Malting questions

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Nhoro

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Hi All, I have done 5 all grain kits so far. I live in a country where accessing supplies is almost impossible, especially during lockdown. So I got hold of 50 kg of barley direct from a farmer and want to try malting my own. Background is I am a chemist by training and this sort of stuff interests me. So I was looking at crystal malt production and see that it is a kind of in the husk mashing technique followed by roasting. My question is -Why do people not do produce pale malt in the same way without the roasting ? To be clear, why don't we take the green wet malt and heat it to between 60 and 70 degrees for an hour or two and then simply dry it ? Surely you would get more yield when you mash out- possibly even reducing your mash time before boiling ?
 
I don't know about malting, the difference between malting a base malt and a specialty malt like crystal. But I do know that the end result is that crystal malts produce a less fermentable wort than a base malt. I imagine that the method of malting has everything to do with that.
 
i would imagine, if you made a ultra light crystal your conversion wouldn't be to good.....even though you did get some conversion in the husk.

never tried it, so can't say for sure. it would also be impossible to use adjuncts though.

if you're looking for a short cut, drying the malt really isn't that hard. or time consuming.
 

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If you stew green malt, it can’t be called pale malt anymore. A light Munich is stewed briefly. The difference is when we kiln Malt by forcing off moisture, you get a Maillard reaction which offers an entire range of specific flavours and aromas such as pale malt and light biscuits. They are typically malty, cracker,sweet, graham sorts of flavours.

Now when we cook the malt in the green Malt stage we are retaining moisture and heating. This makes a Melanoidin reaction. These are your Munich’s, crystals, caramels malts.They are very distinctive in flavour and aroma such as toffee,caramel, dark sugars.

So since we are heating in a recirculating fashion it is difficult to get a stewing effect without exceeding temperatures that destroy enzymes and lower diastatic power.....just some of the parameters needed for base malts like pale 2 row.

some companies have achieved a light pale malt style that has been stewed....they are referred to as carapils, we make one called caramel light, and so on.

So you want to Malt? You can steep your grains using a Rubbermaid tote and an aquarium air pump. Cycle between dry rest periods and steep periods until the barley begins to chit and rootlets begin to emerge.
Once it’s growing continue to mix the green malt by hand a few times each day....and every few hours the last day or so as it will grow rapidly in later stages. Keep fresh air and spray with cool water as you will probably experience high temps. Your grain should germinate no higher than 18*C. Wait until you can find at least a couple acrospires popping through. Use you oven for kilning. 140*F or less makes pale malt and retains usefully enzymes for brewing.... higher temps make different flavours but the hotter you go, the more you destroy enzymes and such.

if you want more detail you can message me on one of our social platforms or call us.
 
Use you oven for kilning. 140*F or less makes pale malt and retains usefully enzymes for brewing...

sounds like you know what you're doing, but i'd think 'kilning wet malt at 140f" would create a crystal malt? and most ovens only go down to 170f(which i've found creeps up to 200f during the 12 hour cycle)

i personally always air dry until the kernels are crisp to a squeeze then kiln at 150-160f for 12 hours in my modified oven...a 200ohm resistor in line on the temp probe, with a toggle switch....my oven goes as low as 90f now.....
 
sounds like you know what you're doing, but i'd think 'kilning wet malt at 140f" would create a crystal malt? and most ovens only go down to 170f(which i've found creeps up to 200f during the 12 hour cycle)

i personally always air dry until the kernels are crisp to a squeeze then kiln at 150-160f for 12 hours in my modified oven...a 200ohm resistor in line on the temp probe, with a toggle switch....my oven goes as low as 90f now.....
Actually crystal Malts are made at temps in excess of 400*F +.
And an oven is not ideal, but will get you by. Remember that you are always dealing with two temperatures when kilning....an on air temp and a grain temp. Limits of 140 apply to grain temp so heating an oven to 250 won’t destroy enzymes until the grain temp reads 140. This can be a challenging concept for most people. There are also terms like free drying and breakthrough point but that’s for another day lol. Hope this helps.
 
Actually crystal Malts are made at temps in excess of 400*F +.



being that i use my oven, i make my crystals low and slow.....usually roast at something low like 250-280f for 12 hours....because i have no way to constantly stir them for evenness otherwise..

but first i put them in wet, and raise the kernel temp to 150f for a while, then air dry....so that when roasting i get carmelized sugar...

(but i think the OP was wondering why people don't make 100% crystal malt beer? and just do the mashing in the kernel?)
 
I just finished building a malt curing enclosure. The tricky part with using an oven is getting the malt dried off without destroying the enzymes.

My first few batches were unsuccessful and had very low conversion efficiency but I used the malt anyway and added more sugar. Making it at home is fun and you get a lot of complexity from your finished product.
 
I just finished building a malt curing enclosure.

seeing people do crazy stuff like that is what kept me from getting into malting my own for a while.....stuff like that and tumblers, all kinds of crazy stuff...but it's actually really simple...and once it's been on the sweater drying racks with air flow for 24 hours, just put it in a few foil pans or staple to gether some stainless screen pans, through it in the oven at 170f? what ever your lowest setting is, until the oven times out after 12 hours, break it up in a bucket, then pass it back and forth with another bucket in front of the box fan outside....it'll be a munich malt though, at least my oven creeps up to 200f after a while set at 170f...

if you're curious i modded my oven to go as low as 90f, so i can make pale malt also....with a nice little 3 way toggle switch to switch the resistor on and off....


edit: sorry for the windy wall of text! :) :mug:
 
I am interested in trying this, but need to know where I can find good source of suitable barley. I think popcorn can be malted and the sweater screen method looks like a good approach.
 
good source of suitable barley.

i use whole barley from the feed store, $12.99 for a 50lb sack.....not all feed stores stock it, but most will be willing to order it for you....

it's got a bit of millet, corn, in it. but not enough to be a problem....
 
I think popcorn can be malted and the sweater screen method looks like a good approach.


any grain can be 'malted'....but not every grain has a gelling temp at mashing temp....

edit: i got the idea for the box fan sweater way from good eats, beef jerky episode.....
 
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