Malt roots/sprouts in mash?

[erikpete18]

Hey, just checking to see if anyone can help my paranoia. I just moved so I've been taking advantage of some sales and buying a few AG kits to brew up. Since all the grains come packaged together, they aren't getting looked over like they would if I was weighing them out. Jump forward to today, I conditioned my grain, crushed it, and mashed in. After draining the first runnings, noticed that a bunch of rootlets/sprouts had risen to the top of the mash. Anyone have this happen, and/or any reason to be worried?













I did notice when I was crushing them that they were wetter than usual (gummed up the gears towards the end) but figured I'd just gone overboard on the conditioning. This was a kit about a month ago, but they were still sealed in the original packaging. Any chance it was humid when they got packed and they sprouted again? I'm just trying to figure out if they're gonna give me any off flavors or not. I guess I might also run the risk of under shooting my OG if they were weighed as grains, but I'll update once I've got everything in the BK.

 

[petree3]

I thought that once it's kilned it's never gonna geminate again

 

[erikpete18]

Yeah, that's what I would have thought too. I did end up a little low on pre-boil gravity (65% eff instead of normal ~75%). I'm guessing that for whatever reason the batch I ordered from must have been improperly dried, since drying should include knocking the sprouts off. Then since the kernals were heavier than they should have been, I actually got less grain than I should have, resulting in the low eff.

Unless anyone has had the same thing happen and warns me that it makes undrinkable beer, I'll probably go ahead and continue along, see how it turns out. It's an English IPA, so maybe the hops will cover up any slight off flavors. I'll definitely have to email the company I got the kit from though!

 

[petree3]

Thats always a good route, unless its undrinkable keg it up!

 

[wolfman_48442]

I had the same thing with the Maris Otter I used in my most recent stout.
It's probably the best stout I've made and I got my typical 85% efficiency, so some partially sprouted grain doesn't seem to hurt anything.

 

[COLObrewer]

No worries, barley is fully modified when the sprouts or shoots are appx. 75% the length of the seed. I would be worried if there weren't any sprouts in the mash.

 

[erikpete18]

Good to know! Been brewing for a bit now, first time I'd seen sprouts and wanted to make sure they weren't going to be leaching tannins or anything. Boiled down a little further than normal and wound up 2 pts from predicted OG, so I should be good to go!

 

[captainL]

I had a blond that had a ton of the rootlets floating in the mash. I thought it was weird and tasted them...bitter taste. That blond ended up having a surprising over bitter astringent flavor. Still drinkable but limited enjoyment. I have my suspicions that it was from the exesive rootlets even though most people say they don't affect anything. I'll see if I can find the pics of how many where floating in there.


I had a lot more than what you have in your pics. I wouldn't worry about that little.

 

[erikpete18]

Ha, I didn't even think to taste them! I've got a decent amount of hops and a little crystal, plus some English yeast, so hopefully anything that does show up is covered up. I'll have to remember to update once its kegged and drunk!

 

[November]

Sometimes when I malt my own grains the removal of the rootlets and sprouts don't go as well as planned and I end up with more than usual. I've never had any off flavors that I have noticed in those cases. However, I once tried not removing them at all, since it is a bit of a mess and a pain, and that did produce an off flavor in a lighter flavored beer. It was a grassy flavor, not overpowering but definately noticeable.

 

[captainL]

Here are the pics of how many rootlets I had...FYI.

 

[erikpete18]

Yeah, that looks like you've got more rootlets than I did. Mine all floated to the top so it looked like there were a bunch, but in comparison to the rest of the mash overall I don't think I had as many as you did. Fingers are crossed!

 

[COLObrewer]

FWIW, rootlets and shoots are two very different things entirely, you should have very very few rootlets in your finished malt, shoots are fine.