Making wheat malt.

[shadylane]

I'll start soaking 30 pounds of wheat in the morning, It has a good germination rate and the "tools of the trade" are ready.
The weather still isn't the best for malting, so the shop office will have to do.
Drying and winnowing the wheat malt will be a problem this time of the year.
So I'll have to figure out how to getter done.
Pictures, opinions, thoughts and mistakes will be posted.
I'm not good at the posting part and prone to mistakes on the doing part.

[HDNB]

cool beans.

[jedneck]

Me like what malt. I just started a batch malting last nite.

[bellybuster]

Good timing, just found my local TSC store has raw wheat. Gonna give it a shot myself.

As far as winnowing I'm going to try my shop vac and dust deputy separator. The malt should stay in the bucket. We shall see. Or maybe not, no harm trying.

image.jpg (13.75 KiB) Viewed 6638 times

[goldfishcf]

I use wheat malt. I malt my own. (The wheat is free, and delivered) I do have a question about it though if y'all can help.
I happened to stumble across a video on YouTube of a guy who built a roller out of a 5 gallon bucket. To keep the grain turning to reduce risk of mold. I'm gone 12ish hours a day so this is intriguing. Has anyone ever tried this method?

[skow69]

Yes, I made a rolling bucket powered by a car window motor. Direct drive to a 1" roller made the bucket turn about one RPM. For the belt between the rollers I used that shelf lining stuff that looks like a fabric version of expanded metal. Set a timer to run it for a few minutes every six hours or so, depending on how wet it was. It worked like a dream. The only tricky part was spacing the rollers correctly. If you can, use a bucket with straight sides, no taper.

For a 30 lb batch you would want a drum bigger than a five gallon bucket.

[shadylane]

Life got in the way of moonshining. Didn't begin washing and soaking the wheat until 4pm today.
With research I found someone else that had done the same thing I was planning on.
Since it's easier to supply a link, than to put it in words.
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/easy-wh ... de-322877/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

On a side note wheat is very easy to wash the debris out of. Unlike oats, all the good Wheat sinks.
Put the garden hose at the right speed in the bottom of the bucket of wheat and the unwanted will float up and over the side.

[MichiganCornhusker]

Great guide for malting, thanks for posting.

[shadylane]

Your welcome MCH
I have 30 pounds of soft red winter wheat soaking in two 7 gallon buckets.
The temp is 70f ish. Can't say how long the first soak will last. But when I come to, I'll drain the water.
Just a thought, wheat is cheap, readily available, easy to malt, and has the potential to have a high diastic power.
Sounds like a good combination. I might add according to a feed supplier it's dried at a lower temp than grains with a husk
In other words, the feed grade wheat is more likely to germinate.

[Brutal]

I'll go read that hbt link in a minute. Post up as much as you will about the process. I got a bag of unmalted unaltered wheat recently and am a little unsure of what to do with it. It needs to be ground up and I might could try and malt it. It would have to be a somewhat hands free process, I work a damn lot.

[shadylane]

Got up at 4am and drained the wheat that had been soaking for 12 hours, put it back into the buckets to rest.
Some of the wheat is already showing chits.

[FullySilenced]

Here is a link for "Making A Malting Table" .... its an easy build .. ENJOY!

http://www.nogy.net/malthouse/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

FS

[Bushman]

Looks good FS, I bookmarked it to add to the other dozen or so projects I want to attempt.

[shadylane]

After 24 hours here's some of the little bitty chits that are starting.
If all goes according to plan, tomorrow they will be a lot bigger.

[MichiganCornhusker]

Following your lead... Picked up 50# of wheat today. I forget what they called it, but it isn't "seed" wheat. It is wheat that was harvested and binned, but not sorted or tested. Not processed in any way, though. I'm hoping this stuff is viable.
I also picked up some whole oats from the same place, same story. Like yours, my last bag of oats refused to sprout, hoping this bag will give better results.
I got a bag of "shelled" corn from them also, only $6.50 for 50#. I was planing to malt that also, but upon opening it, it looks like there are a LOT of broken up kernels. I think I'll just be grinding this bag up to mix with other malts.

[shadylane]

Here's what the wheat looks like after almost 2 days. The germination rate is above 90%

[MichiganCornhusker]

That looks great. How are you keeping the grain moist? Rinsing? Spraying? Damp towel?

[shadylane]

The malting table is covered with a piece of plastic. And I have a spray bottle.
Keeping the malt moist has been easy, spray a little water on top and turn it with my fingers.
Gives me something to do while having a wee drop of single malt Irish whiskey.

[firewater69]

Shady,what did you use to line your malting table?

[shadylane]

6 mil Polyethylene plastic sheeting from Walmart.

[shadylane]

Here's what the malted wheat looks like after 49 hours.
I used a darker back ground so the roots would be more visible.

[FullySilenced]

Shady what is the lining below the grain.. cloth of some type? IS it just a frame with what looks like fabric nailed to form the bottom?

Then you covering it with plastic to keep the moisture and heat in the grain as it starts to grow...

[shadylane]

The same 6 mil polyethylene plastic sheeting is used top and bottom.
Care was taken so the bottom didn't have any holes in it to leak.
The carpet in the shop office is in bad enough shape already.

[White_Lightning_Rod]

Looking good so far. How are you planning on drying? Just a tip from my own previous experience, make sure the drying process is completly complete before you start trying to remove the chits, if the grain still has just the least bit too much moisture it makes what seems like an easy step (removing the chit) exponentially more difficult.

[shadylane]

I haven't decided on how to dry the malt yet, planned on letting the weather decide it for me.
If the sun is shining, the malt will be air dried. If the weather is wet, I'll have to get constructive.
Here's what the malted wheat looks like at 2-1/2 days

[firewater69]

I have dried my corn with an oscillating fan, worked pretty good.

[shadylane]

Starting tomorrow the weather is suppose to be good enough to air dry
For drying the malt, I'm thinking window screens, wood 2x4s, saw horses and if the wind isn't blowing fans.
Tonight I'll sneak outside and get the window screens off while my wife is asleep.

[bellybuster]

Well, I had planned on joining you on this one but now have been called away to work, 24 gallons of finished wort in the basement and a fresh bag of corn and wheat. Working sucks.

[shadylane]

I hope your wort doesn't turn to vinegar

[Brutal]

Tonight I'll sneak outside and get the window screens off while my wife is asleep.

HAHAHAHAAA!!