Making wheat malt.

All about grains. Malting, smoking, grinding and other preparations.
Which grains are hot, which are not.

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Re: Making wheat malt.

Post by jedneck »

Temp is controlled with a water heater thermostat that I had laying around and I can also open the damper on top to let heat out and move more air though it.
Malt was still soft with the roots dying up. A couple hours with a fan and it would have been able to go through my burr mill.
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Re: Making wheat malt.

Post by shadylane »

I've read that once malt has dried enough it can take higher heat before the enzymes start to denature.
jed Post some more picts of your smoker/dryer
Edited: Please
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Re: Making wheat malt.

Post by jedneck »

Will do shady. Gotta wait till tomorrow for sum light. Its still a work in progress. I wanna add a fan and gotta build better trays. I just smacked this one together.
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Re: Making wheat malt.

Post by shadylane »

That sounds like me. Make it with what I have, then use it.
The modifications will happen latter if the idea works out.
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Re: Making wheat malt.

Post by jedneck »

Shady I didn't forget about the pics. My smoke disided to donate my malt to the gods. The pan full of chops flared up and caught the tray on fire and it gutted the wiring. Gotta build a new one.
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Re: Making wheat malt.

Post by shadylane »

Dangitman, Jebneck have you figured out how to build the new dry/smoker ?
On a side note, a friend just finish combining the wheat field next to me.
I've had too many malting failures from grain bought at the feed store.
Figure to store the wheat in the antique freezer in the shop to keep the bugs frozen.
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Re: Making wheat malt.

Post by jedneck »

Not yet but I gotta soon. I got 40ish pounds of corn that I wannna smoke with corn cob on a week.
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Re: Making wheat malt.

Post by Brutal »

Will it sprout after bring frozen?
Steam injection rig http://tinyurl.com/kxmz8hy
All grain corn mash with steam injection and enzymes http://tinyurl.com/mp6zdt5
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Re: Making wheat malt.

Post by Brutal »

Hey Jed I heard somewhere that you got angry, picked up that burned smoker, and threw it a long ways down into a Creek? With feats of strength like that we are gonna have to start calling you Jethro Neck lol!

Can't remember exactly where I heard about it right now...
Steam injection rig http://tinyurl.com/kxmz8hy
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Re: Making wheat malt.

Post by MichiganCornhusker »

Brutal wrote:Can't remember exactly where I heard about it right now...
Must have been someone who seen where it landed... :shock:
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Re: Making wheat malt.

Post by jedneck »

I will rebuild
I will rebuild
MichiganCornhusker wrote:
Brutal wrote:Can't remember exactly where I heard about it right now...
Must have been someone who seen where it landed... :shock:
Wander who that would be?
Till I get time to build one like this, i'm prolly gonna drag it outta the creek and use an old cast iron dutch oven an charcoal to heat it.
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Re: Making wheat malt.

Post by shadylane »

Brutal wrote:Will it sprout after bring frozen?
Yes
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Re: Making wheat malt.

Post by HDNB »

jedneck wrote:
14349133835960.jpg
MichiganCornhusker wrote:
Brutal wrote:Can't remember exactly where I heard about it right now...
Must have been someone who seen where it landed... :shock:
Wander who that would be?
Till I get time to build one like this, i'm prolly gonna drag it outta the creek and use an old cast iron dutch oven an charcoal to heat it.
dutch oven must be sumthin different there. around here thats what we call call it when you fart under the sheets and then pull them up over da wife's head!

Jed, do you have a link for the internal workings of that smoker? that looks like a project i'd be into. :thumbup:
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Re: Making wheat malt.

Post by jedneck »

Hdnb I don't have a link but ill try explainin it. You see the brick box on the ground on right side that is the fire box. Smoke goes across ground through brick tunnel to smoke house.
If you still.need help ill do a scetch for ya.
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Re: Making wheat malt.

Post by HDNB »

so basically, you build a little fire in the mouth of the tunnel>>> the smoke goes thru tunel under the wood stack >>>>smoke fills smoke house>>>smoke vent s out top of smoke house??

is there any dampers? a cap off for the mouth of smoke tunnel where the fire is built?

is holding heat in important or is this cold smoker?

just put some wooden dowels in the smokehouse to hang meat from?

dirt floor?
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Re: Making wheat malt.

Post by MichiganCornhusker »

There is a link on here somewhere for that smokehouse build and it's worth finding. It's a great build and explains everything along the way. Might be in the thread with all the smoked meats...

Edit: http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/1304 ... nstruction" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
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Re: Making wheat malt.

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MichiganCornhusker wrote:There is a link on here somewhere for that smokehouse build and it's worth finding. It's a great build and explains everything along the way. Might be in the thread with all the smoked meats...

Edit: http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/1304 ... nstruction" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
Omg seriously building one. Hello wish I was in the county and could make the fire double as a stripping fire :( would save in electricity and propane
HDNB wrote: The trick here is to learn what leads to a stalled mash....and quit doing that.
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Re: Making wheat malt.

Post by shadylane »

Have another #25 of wheat malt finished and dried. Cheated this time and used the metal storage shed roof.
Now that the malt is dry, I'll kiln it. Hopefully that will kill any wild yeast or bacteria that's waiting to ruin the mash.
I'm getting tired of funky mashes, even if the distillate is pretty good.
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Re: Making wheat malt.

Post by jedneck »

I got 50# that should be ready to dry in a day maybe two. I agree with you on the funky mashes.
Then I believe I'm going to start on oats.
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Re: Making wheat malt.

Post by midlife-u-turn »

shadylane wrote:Have another #25 of wheat malt finished and dried. Cheated this time and used the metal storage shed roof.
Now that the malt is dry, I'll kiln it. Hopefully that will kill any wild yeast or bacteria that's waiting to ruin the mash.
I'm getting tired of funky mashes, even if the distillate is pretty good.
I'm going to be doing some wheat shortly and any suggestions would be much appreciated. Can you expound on your kilning technique/procedure.
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Re: Making wheat malt.

Post by shadylane »

jedneck wrote:I got 50# that should be ready to dry in a day maybe two. I agree with you on the funky mashes.
Then I believe I'm going to start on oats.
From my limited experience, grain with a husk such as barley or oats is the worst for funky mashes.
Corn and wheat aren't so bad.
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Re: Making wheat malt.

Post by shadylane »

midlife-u-turn wrote:
shadylane wrote:Have another #25 of wheat malt finished and dried. Cheated this time and used the metal storage shed roof.
Now that the malt is dry, I'll kiln it. Hopefully that will kill any wild yeast or bacteria that's waiting to ruin the mash.
I'm getting tired of funky mashes, even if the distillate is pretty good.
I'm going to be doing some wheat shortly and any suggestions would be much appreciated. Can you expound on your kilning technique/procedure.
A friend has a old oven that's been modified.
It was made for 240v but he runs it on 120v and uses a thermostat to control it.
It's slow to come up to temp but very accurate once it gets there.
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Re: Making wheat malt.

Post by MichiganCornhusker »

midlife-u-turn wrote:I'm going to be doing some wheat shortly and any suggestions would be much appreciated. Can you expound on your kilning technique/procedure.
I'm new to the idea of "kilning" the malt. I just did mine in a regular oven. I put it about 2" deep in a big pressed foil roasting pan, I could fit 2 at once in the oven.
I just set the temp to about 300F and let it go. Check on it, and stir it up about every 15 minutes. As long as it's still damp it won't start to roast. Chew a little bit of it as you go, you will know when it starts drying out.
I toasted mine until it started to just change color. I may have lost DP, but I think it will make up for it in flavor. I'll probably be running mine with malted barley, so I won't need the enzymes from the wheat anyway.
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Re: Making wheat malt.

Post by midlife-u-turn »

MichiganCornhusker wrote:
midlife-u-turn wrote:I'm going to be doing some wheat shortly and any suggestions would be much appreciated. Can you expound on your kilning technique/procedure.
I'm new to the idea of "kilning" the malt. I just did mine in a regular oven. I put it about 2" deep in a big pressed foil roasting pan, I could fit 2 at once in the oven.
I just set the temp to about 300F and let it go. Check on it, and stir it up about every 15 minutes. As long as it's still damp it won't start to roast. Chew a little bit of it as you go, you will know when it starts drying out.
I toasted mine until it started to just change color. I may have lost DP, but I think it will make up for it in flavor. I'll probably be running mine with malted barley, so I won't need the enzymes from the wheat anyway.
Our temps here have been in the mid 90's or higher and we have very little humidity. I think I can dry outside pretty darn quick. I put some caramel malt in my last barley AG and I think it did positively influence the flavor. Maybe I'll try roasting a portion as well and go with a barley mix.

I'm a little concerned about malting in my garage right now due to the temps. I guess I'll just have to be diligent about keeping it turned so I don't get any mold growth.
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Re: Making wheat malt.

Post by MichiganCornhusker »

midlife-u-turn wrote: I guess I'll just have to be diligent about keeping it turned so I don't get any mold growth.
I rinse mine once a day. Not sure if that's the best way, but keeps the mold away.
Once the malt is dry and crunchy, you can take some of it further and make your own "crystal wheat malt". I did this with about 5-10 pounds and it tastes like chocolate & coffee. Will definitely add character to a whiskey.
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Re: Making wheat malt.

Post by shadylane »

I've noticed when malting at 60 - 70f the grain germinates slowly and consistently.
Malting at 80 - 90f by the time some of it is over modified, some will be chitting and everything in between.
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Re: Making wheat malt.

Post by jedneck »

shadylane wrote:I've noticed when malting at 60 - 70f the grain germinates slowly and consistently.
Malting at 80 - 90f by the time some of it is over modified, some will be chitting and everything in between.
Gonna agree with you. I have sprouts that average 3/4 the grain with some just over chitted to 4x grain length. This is so much easier in winter when the basement is cool and dry instead of cool and damp.
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Re: Making wheat malt.

Post by shadylane »

The problem with malting in my neck of the woods, is the weather is never cool and dry.
During the rare times it's good for malting, it's terrible for drying.
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Re: Making wheat malt.

Post by shadylane »

Something I've noticed, fungus and mold starts on the dead seeds. The ones that didn't germinate and when squeezed a white milky stuff comes out of.
If the grain I'm using has seeds that can't germinate, the mold starts on them first then goes after the rest of the malt.
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Re: Making wheat malt.

Post by midlife-u-turn »

I got my wheat malted and I think it turned out pretty good. I turned it about three times per day and it appeared to malt pretty evenly. No apparent issues with the temperatures. I have it outside drying and the weather is supposed to cooperate so I'll be able to get it good and dry.
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