Make your own Malt Kiln

[stamandster]

Not sure if he's on the forum, and I didn't see a post on it. Cool stuff though

http://www.blueleafsoftware.com/Resources/EmbeddedSand/Malt_Kiln

"Malting barley is a critical step in the brewing of a nice beer. Brewers rely on maltsters to craft this ingredient. It involves soaking the grain in water and allowing the germination process to begin. When the germinating grain has reached a predetermined stage, it is kilned dry to halt the process and develop flavour. The grain will continue to germinate if the kiln temperature is too low. If the temperature is too hot the enzymes which for fermentable sugars from the starch in the grain will be destroyed making it impossible to make beer from the malt.This is a problem I found when using a cheap food dehydrator to kiln the malt so I've built a malting kiln which uses a heating element from a hot-air gun and an Arduino to control to air temperature while drying the grain. This provides tight control of the kilning process, aiding in the production of a quality ingredient."

 

[Schumed]

Rad!!!

 

[Richard_Oliver]

Hi. I'm the guy who made the malt kiln and wrote the article. I've made two brews from grain that I've malted with the aid of that kiln. They worked fantastically. I even think there is a chance that the extract tasted fresher with more aromatic flavours, especially just after the mash. Maybe the commercial malt in our brew shops in New Zealand is a little old. I intend to malt all of my own grain at this stage.