Homemade Malt

[Bilsch]

This is a batch of malt made recently from barley grown locally and available here for sprouting or food use. It is most probably a 6 row variety and costs roughly $8 per 50 lb bag. There is a small amount of chaff and a few weed seeds but it’s not difficult to wash/pick those out during the malting. My process is: Begin by steeping (soaking) the grain in water for 8 hours. Next you drain it and place on a for 14 hours. Then steep again for 7 hours, followed by draining and then traying for 12 hours. And lastly a quick soak for two hours then the final traying. The rootlets should have already started showing during the second steep. I try to be careful once they show, not to physically damage them while handing. It’s dry in my state so I like to spritz the sprouts every couple hours or alternately cover the trays for the night. Stirring is advisable a few times daily to keep the roots from growing into tangled masses. One advantage of malting in trays is you can simply dump from one tray to the next. Depending on the temperature of your room the acrospires will reach .75 to 1x kernel length in 3 to 5 days. My basement is around 17c and so takes about 4 days for the acrospires to reach where I consider done, about 0.5 to .75 of kernel length. 1 or more is considered fully modified but the main reason I make my own malt is that anymore one cannot buy under modified malt. Only rootlets can be seen in the photos as the acrospire grows within the husk until it gets to the full length of the kernel and emerges. The last steps are drying then kilning. Commercial maltsters use heat ~43c and forced air to dry. I prefer the outdoor sun, breezes to wilt the roots and halt modification. To kiln, it’s into the oven set at 76c for 4 hours for a good approximation of Pils malt, or alternatively 3 hrs @ 76c and 1 @ 82c. You see in the last photo a color comparison of Bestmalz pils on top and my malt below. If you’re wondering, yes working with selbstgemacht malt is very interesting in a decoction mash. All the old rules apply and things just come out better, or if you will, like they are supposed to.

[Bilsch]

More photos

[Bilsch]

This another batch I have made recently, but this one began with hull-less or naked barley. In these photos it is easier to see the acrospire as well as the rootlets. I also made this malt under-modified but the other advantage is as you probably already guessed.. endosperm mashing without the necessity of hull sifting. My intention is to use this as 60% of my malt bill and the balance hulled barley to provide the hulls for filtration. I'll report back with more information when those beers are finished.

[Bilsch]

As you can imagine there is a distinct flavor difference and improved mouthfeel in home made malts but perhaps the most striking difference is in the character of the foam. This is a Dampfbier that finished very recently which contained 50% home malts.

[Bryan R]

Really, really interesting... How does it compare in flavor to say the best? It looks maybe a little darker.

[Owenbräu]

You said 60% of the grain bill. How does it compare to just using the same proportion of chit malt?

[Beersk]

Very cool. Thanks for sharing.

[Bilsch]

My dampfbier recipe has 26% munich 1 so that's where most of the color comes from and I'm sure more from the decoction. I cannot say how this compares to using a percentage of chit malt with standard malts but I have tests coming up using Best chit. In reality though so many comparison batches would have to be made before anyone could give any meaningful information about that.
But for now I can say for certain my lower modified malt fits decoction like a glove. When you finally brew with some, the light bulb comes on! And the other important point I'm trying to pass along to my fellow brewers here is to think seriously about trying malting for themselves.