Stewed Malt

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

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shadylane
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Stewed Malt

Post by shadylane »

This idea is in the experimental stage.
Basically, green malt is heated to 150F for a couple hours then dried, winnowed and ground.
Figure part of the starches will be converted in the seed and the rest will be gelatinized.
The wet heat should also help pasteurize the malt, but will probably make the drying harder.
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kiwi Bruce
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Re: Stewed Malt

Post by kiwi Bruce »

Shady, did you soak the green barley first, or use it right out of the sack?
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shadylane
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Re: Stewed Malt

Post by shadylane »

Haven't tried it with barley malt yet, I'm doing it with wheat malt.
Fully modified malt was placed in trays made from 1x4's and screen wire.
The trays were placed in the top of a insulated box and steam was injected in the bottom.
The temp was slowly raised to almost 150f and held there for two hours to stew the malt.
The stewed malt was then dried at 150f for a day in a homemade convection oven.
I was worried about the drying but the roots and acrospires withered and was real easy to winnow off.
Don't know how to describe the taste but it's different than regular malt or crystal malt. Less grainy and sweeter.
Hopefully the stewed malts diastic power is still intact and it's been pasteurized.
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shadylane
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Re: Stewed Malt

Post by shadylane »

There's probably no logical reason to process homemade malt this way.
If there was, it would be done commercially more often.
But what the hell, I like experimenting at the hobby level.
On a side note, I found references to avoid accidentally stewing the malt when drying peated malt for scotch.
If a Scotchman thinks it lowers quality or raises cost, it must be true.
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MichiganCornhusker
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Re: Stewed Malt

Post by MichiganCornhusker »

shadylane wrote:There's probably no logical reason to process homemade malt this way.
If there was, it would be done commercially more often.
But what the hell, I like experimenting at the hobby level.
On a side note, I found references to avoid accidentally stewing the malt when drying peated malt for scotch.
If a Scotchman thinks it lowers quality or raises cost, it must be true.
The logical reason is that we are adventurers, making unique spirits that aren't available otherwise!
I haven't seen much malted corn available, but it sure makes a nice whiskey.
I just ran my home malted/toasted wheat whiskey, and I think you describe the flavor well, "less grainy, sweeter."
There is also a subtle toasty wheat flavor that I think will blend well with the oak.
Definitely a lot different in taste from my home malted, air dried wheat that I did last year, and different from the whiskey I made with wheat malt from the homebrew shop.
I would bet that stewed malt would have its own flavors to contribute. I enjoy the exploring almost as much as the drinking.
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Re: Stewed Malt

Post by Buccaneer Bob »

shadylane wrote:On a side note, I found references to avoid accidentally stewing the malt when drying peated malt for scotch.
If a Scotchman thinks it lowers quality or raises cost, it must be true.
The process you are referring to is for making "caramel" or "crystal" malt, which is beloved by beer brewers for the flavors and/or unfermentable sugars that they bring to a beer.

It's fantastic stuff, contributing caramel notes and body to a brew, and it is easily worth the 10-20% loss of fermentable sugars.

The trouble with distilling such a malt is that the "body of the beer" would be left behind in the still, rather than being drank, and it is iffy how much of that caramel flavor would carry over into the distillate.

It is certainly worth testing, but it may cost you more in alcohol than it gives you in flavor. Or maybe not. Who knows.

Maybe the peated malt guys just couldn't appreciate the subtle caramel flavor underneath all that peat.
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shadylane
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Re: Stewed Malt

Post by shadylane »

I think crystal malt is kilned at a high enough temp to caramelize the sugars and denature most or all of the enzymes.
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shadylane
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Re: Stewed Malt

Post by shadylane »

Here's an update on my stewed malt experiences/opinions :lol:
Buccaneer Bob wrote:
shadylane wrote:On a side note, I found references to avoid accidentally stewing the malt when drying peated malt for scotch.
If a Scotchman thinks it lowers quality or raises cost, it must be true.
The process you are referring to is for making "caramel" or "crystal" malt, which is beloved by beer brewers for the flavors and/or unfermentable sugars that they bring to a beer.

In stead of heating green malt hot enough to make caramel or crystal malt
I've been heating green malt only enough to mash the intact malt inside it's own skin.
Then drying, winnowing and grinding. The enzymes are still intact and can be used for a normal mashing process.
Or my preference for corn, Lightly roast the stewed malt and use store bought enzymes for conversion
The white whiskey kinda tastes like roasted corn on the cob to me.
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