Malting Gluten Free Grains

[Lcasanova]

About this long:

I find images work better, meant to post this a while ago

 

[BBBF]

Not sure what I'll do with them since I only malted about 2lbs...maybe roast them 2 weeks before the next brew and use as a specialty grain...or get some iodine and do a small decoction to see what happens...not sure- but hey, I'll be the guinea pig!

Don't use it as a specialty grain. That would be a waste. Either save it and make enough for all grain batch or do a mini experiment and see if you can convert it.

 

[Parker36]

Did you worry about the cyanide in the acropsires/rootlest at all?

 

[Lcasanova]

No, they came off almost completely, either way, it's only in the mash, I won't be eating the acrospires or rootlets

 

[BBBF]

I really need to start my malting experiments again. I've got 8 lbs of quinoa that I know I can malt, 6 lbs of buckwheat that I know I can malt and a few lbs of millet that I need to give another run at.

 

[Lcasanova]

Just answered this question for myself. Raw buckwheat w/o the hull will sprout. Naturally hull on buckwheat will as well. I have 2 lbs hull on and 1 lb hull off in the oven right now. My first malting process underway!!! Clearly I have to develop a more efficient method than what I did this time but its nice to see that I can do it successfully. Trying sorghum and millet next.

How is the malting coming along?

 

[COLObrewer]

Did you worry about the cyanide in the acropsires/rootlest at all?

Is cyanide created when sorghum is malted? :cross:

 

[BBBF]

Yes, but it's mostly in the shoots.

 

[RobDSteele]

I have malted a small test batch of quionoa, and that works pretty well. A couple things that I noticed when I did my experiment:

There are different kinds (colors) of qionoa with different qualities. I used the approach that the "Life's a Garden" author used and it worked pretty well. But the quinoa I used was a blend of the red and white quinoa, and they sprouted at different rates. Next time I will only use a single color.

The quinoa seemed take a while to sprout, not sure if that is a trait of the quinoa or if I had them in too cool of a place.

Quinoa is a pain in the butt to toast in the oven because they are so small. Using a screen may help with this, I used a sheet tray and a silpat.

 

[Lcasanova]

I have malted a small test batch of quionoa, and that works pretty well. A couple things that I noticed when I did my experiment:

There are different kinds (colors) of qionoa with different qualities. I used the approach that the "Life's a Garden" author used and it worked pretty well. But the quinoa I used was a blend of the red and white quinoa, and they sprouted at different rates. Next time I will only use a single color.

The quinoa seemed take a while to sprout, not sure if that is a trait of the quinoa or if I had them in too cool of a place.

Quinoa is a pain in the butt to toast in the oven because they are so small. Using a screen may help with this, I used a sheet tray and a silpat.

I don't know if a screen actually helps in the toasting. When I toasted some grains with my screen it seemed to take a lot longer to get close to the color I wanted. If I use a plain roasting sheet they get darker and in a shorter amount of time, but YMMV.

Nice job though, I need to get around to malting some more. I have all this sorghum just sitting around.

 

[BBBF]

I also don't use a screen. I just mix the grains up every 10-15 minutes.

My experience with quinoa is that it malted very fast. I have only done it during the summer, so it might have been the result of higher temperatures.

 

[eeebigeee]

Any suggestions on quick ways to remove the acrospire?

I just soaked 2lbs of quinoa that I bought from Costco overnight and the next day, it was already about 3/4 sprouted. I drained it and laid it out to dry until I could toast them in the oven later that evening.

 

[kontreren]

Any suggestions on quick ways to remove the acrospire?

I just soaked 2lbs of quinoa that I bought from Costco overnight and the next day, it was already about 3/4 sprouted. I drained it and laid it out to dry until I could toast them in the oven later that evening.

I've seen others post on here that they put them in a pillowcase, secure it and then put it in the dryer. I haven't had an opportunity to try this yet.

 

[BBBF]

Yeah, quinoa sprouts FAST. I like malting it at the same time as buckwheat or amaranth because there's enough of a lag so I can get quinoa in and out of the dehydrator before the next grain needs to go in.

The pillow case and dryer works. Just make sure the pillow case is tied tight and use the no heat setting.

 

[Lcasanova]

Yeah, quinoa sprouts FAST. I like malting it at the same time as buckwheat or amaranth because there's enough of a lag so I can get quinoa in and out of the dehydrator before the next grain needs to go in.

The pillow case and dryer works. Just make sure the pillow case is tied tight and use the no heat setting.

+1 on that. I tied a knot, used a zip-tie below the knot, then tied another knot below that just in case...tumbling really knocks them around- just make sure you dry them in the oven first.

 

[dubbs]

Yeah, quinoa sprouts FAST. I like malting it at the same time as buckwheat or amaranth because there's enough of a lag so I can get quinoa in and out of the dehydrator before the next grain needs to go in.

The pillow case and dryer works. Just make sure the pillow case is tied tight and use the no heat setting.

I am confused by the speed at which you guys are malting quinoa. I am new to the GF malting process so please excuse the questions but from what I have read most believe malting is considered done when the shoot, not the root appears. With quinoa and most grains (except Buckwheat) the root appears first and it can take 2-3 days before the real shoot appears. It becomes a real pain to keep the grain bed cool because as it germinates, a lot of heat is produced and the roots also tend to get so long they start developing root balls that you have to keep separated. After two quinoa malting attempts I had one good malt (took 4 days) and one that I ended up tossing out (after 6 days) because I didn't rinse often enough and it molded and spoiled.

So when is quinoa considered fully modified and what is the best way to test it to make sure you are getting a full modification?

 

[COLObrewer]

I am confused by the speed at which you guys are malting quinoa. I am new to the GF malting process so please excuse the questions but from what I have read most believe malting is considered done when the shoot, not the root appears. With quinoa and most grains (except Buckwheat) the root appears first and it can take 2-3 days before the real shoot appears. It becomes a real pain to keep the grain bed cool because as it germinates, a lot of heat is produced and the roots also tend to get so long they start developing root balls that you have to keep separated. After two quinoa malting attempts I had one good malt (took 4 days) and one that I ended up tossing out (after 6 days) because I didn't rinse often enough and it molded and spoiled.

So when is quinoa considered fully modified and what is the best way to test it to make sure you are getting a full modification?

I too think there is confusion here, I've only malted barley but the quickest I've done is 7 days start to finish. The acrospire is the leaf not the root, in barley the root grows first and is appx. 3 times the length of the seed when the acrospire gets to full modification (75-100% length of the seed).

I'm curious about buckwheat, has anyone ever malted it? I've grown it and it seems like it would be easier to harvest/separate/store than barley or wheat, although I haven't grown any other gluten free grains.

 

[eeebigeee]

I too think there is confusion here

Yup, I was very mis-informed on the root/acrospire.

I toasted the quinoa last night and it looks/tastes/smells great (tastes just like barley malt). It reminds me most like "special B" barley malt or a high toast caramel.

I have a barley crusher but don't trust cleaning it. How else can I crush this stuff?

 

[Lcasanova]

Yup, I was very mis-informed on the root/acrospire.

I toasted the quinoa last night and it looks/tastes/smells great (tastes just like barley malt). It reminds me most like "special B" barley malt or a high toast caramel.

I have a barley crusher but don't trust cleaning it. How else can I crush this stuff?

Ziplock bag + rolling pin

 

[Lcasanova]

If anyone else has some pictures of their GF home malting, please post them! I won't have time to malt anything until after tax season is over!

 

[BBBF]

I too think there is confusion here, I've only malted barley but the quickest I've done is 7 days start to finish. The acrospire is the leaf not the root, in barley the root grows first and is appx. 3 times the length of the seed when the acrospire gets to full modification (75-100% length of the seed).

I'm curious about buckwheat, has anyone ever malted it? I've grown it and it seems like it would be easier to harvest/separate/store than barley or wheat, although I haven't grown any other gluten free grains.

BUCKWHEAT


QUINOA


AMARANTH


QUINOA & AMARANTH BEER


I have never tried malting barley, but there are lots of pictures of the process. My attempts at malting quinoa and ameranth do not look anything like like what I've seen of of the process for barley. If you look at the quinoa picture, what happens is the root unwraps from around the main portion of the grain and then that main part splits in half and begins developing into two leaves. So you can't really follow to same guidelines for barley to determin when to stop the malting process of these grains, not to mention the grains are so small that trying to split them open is difficult.

All this being said, I'm not sure myself when when the exact time to stop the malting process is.

 

[Lcasanova]

Can anyone else see those pictures?

 

[dubbs]

My attempts at malting quinoa and ameranth do not look anything like like what I've seen of of the process for barley. If you look at the quinoa picture, what happens is the root unwraps from around the main portion of the grain and then that main part splits in half and begins developing into two leaves. So you can't really follow to same guidelines for barley to determin when to stop the malting process of these grains, not to mention the grains are so small that trying to split them open is difficult.

.

FYI. Dont see your pics.

Ah that makes sense now. I noticed the same thing with quinoa splitting in half after a while. It appears that if you wait too long you end up with a bunch of real small grains (halved) that are almost impossible to separate from the dried root pieces. My last batch is still in the pillow case because I have no idea how to separate the grain fragments from the root fragments, (pretty much the same size and weight). It looks like it was already crushed. Would it hurt to mash with the roots mixed in with the grains? I assume I would get off flavors but not sure.

So there appears to be a stopping point between the root showing up and the grain splitting in half. Is there is a good way of testing the PPG of the resulting malted grain in order to tell where it is best to stop the malt process and kiln?

If I did a double/triple decoction would malting even be required? Just wondering if it would be easier to just decoct the whole thing than to mess with malting. When I brewed with barley I did all-grain fly sparge so never done decoction. Sounds like a lot of work.

 

[Lcasanova]

FYI. Dont see your pics.

Ah that makes sense now. I noticed the same thing with quinoa splitting in half after a while. It appears that if you wait too long you end up with a bunch of real small grains (halved) that are almost impossible to separate from the dried root pieces. My last batch is still in the pillow case because I have no idea how to separate the grain fragments from the root fragments, (pretty much the same size and weight). It looks like it was already crushed. Would it hurt to mash with the roots mixed in with the grains? I assume I would get off flavors but not sure.

So there appears to be a stopping point between the root showing up and the grain splitting in half. Is there is a good way of testing the PPG of the resulting malted grain in order to tell where it is best to stop the malt process and kiln?

If I did a double/triple decoction would malting even be required? Just wondering if it would be easier to just decoct the whole thing than to mess with malting. When I brewed with barley I did all-grain fly sparge so never done decoction. Sounds like a lot of work.

I can't say for sure since quinoa is so small, but I used a mesh screen to separate the rootlets from the grains and it worked pretty good, you might want to give that a try...or maybe take a hair dryer to them to blow away the rootlets?

From what I understand, a decoction mash would be best for home malting since the modification of the grains is a great unknown. If you didn't malt them the decoction would be pointless- you would have specialty grains and no sugars (at least not as much as you'd get from a malted grain) would really be present.

Also- from what I've read on the Aussie HB site, it is best to grind up the malted GF grains into a flour and mash that way...I can't really support it since I've done neither a decoction with my malted grains or even a mash with them.

 

[COLObrewer]

. . . . If I did a double/triple decoction would malting even be required? Just wondering if it would be easier to just decoct the whole thing than to mess with malting. When I brewed with barley I did all-grain fly sparge so never done decoction. Sounds like a lot of work.

Malting is what releases/creates the enzymes needed to convert the starch to sugar (among other things), this can only be done by "growing" the seed to the point where it has the maximum enzymes and halting that same growing process before the plant starts using those enzymes to continue growing the plant.

So, you would still need some malted grain of some sort with enough diastatic power to convert its own starches as well as any starch from unmalted grains, I know some unmalted grains such as sorghum also needs to be "cereal mashed" (cooked basically) to gel the starch. If someone knew which gluten free grain has the most diastatic power when malted, you could concieveable use it to convert other gluten free unmalted grains if it has a sufficient quantity of enzymes.

If I remember right that's one reason malted barley is so good for beer because it has more than enough enzymes to convert it's own starch as well as the starch in other "adjunct" grains, alas that doesn't help progress the pursuit of gluten free beer.

Keep on malting my friends

Edit: Oh yea, I can't see the pics either.

 

[BBBF]

I put links up instead. I'm not sure why the pics aren't coming up.

 

[COLObrewer]

hmmm, links don't work for me.

 

[Lcasanova]

Me neither...

 

[BBBF]

Alright, should be working now

 

[COLObrewer]

Alright, should be working now

I can, I can see them and every stuff,

So how did the buckwheat work out, what is different about it? I want to try it.