instead of malting to make those enzymes accessible? Does the amylase come from the barley or does Aspergillus release its own amylase into the mix?

 

[homemaltster]

Also, I'm excited to hear how your modified kilning drum works out. I know a number of malthouses use massive rotating drums for roasting.

 

[Owly055]

Very interesting. So let me get this straight: you'd be using the Aspergillus to make amylase accessible instead of malting to make those enzymes accessible? Does the amylase come from the barley or does Aspergillus release its own amylase into the mix?

The Aspergillus produces the amylase. I'm mainly interested in this for unconventional starch sources, but I'm also interested in it for potentially different flavors. It also might have some potential of converting barley or other grains that had been toasted prior to soaking and innoculating.......Different methods inevitably yield different flavors. I anticipate having to use local starch sources, and not being able to get malted barley while voyaging, and would like to delve in to their use while I am at home.

H.W.

 

[Owly055]

It may be a while before I have my kilning drum built. It will be an interesting challenge, as it will need solid ends, one of which will be permanent, and the other removable but the drum itself will need reinforcing there. Flanges will be needed, and breaking up a flange is a bit of a challenge. I'm assuming that silver solder will be the material for attaching, unless I use a flange and a ring with rivets penetrating the screen.


In the meantime, I'm doing my first unmalted barley experiment. I've washed 4 pounds of barley, and am amazed at how much chaff and beards floated off, not to mention floating grains.

This experiment will involve toasting the unmalted barley to a golden brown color (tonight). It will then be crushed and "mashed" as if it were actual malt, with the idea of liberating the starch. After that, it will be covered with saran wrap, and a hand full of malted barley tossed in to innoculate it with lacto. I'll let it sour for about 24 hours, then bring it back to 152 for a second "mash", probably all night to let the acids do their magic. I'll then do a normal boil of one hour, including hops and whirlfloc, and probably some sugar. After that it will go into the fermenter, and I'll pitch Belle Saison yeast, and a healthy dose of AG300 fungal amylase, probably about 1/4t for 2 gallons. I will allow a lot of time for fermentation and conversion....... We'll see what happens.

It's radical, it's unconventional........... like many of my ideas. It may be a "train wreck"...... I've had those. I'm rising a whole $ 1.20 cents worth of barley, my hops and my "spare time"......... HUGE RISK!! The game here is to use what I have to brew....... I don't have the fungus yet, and I have some work to do before I can malt.

http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2...ed-barley.html

H.W.