Single Malt Whisky

[Odin]

Hi Mentors,

I am making the transition from sugarheads to all grain. Lots of ideas coming up. One is: I can buy malted barley at a reasonable price. Lightly peated. Thinking of using it to make a single malt whisky (or at least ... to give it a try!). Since all the barley is peated as well as malted, how to progress? If I cook it, I will destroy the malting enzymes. And if I just keep it at 65 degrees centigrade, I will set the enzymes at work but on what? Or should I boil like 80% and then add 20% at around 65 degrees? A last question about the hulls. Are they left in, normally? Or is there a way to get rid of them? Not wanting any off flavours there.

Odin.

[Dnderhead]

you dont cook malt.you only cook un malted grains.
heat or add hot water at 140-150f /6o-66c,hould for 1/2 hour or longer.
now you can drain this off and ferment or do on the grain ferment.
I like off grain..this is the way i do it.
I add grain to water,,heat to 140f/60c
hould at 140/60c 1/2 hour
drain off wort.
add this to fermenter. (proceade with ferment)(i like to use beer yeast)
now i add water to spent grains,stir /drain and save this "water"to make the next batch with
this adds what sugars is left in spent grain to the next batch.(this goes good with any grain)

[Odin]

Thanx! So if I only have like 25 kilo's of malted and lightly peated barley, just put it in water, bring it to 60/65 degrees, hold it there for half an hour, take it of & start fermenting, water down the spent barley to get the last sugars out. Use that water with sugar for next batch. Makes sense.

One question: is there a reason not to ferment on the grain? I can imagine by taking it off the grain before fermenting, you get less tanines from the hulls over?

Odin.

[Dnderhead]

you git more tannins ,,some like some dont..I dont. so I do off the grain ferments all but corn.
corn does not seem to have the tannins.

[Odin]

I expect to start this coming weekend and will keep you posted Dundrhead!

Odin.

[Dnderhead]

all barley malt is one of the easiest to do.
some other malts like rye/wheat you should do a "stepped" mash this is not hard either.
but takes a bit more time,this you heat to 100f/38c ,,then to 140f/60c this helps with the "goo"
longer "rest" does not hurt us..but does beer. with beer they want some gluten for "mouth feel"
we dont care about that.

[Odin]

Dnderhead,

What would happen if I used malted rye in a recipe instead of malted barley and I would not do the step up method, but do it as with barley. Heat flakes, let it cool to 65 degrees, add crushed malted rye, hold it there, cool it, pitch, etc.

Do you have to use a step up method with rye? Taking small steps at a time and the "malted barley" method seems easier to me, since a do not have a big enough cooking pot ...

Odin.

[Dnderhead]

rye, wheat and a few others have a protein that gits thick (thank wheat paste) this protein is not water solvable so it makes a gooey mass. this can be broken down with enzymes but they work at different temperatures and are destroyed at higher temperatures.

Groups and FunctionsEnzyme
Optimum
Temperature
Range Working pH Range
Function

Phytase
86-126°F
5.0-5.5
Lowers the mash pH. No longer used.

Debranching (var.)
95-113°F
5.0-5.8
Solubilization of starches.

Beta Glucanase
95-113°F
4.5-5.5
Best gum breaking rest.

Peptidase
113-131°F
4.6-5.3
Produces Free Amino Nitrogen (FAN).

Protease
113-131°F
4.6-5.3
Breaks up large proteins that form haze.

Beta Amylase
131-150°F
5.0-5.5
Produces maltose.

Alpha Amylase
154-162°F
5.3-5.7
Produces a variety of sugars, including maltose.

Note: The above numbers were averaged from several sources and should be interpreted as typical optimum activity ranges. The enzymes will be active outside the indicated ranges but will be destroyed as the temperature increases above each range.