My grain malting setup. aka: Bride of Mashimizer

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Fart Vader
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My grain malting setup. aka: Bride of Mashimizer

Post by Fart Vader »

Hi folks, I actually built this several months ago but never got around to sharing it with you.
She's the perfect mate for my Mashimizer, hence I give you ...
Bride of Mashimizer!

Design criteria: Malt an entire 55lb sack of grain at once.
Minimize space.

So here we go...
If you have ever tried malting and drying an entire sack (55lbs/25kg) of grain you soon find out that spreading it out thin to dry takes up a huge amount of space.
I forget the details of my calculations, but this setup ensures that I have no more than 1/2" thick of grain and air flowing all around it.

Here's the solution I came up with.
This is the tray holder. I had some metal sheets sitting around, so they dictated the size of the build.
I built it out of metal so that I could add a heating element to it if needed/wanted. I didn't.
Tray tracks are 3/4" angles welded to a steel cube frame.
The whole thing could be made of wood.
Mobile tray holder.
Mobile tray holder.
Here's a close-up of one of the trays. 1x2 wood strapping with fibreglass screen stapled to it.
Drying tray.
Drying tray.
Here's the jet engine simulator for grain drying. 17x 48V fans!
Dries 55lbs of grain in about 36hrs. Loud as hell!
A regular house cooling fan that pivots around works OK too, just takes a little longer.
Jet Engine Simulator.
Jet Engine Simulator.
Once dried, I transfer the grains to metal trays.
Oven tray.
Oven tray.
Stack them up in the electric kiln/smoker I built from an old laboratory oven I scored several years back.
Smoker oven.
Smoker oven.
I can malt a full sack of grains in under a week!

Cheers !
FV
My double walled boiler build: The Mashimizer. viewtopic.php?f=50&t=64980
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BlackStrap
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Re: My grain malting setup. aka: Bride of Mashimizer

Post by BlackStrap »

That there, is a sweet looking grain drier Fart Vader. :thumbup:
Do you just use forced air from the fans to dry the grains?
Last edited by BlackStrap on Thu Mar 15, 2018 9:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
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fizzix
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Re: My grain malting setup. aka: Bride of Mashimizer

Post by fizzix »

Excellent work. The building skills just amaze me.
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shadylane
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Re: My grain malting setup. aka: Bride of Mashimizer

Post by shadylane »

Your the man :thumbup: :clap:
Tell us about your malting protocol
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firewater69
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Re: My grain malting setup. aka: Bride of Mashimizer

Post by firewater69 »

Nice work Fart! I've been wanting to build something similar, right now I only malt 5-10 lbs at a time. A set up like that would save so much time.
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Fart Vader
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Re: My grain malting setup. aka: Bride of Mashimizer

Post by Fart Vader »

Thanks for the kind words folks.
shadylane wrote:Your the man :thumbup: :clap:
Tell us about your malting protocol
Here you go shady.
viewtopic.php?f=34&t=63123
Be aware however that the protocol is a little different for barley.
After several failures with barley, the magic number is a MAXIMUM 6hr soak period (twice).
12hrs with barley and it will drown.
My double walled boiler build: The Mashimizer. viewtopic.php?f=50&t=64980
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MichiganCornhusker
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Re: My grain malting setup. aka: Bride of Mashimizer

Post by MichiganCornhusker »

Very nice work.
I've been doing similar process, similar qty, in a way less classy way.
Love the fan bank. :thumbup:
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Twisted Brick
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Re: My grain malting setup. aka: Bride of Mashimizer

Post by Twisted Brick »

Genious. Thanks for sharing, Fart.
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Fart Vader
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Re: My grain malting setup. aka: Bride of Mashimizer

Post by Fart Vader »

BlackStrap wrote:That there, is a sweet looking grain drier Fart Vader. :thumbup:
Do you just use forced air from the fans to dry the grains?
Yup. Forced air only.
Tried with the unit totally enclosed with an electric element inside. PID temperature at 150F with a small fan.
I abandoned that after 3 days without much drying.

Forced air is the way to go.
My double walled boiler build: The Mashimizer. viewtopic.php?f=50&t=64980
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cede
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Re: My grain malting setup. aka: Bride of Mashimizer

Post by cede »

Very nice setup !
Now you can grab a furnace and heat with that :) You could even make crystal malt !
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Fart Vader
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Re: My grain malting setup. aka: Bride of Mashimizer

Post by Fart Vader »

raketemensch wrote:Have you tried malting oats?
I have not, also the parent site says this about malting oats.

Don’t do it!
These grains, when malting, tend to attract butryfying bacteria - these organisms, by themselves are poisonous, and so is the butanol isomers that these bacteria produce (see page 127 (for oats) and page 130 (for rye) in the book "The Homebrewer's Garden" by Joe Fisher and Dennis Fisher, Published in 1998 by Storey Books (http://www.storey.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow))
My double walled boiler build: The Mashimizer. viewtopic.php?f=50&t=64980
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raketemensch
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Re: My grain malting setup. aka: Bride of Mashimizer

Post by raketemensch »

Thanks, Lord Vader. I’ve done more reading on it, and it doesn’t sound like a good idea. Not a problem, really, as I’m perfectly happy with enzymes, but a single malt oat whiskey might’ve been interesting.
Scott817
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Re: My grain malting setup. aka: Bride of Mashimizer

Post by Scott817 »

Very cool project. Great Job! :thumbup:
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shadylane
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Re: My grain malting setup. aka: Bride of Mashimizer

Post by shadylane »

Vader, it's been 3 months now, How's the Mashimizer working for Ya ?
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Fart Vader
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Re: My grain malting setup. aka: Bride of Mashimizer

Post by Fart Vader »

Hi Shady, the mashimizer and the bride are awesome.
I've malted 200 lbs of wheat and barley so far.

Done 5 runs with the mashimizer. My original plan was to use it for spirit runs also, but I've only been using it for mashing and stripping. Spirit runs are done using my original keg with my new spp column. Very satisfied with this setup.
My double walled boiler build: The Mashimizer. viewtopic.php?f=50&t=64980
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