Malting the whole feed bag

Malting a whole bag of feed barley all at once with the new malt kiln. Blog:brewingbeerthehardway.wordpre...

[@badreddine.elfejer]

This gives true hope for successful home brewing , cheers from Morocco !

[@BrewingBeerTheHardWay1]

Morocco? cool, where in Morocco?

[@badreddine.elfejer]

@@BrewingBeerTheHardWay1 from Marrakesh 😬 but I live now in Rabat where I study

[@badreddine.elfejer]

@@BrewingBeerTheHardWay1 I got interested in homebrewing/winemaking lately, so fascinating ! but there is poor to no Malt industry here so one has to make it from raw grains

[@badreddine.elfejer]

@@BrewingBeerTheHardWay1 do you sell a digital version of your Malting book ?

[@BrewingBeerTheHardWay1]

@@badreddine.elfejer Not yet probably soon.

[@matthewloake3401]

Awesome video. I’m sort of doing the same. Your video has made things a lot easier for me. Thank you

[@okelloraymond2115]

i love this ...i am starting my own craft brewery ....these kind of videos lift me up ...when am low..

[@BrewingBeerTheHardWay1]

Hey Okello be sure to check out the blog, lots more info on there. Where are you opening your brewery?

[@manatoa1]

awesome video. I don't know that I'll ever malt much of my own barley, but you've helped me understand what goes into the malt that I buy. thanks.

[@cidermeister9440]

Amazing. Couldn't believe it all fitted in to your oven LOL. Looking forward to the beer tasting. Cheers.

[@muslixrex]

Mate, these videos are so helpful. I'm trying the same project and stumbling on these has probably saved me a lot of trial and error ! Keep em coming pal

[@JFDyment]

You bet, I've got lots of projects on my list, don't forget to check out the blog, where there's tons of info and links on malting. Let me know how it turns out. Cheers!

[@johncox9660]

Super informative thanks for posting.

[@666IRONMAN666]

Thoroughly impressed!

[@BigEdsGuns]

Helluva process! To each his own. Keep at it. Thank you for you for sharing!

[@paulandrew8367]

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[@lochlanabdullah5937]

@Paul Andrew Instablaster ;)

[@paulandrew8367]

@Lochlan Abdullah thanks for your reply. I found the site on google and im in the hacking process now. Seems to take quite some time so I will reply here later with my results.

[@paulandrew8367]

@Lochlan Abdullah it worked and I now got access to my account again. I am so happy:D Thank you so much, you really help me out !

[@lochlanabdullah5937]

@Paul Andrew happy to help =)

[@jakerinehold9697]

I like your kiln. I need to build one for my home grown barley. I harvest around 400 lbs of barley every year. Malting takes forever. Using a bag in the kiln to measure the moisture level is a great idea. I had not thought about slow growing barley producing more enzymes. I malt in terracotta pots during the fall when I can very easily keep the temperature at 15 degrees, the ambient temperature of the fruit room. Malting such a large amount and keeping the temperature relatively constant is a challenge. I'm not set up to do that just yet. I find that the electronic thermometers I use inaccurate. I have a mercury thermometer.

[@BrewingBeerTheHardWay1]

+Jake Rinehold Good idea, I have been noticing that my little digital thermometers are not that reliable, maybe I'll use a mercury one as well as the digital ones to be sure.

[@jonathanshockley4051]

Hi Francois, First of all, thank you so much for all the time, energy, and effort you’ve put into you’re blog and videos. I am just starting down the home malting path, and before trying to source some good barley for malting, I decided to purchase some very inexpensive feed barley and corn for experimenting. I have been trying to malt 1 pound batches, and unfortunately the experiments haven’t gone so well. Malted corn by itself does not seem to possess enough enzymatic strength to convert the starches. I consistently get iodine negative. However, there does seem to be considerable sugar as my hydrometer indicates. The barley, while passing the iodine test, doesn’t seem to produce any sugar. My hydrometer shows the equivalent of pure water. This could all be mashing related, not really sure. Anyway, I’m still enjoying the process so I will keep at it. The reason I am writing is that in the case I am able to produce some usable malt, is this “feed” barley/corn safe? I have come across a few places online, mostly forums, where people swear the feed barley is not safe for human consumption. Thanks again, Jonathan

[@BrewingBeerTheHardWay1]

Hi Jonathan, that's really strange that it passes an iodine test and doesn't show up on your hydrometer. As for using feed barley I think the biggest concern would be molds and fungus producing mycotoxins. If you're really concerned one step you can add is to soak the grain in a very dilute lye solution (0.2%). This is done for grains that need warm germination temps like sorghum and corn. I've never done it with barley but it would have the same effect. A .2% solution would be 2 grams of pure lye (sodium hydroxide) to 1 liter of water and if you've never handled lye before make sure you wear goggles and gloves and always add the lye to the measured amount of water (never add water to the lye) This way it's diluted instantly, otherwise it could burn you. Soak the grain in this solution for a couple of hours after washing it and before the steeping cycle. This will greatly reduce the risk of any fungus developing during germination. I'll be posting a video about this soon as I've been experimenting with Sorghum lately. By the way alcohol isn't safe for human consumption either, cheers anyway!

[@Demymaker]

Nice video. I use to wash the barley "zapap" method: an external bucket and an internal bucket bucket with holes. The outer one has the tap:I mix the barley and I open the tap water drain

[@BrewingBeerTheHardWay1]

+Demy B The good old zapap lauter tun, the model T of home brewing systems, I used one for years.

[@Demymaker]

+Brewing Beer The Hard Way Yes,once I used it I too and now I use it for washing before sprouting barley

[@Miodragy]

It is long time ago, but you can use vitamin C to remove all chlorine from yours water. You need very small amount and reaction is instant.

[@lucaszbiernat]

Hi. Can you tell me please, how did you measured moisture content in your seed? I am also looking to buy feed barley.

[@weldit321]

how did the beer from this feed bag come out ?

[@nawam.5688]

I am about to use it for mushroom cultivation Could you please tell us how to make light malt extract powder? Or any steps to be added to this vedio to achieve that? Thanks alot

[@rongreene1788]

Wedge the oven door open with a butter knife to improve drying time. Cheers.

[@titahibayflier3160]

I recently tried to malt some Pearl Barley, since it was husk-less i steeped it for a much shorter time and got chitting on the first soak, i think it drowned as i didn't weigh out the grains and calculate the water content. A few grains have germinated so i presume i've just screwed up. it's much harder than one might think

[@JFDyment]

The problem is the pearl barley. Pearl barley has had the husk and outer layers removed and all your left with is the starchy part of the grain. I'm surprised that you got any germination. You will have a much easier time if you can find some whole grain barley

[@LauraIsBorn]

I am really interested in seeing a beer brewed with this. Taking extra time to wash and pick seems like a really cheap way to make beer. The biggest issue I see is that it would be all 6-row.

[@luisledesma586]

your "otter co-op" feed barley looks nicer than my local feed store stock but I do get very good germination rate; I would'n freak either way though.

[@timchapman6702]

Did that not denature the enzymes when you heated it to 190 ?

[@brandonmonroe7050]

Had to have. I'd stay under 125 until dry unless you're making crystal malt.

[@davidpestana5290]

hi everyone, question. Is it possible to do this with rice ? so I can make a only rice beer ?

[@mrstratau6513]

Nice.

[@alhajrisaid1469]

After you through the malted barley .. which is use for animal feed .. the moisture will be high up to 60% .. can the feed get musty ?

[@BrewingBeerTheHardWay1]

Not sure I understand your question, this barley had a moisture content of 15% when I bought it, which is high and yes ideally it should be below 13.5% (for malting barley) so it could potentially have gone musty. After kilning however, the moisture content would be below 5%

[@DanABA]

Wow, excellent stuff! Thanks for sharing! With the ~20% ungerminated seeds, won't the biggest impact be less enzymatic power? Perhaps blending it with more enzymatic malt would resolve that issue? I am curious how the beer turns out with this! Cheers!

[@BrewingBeerTheHardWay1]

+Dan ABA Yes it will have less enzymatic power for sure, adding some pilsner malt is a good idea but I think I'll make a beer just using the feed barley to see how it acts. I have made a lager with another batch of feed barley before although it was more like a pale (kilned too high) It also had 8 oz of munich and 7 oz of acid malt. It converted in 1 hour and 45 minutes and it wasn't bad.

[@DJ-jy9bh]

@@judsonswets4420 iodine drops.

[@themechanic99]

Thanks. Very informative. But wouldn't 190 degrees destroy the enzymes?

[@BrewingBeerTheHardWay1]

As long as the moisture level is low (below 10%) the destruction of enzymes is very much reduced. I was at 11.5 % when I started curing this batch because I was being impatient. The beer was fine, no problems brewing with it.

[@mikedee8876]

If you were going to use the sprouted barley right away to brew a batch, why would you need to kiln the barley.....couldnt you sprout and just start the mashing process?

[@BrewingBeerTheHardWay1]

Actually Mike a lot of the flavour in malt happens during the curing process also proteolysis happens during kilning which affects the viscosity of the beer, it would also be hard to crush the grain so theoretically you would get a bland syrupy beer with a lower gravity. I have brewed with air dried malt, it wasn't bad just really bland.

[@rbbiefah]

what mesh screen is that on the bottom of your kiln tray?

[@BrewingBeerTheHardWay1]

It's 22 gauge perforated steel, the holes are 1/8" staggered 3/16" apart. The idea is to get as much air through as possible without having the grains fall through. This screen has an open area of 40% I think, it works great but if you can, try to find one with a higher percentage. I wouldn't recommend anything below 40%.

[@rbbiefah]

Thanks!

[@StratBeer]

Wow u da man cheers

[@kylegriffiths8599]

I live in Aus, does the temperature u dry it matter?

[@BrewingBeerTheHardWay1]

Yes, keep it under 50C until it has less than 10% moisture then you can cure it. For times and temps of various malts check out the blog. Cheers!

[@dsnooz]

The black, floating kernels are ergot

[@BrewingBeerTheHardWay1]

They're wild oat seeds, not ergot

[@bobgreen1862]

maybe using seed grain instead would be better.

[@BrewingBeerTheHardWay1]

Absolutely, but hard to find in my area

[@WinSchutten]

@1:22 It's gonna double in volume. Im looking at a 6 to 8 inches. I, not sure if its going to fit... That's what she said.

[@TheMrpiggyboy]

I gave you a thumbs up but I do not know why you would pick the wild oats out and later worry about the unfermented grains . The enzymes will take care of that. So sorry but your temp for the final product may be only crystal malt, to high a temp. at the finish.

[@BrewingBeerTheHardWay1]

Thanks for the thumbs up, the ungerminated and broken grains can get moldy during germination depending on your conditions. Also crystal malt can only be made while there is moisture in the malt, when the moisture level is below 10% curing at 190F is fine for pale malt.

[@TheMrpiggyboy]

Thank you for setting me straight on the drying.I have always only air dried the malt I made. It is so nice to have folks like you to share the expertise.

[@garyelderman1229]

Do you have the option of approaching a beer drinking grain farmer?

[@BrewingBeerTheHardWay1]

Gary not quite sure what you're asking, could you elaborate?

[@garyelderman1229]

@@BrewingBeerTheHardWay1 If you knew a local barley farmer, you could likely buy a bushel or 2 of his grain right off the field. and possibly enhance quality control in the process.

[@BrewingBeerTheHardWay1]

@@garyelderman1229 oh yes of course, not much grain is grown around here though. But on my blog I have made beer with locally grown grain which was donated to me, I made some de-bittered roasted malt from some hulless barley grown up the valley, some brown malt which was grown on a fram just 5 min from where I live and some of my latest brews where made with barley given to me from Skagit Valley malting which is about an hour south of Vancouver. I'm always on the look out.

[@garyelderman1229]

@@BrewingBeerTheHardWay1 I'm in ontario, and just started to entetain the idea of malting as well as brewing. Thanks for keeping me the wannabe posted.

[@dougshelton69]

6 to 8 inches will fit..... trust me....lol

[@bradshultz8385]

Feedbarley costing .50/lb You can buy malt for $.80

[@tjsotos2885]

He mentioned he paid ($12/44lb) = $0.27 (assuming canadian $) per lb. If we assume malt is $0.80/lb, his feed barley is still a third of the cost. That being said malt is way more expensive than $0.80/lb. The cheapest malt I can find nowadays is about $1.40/lb (Briess 2-row) which would still be 2.8 times more expensive than your $0.50 feed barley.