Malting corn

[Tater]

Am trying to malt 50 lbs of corn in a way similer to a way i read on home distiller .Ive takin a 15 gallon plastic barrel and installed a drain at bottem.Then took 1/4 copper tubing and with a hacksaw cut slits every 4 inches for about 4 ft.Rolled into a sprial and placed in bottem of barrel.Layed feed sacks over this to a four or 5 inchd depth.Poured the corn in and filled with water connected airpump to tubing. let Sit in water 24 hrs and drained water. 36 hrs later corn has started sprouting. There is some heat building from germation .Not as bad as when ive malted without using air and it molded on me.Have reached into barrel and turned corn.And filled barrel with water agin and drained. This cooled down grain. Will post and tell how this method turns out .If nothing else ive now got a sparging barrel . lol

[Uncle Jesse]

sounds like it will probably work. sounds better than the burlap sack in a pile of leaves too.

[MyDBear]

Sounds like a plan ta me to Tater, Go for it!!

[Yttrium]

I've tried malting corn a few times and never have had much success with it. Getting the corn to malt is fairly easy(I suggest rinsing it every ~12 hours to prevent mold growth). My problem is that I never get a good starch to sugar conversion when I grind it and let it sit in warm water. I'll be interested to see how your malting goes.

[Grayson_Stewart]

what % conversion did you get Jesse? Were you adding the hot water (what temp?) to the green malt corn and allowing to steep for conversion or doing the boil method at the different temperatures?

[Tater]

corn is sprouting at a faster rate have filled barrel agin with water to cool grain down will be doing that evert 24 hr or more if needed as ytturim suggested

[Tater]

Dumped out corn today . Had about a 20 percent of it i guess sprout. But rest of it pickeled. Smelled like silage does by midwinter. I rinced every 24 hrs and it seemed to be doing well untill last few days. Dont Know am gonna try it agin as soon a i get by feed store and pick up another 50 lbs of corn any suggestions are welcome. By the way uncle jessie sproutin in sacks under leaves in summer has allways worked for me just could only do 5 to 10 lbs in sack at time .Any more and it would mold .I only soaked corn for 24 hrs to start with and that might be part of reason it didnt do well. Will try soaking it 72 hrs next time.1 thing there wasnt any that molded

[Yttrium]

My general method for sprouting is to soak for around a day and then rinse every twelve hours. I usually am aiming for a 5 gallon wash size so I don't use that much corn. I keep the sprouting corn in a few of those glaware diposable containers in which I have poked a few hundred holes in the bottom of each. Generally, I aim for the sprouting corn to only be an inch or so deep in the container.

[Uncle Jesse]

i don't sprout my own corn, so i can only speak from what i've read. shiners would fill a burlap sack with corn, water it every few hours and turn it over every time they watered it, shaking it lightly.

Sounds to me like moving the grains around a bit would solve your mold problems.

[Tater]

Seems like its the heat build up that causes the grain to mold.Why i said that it wasnt a problem when was maltin corn in 5 and 10 lb in sack.Leaves or layer of saw dust would hold in moister and grain only being an inch or less thick didnt seem to generate heat from germanation like it does when maltin iin bucket or barrel. LOL know more when i try agin in barrel am also gonna try on cardboard spread over cement floor of shed when weather warms.

[The Chemist]

C'mon Yttrium--you're giving us chemists a bad rep! Warm water is not good enough. Heat the stuff to 149-155 deg F, and follow the conversion with iodine. It'll work!

[Tater]

lol

[Yttrium]

C'mon Yttrium--you're giving us chemists a bad rep! Warm water is not good enough.

Well, by "sit in warm water", I mean heat to 145F and hold for TWO DAYS in an oven.

Iodine is a good test, but I usually use the finely crafted sucrose sensor I have in my mouth.

On a completely unrelated note, The Chemist, are you going to the ACS meeting in San Diego?

[Fourway]

I've been trying to convince tater that this probably happened cause too much of the corn was dead from kilning.

[LeftLaneCruiser]

I usually soak my grains for two days. Change the water every day.

Then i let drip out all excess water until grain is stil moist but not wet. I drilled a lot of 5 mm. holes in the bottom of a bucket to act as a sieve for this purpose. Then i put the grain back in the bucket to let it sprout. Mostly i have the lid loosely on top, but that is mainly to keep dirt out. If the grain still is quite wet i keep the lid off so the grain will dry a bit.

When i was making smaller batches the layer of grain in the bucket was about 20 cm. so i shook and tossed the bucket to let air in and CO2 and heat out.
Nowadays i'm making bigger batches so the buckets are nearly full of grain. I use two buckets now and pour the grain from one in another twice a day. I found out that is is important to air the grain regular, both for air / oxygen in and co2 / heat out to prevent it from molding.

My suggestion for the big 50 lb. batches you are making Tater is to roll the barrel over for a while twice a day. That is; if it has a lid wich can be tightened to the barrel offcourse. Assuming that there is space left in the barrel for tossing and turning of the grain.

This experiment has yet only occured in my mind, but thinking about it i guess it might work.

Good luck on your next batches !

KJH

[whammo57]

I have good luck malting wheat... I do 5 lbs at a time in a bucket...soak with water for 24 hrs then drain.... rinse every 12 hours and drain.... nearly 100 % sprouts in 3 to 4 days.... wheat is easier to dry and grind than corn..it seems to have the same enzyme strength as barley which is nearly impossible to find at feed stores....

I only got about 10 to 20 % of corn to sprout....

whammo

[The Chemist]

[quote="theholymackerel]

I think this is very possibly a bit of false modern brewin' folklore, like all the hops books that claimed that hop vines corkscrewed counterclockwise in the southern hemisphere (hop vines corkscrew clockwise world wide).[/quote]

What about toilets--aren't they supposed to swirl in the opposite direction in the southern hemisphere? The Corialis Effect and all that. Maybe some of our Aussie or Kiwi friends can enlighten us.

[bama]

Is it also easy to malt barley at home? Also has anypne tried malting oats or rye at home? Im curious to find out if it works or not.

[Fourway]

Is it also easy to malt barley at home? Also has anypne tried malting oats or rye at home? Im curious to find out if it works or not.

I've successfully malted horse oats on a number of occasions.

[Guest]

from here:http://homedistiller.org/wash-grain.htm


Malting for home use is not a difficult procedure, but it should NOT be attempted with oats or with rye.

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)).

If you have a need for a malt of either of these grains - purchase it ready made rather than poisoning yourself with the homemade type.

[Fourway]

from here:http://homedistiller.org/wash-grain.htm


Malting for home use is not a difficult procedure, but it should NOT be attempted with oats or with rye.

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)).

If you have a need for a malt of either of these grains - purchase it ready made rather than poisoning yourself with the homemade type.

As per The Holy Mackerel's post above, that book is the only reference to this alleged danger anywhere in brewing literature. Everyone who gives subsequent warnings cites the same source.
The book itself gives no citation whatsoever for the claim and if it is any indication a google search for the word "butryfying" turns up a single hit... that very same citation here on this site.

(it's often best to make up a word when you're trying to scare people so who can blame them)

The fact that we largely beleive that this claim is false notwithstanding, even if there was an iota of truth to it, it would not be germain to the practice of distilling which routinely produces mashes which would undoubtedly make you extremely ill to drink (or eat as thickness dictates)(see SMOP method for a wonderful whisky mash that would gag a moggot).

[Guest]

http://www.agr.gov.sk.ca/DOCS/crops/int ... rversion=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Cut & Paste:The Canadian Grain Commission allows only very low levels of FDK in food and feed grains and zero levels in malting barley. The tolerances were set to account for the presence of potentially harmful fungal toxins, called mycotoxins, that are produced in diseased grain.


If you are intrested in researching this more try mycotoxins for a keyword. here is anmother link that may help from a biology dept

http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/wo ... lect11.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

I have no way of knowing how anyone could test for presence of any of these fungus etc on grains of any types to be malted. The malting houses have biology labs to do it. The warnings also may be in part to the oats and rye being prone to claviceps. I also did find a referance to malt houses using bromates to sterilize. I will let you do your own research on that one.

[Guest]

Right. The problem is with secondary metabolites of disease-causing fungi (mold, fungus, who cares? All nasty.). If your grain, whatever kind is top quality, you should have no worry. Mycotoxins are very hard, and expensive to detect and identify at trace levels, but there are some companies that sell "screening" (i.e. not very accurate) kits. I think Neogen is one, I'll check tomorrow at work.

[Guest]

I did also find a referance to an incident where perfectly good grain was infected at the malt house. Hot humid weather is most condusive to the spread of these organisms. If you are malting during summer it may be worth staying aware of any local grain infections in your area as this would be an indication the spores may be more prevelant. Like other aspects of brewng sanitaion is in order.

[The Chemist]

Here's and informative site on mycotoxins (even if it IS Auburn, BOO): http://www.aces.edu/department/grain/ANR767.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Has screening procedures, more science than most will want, even shows that scientists can have a sense of humor (Vomitoxin?) I still think that if you use top-quality grain, you won't get the Blind Staggers, or Slobber Syndrome (at least not from mycotoxins!!! ).

I'm trying to find the effects of distillation on mycotoxins, so far, no luck.

[KatoFong]

The book itself gives no citation whatsoever for the claim and if it is any indication a google search for the word "butryfying" turns up a single hit... that very same citation here on this site.

(it's often best to make up a word when you're trying to scare people so who can blame them)

I think our guest was misspelling "putrefying". Which is better than just making up words.

[golden pond]

AW Ok Chemist, I malted some yellow corn last week, put it in a bucket, covered it over with hot tap water, let set for 24 hours, poured that water off, covered it agin with hot tap water, let set for 15 min. , poured the water off and set bucket in a warm place, turned the grain over atleast twice a day and repeated the covered with the hot water for 15 min. every 24 hours, had sprouts to suit me in 7 days. I ground this up right away in a sausage grinder, added 3 parts cracked corn, 7 gallon of warm water, right now it has a blossom cap on it and bubbling right along, also has a sweet smell and taste to it this morning, when the alcohol eats the cap off it should be ready to cook. Last night I got a bucket of food grade white corn and have it soaking now, nerver tried white corn before now.

[possum]

HEY Golden Pond,

2part question,

what is the amount that you sprout in the "fireside method" bucketsize/corn amount


what strain/variety of corn(yellow?) does it come from the farmer directly, or is it from a bag,feedmill,ect.


these things seemed significant to the results you are getting.

I am assuming that you are doing an all corn ,no sugar ferment (wild yeast is my guess as well)
let us know how the end product tasts.

thank you GP

[golden pond]

HEY Golden Pond,

2part question,

what is the amount that you sprout in the "fireside method" bucketsize/corn amount


what strain/variety of corn(yellow?) does it come from the farmer directly, or is it from a bag,feedmill,ect.


these things seemed significant to the results you are getting.

I am assuming that you are doing an all corn ,no sugar ferment (wild yeast is my guess as well)
let us know how the end product tasts.

thank you GP

Well Possum, I have to admit I'm a little excited about sucess on the first try at malting, all I ever done for years was sugar shine mash. I called my neighbor on his cell phone two Saturdays ago and ask him for some corn and he brought me a bucket full of his yellow corn from this years harvest, I ask if it had any gas under it and he said not. ( Corn dried with gas makes a difference) I dipped out a large coffe can full (2lb.2.5oz) and hand picked trash and bad grains out first. Then I put it in a 3 gal. plastic bucket and covered the corn with hot tap water (not sure what that temp was) and let it set for 24 hours. poured water off after the 24 hours, recovered with hot water agin for 15 min. and pour the water off agin and set in a warm place. Me, I put the bucket in front of a gas fireplace in my tackroom, but I keep the temp down in my tackroom when not at home so it was not as warm as I would have liked it to be. Do the hot water cover up for 15 min. and pour off every 24 hours. Not having enough heat it took 8 days to get good sprouts, then ground it up and added 3 more of the coffee cans of cracked corn I get from Southern States COOP, one pak of that there whiskey yeast from Prestige and 7 gals of hot water. Its in a 20 gal. plastic barrel sitting in front of a gas wall heater in my garage and looking good this morning, it should cook in 3-4 more days. Any more questions, I'll try to answer the best I can. Started the same thing agin Wed. evening but this time with food grade white corn from another neighbor's harvest. He's got both yellow & white food grade corn, think I'll use it in shine this summer.

[Fourway]

I dipped out a large coffe can full (2lb.2.5oz) and hand picked trash and bad grains out first.

I never pick out the trash and cob bits.