So Time has come to have a go at malting my own barley, My dream is grow my own barley and malt it into a mostly drinkable beer BUT befor i spend months growing grains it only to mess it up with inexperienced malting, i thought i would buy some raw barley first and give it a go. if it works, i will plant it, grow it and try malting it again.
Step 1 – Acquiring RAW barley
As we all know, there are various types or barley 2 row, 9 row etc, and I’m sure withing these types there are many different strains that do better in certain climates. I’m sure if i spent a few few years researching grains and a few more years trying to buy the perfect grains to plant for my climate, that will mash out a perfect amount of sugar to make the perfect beer and eventually i would have a crop
OR
you can just go down to the local stockfeed store and buy a bag of RAW barley for about $9.00.
Living in a semi rural area, this was pretty easy for me. Townies may have a bit of a problem doing this BUT I’m sure if you hunt around the outer suburbs, you will find some eventually.
This RAW barley is excellent for sprouting so you can start your malting process OR just feed it to the pigs.
Step 2 – Steeping:
My Advice, Start with tiny batches i.e. about a cup full and confirm that you can actually sprout your barley to the correct point and dry it without causing the following disasters:
– it does not sprout, you have purchased “Dud” barley
– It does sprout but it went mouldy
– It sprouted and promptly died
– it sprouted and the cat ate it
– it sprouted and you dried it too soon
– it sprouted and you dried it too late
Eventually you will work out that ideal sprouting time and method that will give you a positive result.
Until then all we will be talking about here is “How I Did It” or HIDI
We started with a simple 4 layer sprouting kit like you can get from any health food store or you local hardware store, cost us about $19.00. They work great (assuming you don’t have dud Barley) BUT they are pretty small and limited to about 2 cups at a time.
This step is pretty much the same regardless of the equipment you are using.
– Steep (soak) your
Step 2 – Know your crop:
As mentioned earlier, not all barley was made equal. Once have tried a few experiments on “your” barley you will know how much to use in your recipes
http://www.briess.com/food/Processes/malttmp.php