I want to do some all-grain brewing starting with malting my own barley or
wheat, but I don't know the ins and outs of doing it. Can anyone advise me
about the malting procedure?

Thanks

Gene

"Gene" <genesutton@ameritech.net> wrote in message
news:9vWee.2933$Yg4.1336@newssvr17.news.prodigy.com...[color=blue]
> I want to do some all-grain brewing starting with malting my own barley or
> wheat, but I don't know the ins and outs of doing it. Can anyone advise me
> about the malting procedure?
>
> Thanks
>
> Gene
>
>[/color]
We can give you advice about whether or not it is wise to start out in
all-grain brewing by malting your own barley, if you would like.
Ken

It probably isn't wise but it is the closest to what a man had to do before
there was a lhbs to go to. What I'd like to do is to have the experience of
getting back to the very basics of brewing.
Gene

"Ken Anderson" <DUSTkapna@adelphia.net> wrote in message
news:ecKdnfwpDfW7RuHfRVn-3g@adelphia.com...[color=blue]
> "Gene" <genesutton@ameritech.net> wrote in message
> news:9vWee.2933$Yg4.1336@newssvr17.news.prodigy.com...[color=green]
> > I want to do some all-grain brewing starting with malting my own barley[/color][/color]
or[color=blue][color=green]
> > wheat, but I don't know the ins and outs of doing it. Can anyone advise[/color][/color]
me[color=blue][color=green]
> > about the malting procedure?
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > Gene
> >
> >[/color]
> We can give you advice about whether or not it is wise to start out in
> all-grain brewing by malting your own barley, if you would like.
> Ken
>
>[/color]

Hi,
Starting at malting stage is the unwise bit.
If you do want to go ahead there is so much involved that recommend book
instructions rather than advice from here.


I would instead recommend that rather than start at the maling stage, why
not start with buying pre malted grains and practice the mashing process
first. If your shops are like ours, they will put them through a mill to
crack them for you.

By mashing these shop grains, you will know that you have the mashing stage
right before trying the more tricky stage of malting your own grains.

For mashing, I have tried two ways
1. putting water into a large jam pot and using a heat source to maintain
the mashing temp - about 67 I think from memory. But I found this to be too
time consuming as I had to hang around to monitor the temporature.

2. Another book directed me to using a insullated big pot, where you bring
it up to temperature and then every half hour to add hot water when you stir
it and test the starch levels with iodine. I found this way much easier .

After playing with this, I have gone back to kits which are more consistant
than my own brews ( my fault) but I add my mash for added texture and
flavour.


Cheers


"Gene" <genesutton@ameritech.net> wrote in message
news:c59fe.2602$Jz2.1683@newssvr19.news.prodigy.com...[color=blue]
>
> It probably isn't wise but it is the closest to what a man had to do
> before
> there was a lhbs to go to. What I'd like to do is to have the experience
> of
> getting back to the very basics of brewing.
> Gene
>
> "Ken Anderson" <DUSTkapna@adelphia.net> wrote in message
> news:ecKdnfwpDfW7RuHfRVn-3g@adelphia.com...[color=green]
>> "Gene" <genesutton@ameritech.net> wrote in message
>> news:9vWee.2933$Yg4.1336@newssvr17.news.prodigy.com...[color=darkred]
>> > I want to do some all-grain brewing starting with malting my own barley[/color][/color]
> or[color=green][color=darkred]
>> > wheat, but I don't know the ins and outs of doing it. Can anyone
>> > advise[/color][/color]
> me[color=green][color=darkred]
>> > about the malting procedure?
>> >
>> > Thanks
>> >
>> > Gene
>> >
>> >[/color]
>> We can give you advice about whether or not it is wise to start out in
>> all-grain brewing by malting your own barley, if you would like.
>> Ken
>>
>>[/color]
>
>[/color]

[color=blue]
> I want to do some all-grain brewing starting with malting my own barley or
> wheat, but I don't know the ins and outs of doing it. Can anyone advise me
> about the malting procedure?[/color]

You can dig around and find the details on the Internet.

Quickly looking around, here is one guy that shows how he malted sorghum
(since he can't drink barley based beer) (He now makes commercial
non-gluten beer: [url]www.bardsbeer.com[/url]):
[url]http://www.glutenfreebrewer.com/malting_equipment.htm[/url]

I found a reference to this:
Zymurgy magazine (the magazine of the American Homebrewers
Association), Volume 8, Number 4, Special Grain
Brewing Issue 1986—"Home Malting for Homebrewers"
by R.C. Dale.

I can't find a detailed site right now, but I've seen them before.
I think Papazian's books have a small section on it too. Basically,
you will have to get good barley somewhere ("feed" quality barley -
not TREATED seed barley). Then there is a lot of soaking in cold water
and changing the water and stiring the barley. They you spread it out
and let it sprout. Then you dry it and remove the sprouts. Then there
are procedures for making all the specialty grains, such a toasting it,
or half-mashing it and then drying it, etc.

Bottom line... I agree with the other posters that you should start with
store bought malt and get that procedure down well, then move into
malting your own (and even growing your own if you are very interested).

Derric