Barley flakes - Rolled oaks

[Boda Getta]

I will setting up to mash in a Irish whiskey of 40% malted barley, 40 flaked barley and 20% rolled oaks in a day or so. I use the no-cook method of mashing, pouring 200'ish F water over the raw grain, set overnight in my insulated 30 gal fermenter, let it come down to 150'ishF then add my malt. I have never used any flaked grain before or rolled oaks for that matter. Should I modify this method for the flaked grain or rolled oaks.
Any advice appreciated.

BG

[still_stirrin]

Your "lazy method" should work.

Flakes mash just like barley. The rolled oats will work too. The gelatinization temperature for the starches is within range of the saccharification temperatures. No worry.
ss

[greggn]

There's no need to leave flaked grains to gelatinize overnight ... wait 30 - 60 minutes and then drop the temperature, with either a wort chiller or cool water, and then add your malt.

[Swedish Pride]

this is more or less how I do my irish whiskey, I do add some corn as well as the comercial lads blend with refluxed single grain.
Will turn out a nice drop, no need to change your process

[Brian Boru]

Greetings, folks. I'm new to distilling and want to make Irish whiskey. To recap, can I use flaked barley the same way I'd use malted barley to make the wort for Irish whiskey?

Thanks,
BB

[HDNB]

Greetings, folks. I'm new to distilling and want to make Irish whiskey. To recap, can I use flaked barley the same way I'd use malted barley to make the wort for Irish whiskey?

Thanks,
BB

no, there are no enzymes for conversion.
_______________

and Boda getta, you want to consider grinding the flakes. I have used both steam rolled oats and steam rolled barley flakes and they come out of the wort looking pretty much the same as they go in...my observataion is that not much starch is released from them without further milling. never done critical experiments though so i may be wrong, my SG's were always good enough for the purpose but were never "wowsers high" using flaked like a person can get with coarse flour.

flakes don't mill in a roller mill worth a shit. burr or hammer mill is needed (blender?)
flavour is good though

also, fwiw, flaked rye gives a ridiculously strong flavour in comparison to raw rye grain or malt rye.

[Brian Boru]

Thanks HDNB. I figured as much. In short, the only way to get the flavor notes from unmalted barley to make a true 50/50 potstill whiskey would be to find a farmer or maybe substitute Pearl malted barley?

[RedwoodHillBilly]

Greetings, folks. I'm new to distilling and want to make Irish whiskey. To recap, can I use flaked barley the same way I'd use malted barley to make the wort for Irish whiskey?

Thanks,
BB

no, there are no enzymes for conversion.
_______________

and Boda getta, you want to consider grinding the flakes. I have used both steam rolled oats and steam rolled barley flakes and they come out of the wort looking pretty much the same as they go in...my observataion is that not much starch is released from them without further milling. never done critical experiments though so i may be wrong, my SG's were always good enough for the purpose but were never "wowsers high" using flaked like a person can get with coarse flour.

flakes don't mill in a roller mill worth a shit. burr or hammer mill is needed (blender?)
flavour is good though

also, fwiw, flaked rye gives a ridiculously strong flavour in comparison to raw rye grain or malt rye.

I've made bourbon with flaked rye vs. malted rye, and you are correct much more rye flavor with flaked. When using any grain (flaked included) I run them through my hammer mill to a flour consistency. I tend to get > 90% brewhouse (conversion/attenuation) efficiency. i.e. @ 2lbs / gal 75% corn, 12.5% malt barley, 12.5% malt rye I'll generally get 72 points. A fine grind is a good thing.

[Brian Boru]

Perhaps I should pose the question this way. How can I get the irish pot still flavors if unmalted barley berries are so tough to find?

[RedwoodHillBilly]

Perhaps I should pose the question this way. How can I get the irish pot still flavors if unmalted barley berries are so tough to find?

Flaked barley will be fine, but you do want to use malted barley as well. I tend to use a 50:50 ratio of malted to unmalted barley. I'm cheap, but you do need to use some malt or the flavor will be a bit bland. My "irish whisky" is 40% malt barley, 40% unmalted barley, and 20% corn. If you notice, the current "irish" whiskys have some NGS blended in to them. That's why I add corn. You would, of course, get more flavor without corn, but it would also be more expensive.

[Brian Boru]

Will I get the same amount of sugar from flaked barley as unmalted barley? In other words, can I make a straight substitution? A couple people up above say that you cannot because there are no enzymes for conversion.

[RedwoodHillBilly]

Will I get the same amount of sugar from flaked barley as unmalted barley? In other words, can I make a straight substitution? A couple people up above say that you cannot because there are no enzymes for conversion.

I'm not sure, but I would guess that there isn't much difference. But if you don't use malted barley, you will lose quite a bit of flavor and you will have to use enzymes. I don't recommend using unmalted barley exclusively, your product will suffer. But you could try it and see what you think. I tried it once and took the result and refluxed it because I wasn't happy with the result. But to each their own. It all depends on what you're are trying to achieve.

[Brian Boru]

Will I get the same amount of sugar from flaked barley as unmalted barley? In other words, can I make a straight substitution? A couple people up above say that you cannot because there are no enzymes for conversion.

I'm not sure, but I would guess that there isn't much difference. But if you don't use malted barley, you will lose quite a bit of flavor and you will have to use enzymes. I don't recommend using unmalted barley exclusively, your product will suffer. But you could try it and see what you think. I tried it once and took the result and refluxed it because I wasn't happy with the result. But to each their own. It all depends on what you're are trying to achieve.

The plan is straight 50/50 mash of malted two-row and unmalted flake. OR, sub Pearl Malt for unmalted barley. I hear it imparts similar flavor. I'd like to try flaked unmalted barley, but this page has different views on whether it would work.

[HDNB]

flaked works just fine....if:
a) you use malt or enzymes to convert it and
b) you are ok with low starch extraction...unless you mill it finer.

same/same with pearl.

the only difference i would expect would be the husk flavour from the flake will be absent in the pearl barley, mind i never worked with pearl.

does that make more sense?