[morticaixavier]

So last weekend I started malting some barley. I had a 5 lb bag of barley that I got for planting in the garden for next year and since I only needed about a lb of that for planting I decided to play around with the rest. This is not really a malting variety but it is what was available and should work for proof of concept.

On Saturday morning I put 500 grams of barley seed in a .5 gallon mason jar with a sprout screen lid and, after rinsing a few times I filled it up with water and let it soak over night, then I drained, rinsed and let sit for about 8 hours, filled it back up and soaked it for another 6 or so hours.

Upon draining again for a final rinse and soak I noticed the grains were already beginning to chit. there were little white bumps pushing out of one end of the grain.

So instead of refilling I laid the jar on it's side and started turning it every hour or so. The chits began to grow and branch out pretty quick and by last night they were about 1.5 - 2 times the length of the grain.

I took about 10 grains from a couple places in the mass and cut them in half and the acrospires was at least .75 times the length of the grain. everything I have read says that's when it's fully modified and the endosperm smooshed readily between my fingers so...

Into the dehydrator it went on the lowest setting spread between two trays. This morning it was getting nicely dried. The Chits were more or less completely dry and withered. I turned it up to 135*f let it ride a while longer. When I checked it before leaving for work it was 90% of the way there I would say. the grains were still a little soft so I left it to go a while longer.

They taste slightly sweet and... well... malty. so I'm pretty excited. It's only one lb but I figure I can make a test of it. mash it and see what kind of yield I see.

just thought I'd share.

[dkfick]

Interested in your results.

[denny]

My impression has always been that making malt is easy, but making good malt is hard.  I'll be looking forward to your results!

[morticaixavier]

My impression has always been that making malt is easy, but making good malt is hard.  I'll be looking forward to your results!

this is also my impression. I think this first round may have gone too quickly based on my research. This is supposed to make the malt less flavourful. we will see.


The process itself is really quite easy. I can see this becoming a big part of my homebrewing jones... err... hobby.

[tschmidlin]

That sounds cool mort, I'm looking forward to hearing more about it.

[BrewArk]

Just the nudge I need.  Last spring I planted a couple of packets of barley seeds in my garden, and harvested about 3 lbs.

Hadn't done anything with it.  I think I need to start malting it this weekend!

Good luck w/yours!

[morticaixavier]

Just the nudge I need.  Last spring I planted a couple of packets of barley seeds in my garden, and harvested about 3 lbs.

Hadn't done anything with it.  I think I need to start malting it this weekend!

Good luck w/yours!

nice, good luck to you as well.

You might want to start with a very small test just to make sure you're going to get the germination rate you expect. Depending on variety barley needs a certain amount of time between harvest and sprouting to become fully viable. Modern malting varieties tend to take less time but they still take some. Storing very cold (stratification) for a period of time can help accelerate this process.

[morticaixavier]

Interesting research results:

I was looking at the variety of barley I have. It's Robust which is a 6 row multi purpose variety. Apparently it is in fact used for malting. One website I found had this to say about it:

"Malting characteristics:  Robust barley Lends wort, a deep reddish hue when used at 5% of the grist or more. Can be especially useful as a color enhancer for low-alcohol, non-alcohol, and light beers. Aromatic odor of mash and rate of filtration is normal."
http://sustainableseedco.com/heirloom-grain-seed/barley-seed/malting-barley/robust-barley-seed.html

so that will be interesting. I guess I wasn't aware that the barley variety itself would have much impact on the color although thinking about it now, it makes perfect sense.

Get's me wheels turning thinking about purple barley.

[BrewArk]

1/2 of mine is the "excelsior" from sustainable.  It was recommended in Fishers' Homebrewers Garden.

[morticaixavier]

So I think I'm going to brew with this test batch this weekend. It's only a pound of grain so I figure I can brew a .5 gallon batch around 1.045-1.050.

given the tiny volumes I'm thinking I'll use the blender or food processor to 'mill' my grain in hopes of really maximizing yield.

I'll mash at 155 BIAB style till gravity indicates that I am near 100% conversion efficiency, maybe do a iodine test but that would require buying some iodine.

boil for 90 minutes as I dried this pretty cool, never over 165 and only that high at the very end for an hour or so and I'd hate to have an otherwise successful test be full of DMS.

A small charge of magnum at 90 minutes and maybe something noble(ish) at 30 and 0.

thoughts? will this plan give a good sense of the grain? or should I skip the late hops all together and just go with a single small bittering charge, let the grain shine through.

[tschmidlin]

I would skip the late hops and just see what you have.  And maybe do another batch with pale or pils malt for comparison.

[dkfick]

I think I would go for your normal crush to better gauge what kind of differences you will see in yield.

[morticaixavier]

I would skip the late hops and just see what you have.  And maybe do another batch with pale or pils malt for comparison.

I think your right (big surprise) on both counts. I do have some pale and a little pils, I think I'll try the pils as, like I said, I kilned this pretty lightly.

I think I would go for your normal crush to better gauge what kind of differences you will see in yield.

Good point. Given the way my mill has been behaving lately thi sis just about the right amount of grist to be working through it at a go anyway 

[reverseapachemaster]

I thought grain sold for planting is usually sprayed with fungicides?

[morticaixavier]

I thought grain sold for planting is usually sprayed with fungicides?

not organic seed