Micro malt house DIY for home malting automation

[mysobry]

Thank you spellman for support and encouragement, very appreciated!
My starting point as DIY and technology enthusiast was little bit different: build an all in one fully automated micro malt house (see the initial part of the post)
Then in order to experiment the manual malting process I was looking for some row barley and I realize that is almost impossible to find few kg of 2row virgin barley... So I decide to produce by myself..even more challenging and exiting.

I have studied a lot the basic of barley growing and I got some good suggestion from local professional farmers but nevertheless the harvest result is poor..very poor and I'm frustrated by this and not sure next year I will try again.
For sure I have done some mistakes in growing and doing everything manually complicate the story but there is something I still don't know how to fix. I'm referring to herbicide usage...it seems mandatory if you don't want your barley destroyed by zizzania but I want to be organic as much as possible

Does anyone have experience in organic barley growth ?
Any natural treatment to prevent such a huge amount of grass?

Now I try to get at the end of this adventure than I go back to the initial project scope: the micro map house

Stay tuned
Davide

 

[Tsultan]

Did you ever manufacture your steeping, germination and kilning machine? If the results were successful, I would be interested in buying one from you.

 

[MardyBum]

I too am interested how your all in one machine worked! This is inspiring!

 

[dbaltus]

Dear Davide, I do not know how far you could get with this project but I am extremely interested in it . Would you give me some update ? Grazzie mille

 

[mysobry]

Hi
Project still in stand by due to other priorities
Davide

 

[harryhekker]

A very sympathetic project.

Process temperature of steeping and germination is around 12-14ºC or 53.6-57.2ºF. That temperature should somehow be attained and held. Otherwise sprouting will be to fast, uncontrolled and/or uneven. I didn’t see or missed any temperature control.

Next is moisture, there should be some kind of moisture measurement and control, because moisture will slowly evaporate in the process of germination.

Details that should be addressed. I hope it will, if not by Davide, maybe by someone else. Because a low cost nano-malting is not only good for home brewing, but also for research into terroir and possible promising alternative grain-types. That last purpose is my point of interest. Problem is always the same: R&D is a slow, time and money consuming affair that doesn’t bring any revenues.

Hopefully we can turn the concept into a global crowd-design project.

 

[Error2k]

How is it going for you mysobry?

 

[brieuxster]

One organic method of weed control is to chop off the seed head of the wild grass when it is not mature and leave the plant as mulch for the barley. In one of your photos you can see the wild grass is taller than the barley crop.

If you have a longer growing season than the barley requires you may be able to fit in some extra cultivation to allow the weed seeds to sprout and the fledgling plants worked into the ground.

 

[kshuler]

Beautiful project! I might have to try this. Have access to a farm where Barley is grown, but I think it is feed barley... hopefully it will work, as well.

 

[mysobry]

Thank you for your interest

still in design phase hope to complete in autumn this year

stay tuned
Davide

 

[mysobry]

Long time since I contribute to the post
Just to let you know that I hare revamped my project of micro malthous all in one, full automated project and now I’m committed to complete the job

the mechanical parts is almost ready
the controller and the software completely developed

Just a preview here



stay tuned
Davide

 

[Zimm9]

Davide, that's incredible! I hope your hard work pays off soon. Thank you for coming back to update us.

My family comes from Salto Canavese.

 

[mysobry]

Davide, that's incredible! I hope your hard work pays off soon. Thank you for coming back to update us.

My family comes from Salto Canavese.

thanks a lot, the project was dormient for a while but now I have a "sponsor" so committed to finish

Salto Canavese is not so far where I live, If you come to visit Italy and your origin we can for sure have a beer together

 

[mysobry]

Hi guys

project update, control panel installed and wiring in progress , few more stuff than can do I dry run

stay tuned
Davide

 

[COLObrewer]

This is awesome, please keep us informed. I can't wait to see this in action and see some malt from it.

 

[dundarerd]

Long time since I contribute to the post
Just to let you know that I hare revamped my project of micro malthous all in one, full automated project and now I’m committed to complete the job

the mechanical parts is almost ready
the controller and the software completely developed

Just a preview here



stay tuned
Davide

Perfect work.

 

[Cartman98]

Mysobry, that looks great! Did you get it completed?

 

[Error2k]

How are your progress on the machine?

 

[bracconiere]

How are your progress on the machine?

i'm curious too! obviously it's over my head to build, but a AIO malt house would be cool!

 

[theFarmVFX]

hello David, awesome work indeed
but could you inform us on your status today, did you finish the project ?
a lot of us is intrested in this machine , are you producing such machines and selling it ?

 

[theFarmVFX]

hello David, awesome work indeed
but could you inform us on your status today, did you finish the project ?
a lot of us is intrested in this machine , are you producing such machines and selling it ?

 

[bracconiere]

unfortunatly he hasn't been here since nov, 2018....


it would have been cool to see though!

 

[Nate R]

Hey... i've posted this before (maybe even here?) But will post it again. (I really want someone to buy this and tell us about it. Photos videos etc too)

https://www.northernbrewer.com/collections/all-grain/products/sprowt-labs-acro

 

[day_trippr]

(I really want someone to buy this and tell us about it.

Yeah, I can dig that

 

[bracconiere]

Yeah, I can dig that

think of all the money you'll save!

 

[day_trippr]

They said the same thing about buying a boat for fishing

 

[bracconiere]

They said the same thing about buying a boat for fishing

LOL, that's why you're a fly fisherman, and just stand in the water right?

 

[day_trippr]

It has been said "There's a thin line between flyfishing and standing in the water looking like an idiot".
Fortunately my grandfather built cane fly rods, and my dad learned that skill from him.
Between the two of them I was a pawn of destiny

Cheers!

 

[bracconiere]

"There's a thin line between flyfishing and standing in the water looking like an idiot".

looking like an idiot would have been me standing in the shopping center fountain wading for change to buy cigarettes when i was 10.....

 

[day_trippr]

Well, sure, there's that...