Malting

DonMateo

Does anyone out there malt their own barley or other grains?

I am toying with the concept of malting my own grains when my I finally buy my shed. I could get the equipment made up no worries.

Is it worth doing it?

Any idea of how much it costs you to malt a kilo of barley ?

grim

You can get a cleaner flavor profile with unmalted grain, simple nutrient, and exogenous enzyme.

Overmodified malts can have off-flavors as a result of amino acid precursors.

Malt isn’t necessarily better, it’s different.

I guarantee you can make cleaner vodka from unmalted grain.

I would imagine the issue with malting would be maintaining consistency.

Uisge_a_Ghlinne

I have been making my own malt for quite a few years. In small quantities it is not difficult and gives great flexibility for the final product. It does however require a little planning and careful overview when curing the malt. Regarding flavours, the reason I cured my own was to make Helles and Pils which require very clean malt and I have to say, the results were better than with bought malt. When I started, I used an electric oven with just one element to maintain the correct temperature profile when drying and curing, having a temp probe in each of the trays of malt. I am now in the process of planning a unit which will be capable of drying and curing up to about 500Kg at a time. Just remember, it is not rocket science and some very fine whiskys were made using floor malted barley hand turned and dried over peat fires.