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    I was wondering if anyone was sourcing unmalted grains from local farmers. How is that working out and how do you impliment them?

  • #2
    Unmalted Grains

    Unmalted grains can be used in small quantities in some types of beers. There are limitations however. Since the grains have not been malted you will get a lot of unsoluble starch and non-degraded beta glucans from their use. This will contribute significantly to haze and sticky runoffs. Unmalted grains are typically used in wit or similar styles of beer where haze is expected. Many people use rice hulls to try and mitigate the runoff issues.

    The most important thing to keep in mind with unmalted grains, especially from a local source rather than a processor who is preparing them for use in a brewery, is that they are a haven for insects. Malt is below 5% moisture and is therefore not ideal for the growth and propagation of weavils, grain beetles etc. They can survive in malt, but will not explode like they can in unmalted barley for example. Unmalted grains are more like 12 or 13% moisture which is ideal for bugs. Bringing bugs into your brewery will of course put all of your grain at risk.

    If I wanted to get the effect of unmalted grains I'd use flaked products instead. They are pregelatinized which will help with the haze issue, and they still have their high molecular weight proteins intact which is usually the reason to use unmalted in the first place.

    Using unmalted grains is not a viable cost saving measure if that was what you were thinking.

    Cargill

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    • #3
      Really my thought was to help support "local" economy. There are several smaller farmers around that do organic crops of barley,rye and wheat that end up being partially plowed over due to them not being sold. I was trying to find a way to use those potentially lost resources.

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      • #4
        local barley

        If you have a small local maltster, you'd be better off to connect your farmers with that person - that's what we do with Gambrinus Malting. They consolidate barley from various sources, as long as the quality is up to scratch.
        Crannóg Ales
        Canada's Certified Organic, on-farm microbrewery
        www.crannogales.com

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        • #5
          Originally posted by Buckley
          Really my thought was to help support "local" economy. There are several smaller farmers around that do organic crops of barley,rye and wheat that end up being partially plowed over due to them not being sold. I was trying to find a way to use those potentially lost resources.
          Very cool thinking local! You just have to figure out storage and malting before you go get the barley. If the farmers are growing field crops organically they will have the know how to manage pests and bugs to tell you

          Call one of the farms. But they may be growing the rye and barley to improve soil organically and therefore not growing for malting quality. Found a farm in Illinois online that is growing barley for the straw!--

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          • #6
            here's a fellow making whiskey out of locally grown barley, floor malting it himself

            SPERRYVILLE, Va. -- Rick Wasmund climbs a seven-foot ladder and carefully steps into his kiln, where barley for 500 bottles' worth of whiskey lies several inches deep on the floor. It's hot in there, sometimes 150 degrees, and Wasmund's eyes are reddened from the sting of smoke, which seeps through...


            because that washington post site may require registration i'll excerpt a part here:

            Wasmund is hoping that his Wasmund's Single Malt Whisky will appeal to consumers who have shown a growing thirst for deluxe tipples.

            He begins with "thoroughbred barley," developed by Virginia Tech and grown in the state's Northern Neck. Then, with the help of his mother, Helen, and a friend, Sean McCaskey, who assists with "everything on the production end," Wasmund does the malting. The process involves soaking the grain three times, spreading it on the floor, raking it every four hours for five days until it germinates and then drying it in his kiln over wood smoke. Wasmund says he is the only distiller in the country to do his own malting.

            Bourbon, which must be made from at least 51 percent corn, is required by law to be aged in oak barrels for at least two years. Scotch, which must be made in Scotland from malted barley and other whole grains, must be aged in oak barrels for at least three years. Premium bourbons and Scotches generally are aged years longer. But Wasmund's single malt spends just four months aging in oak. So how can such a callow whiskey avoid having a bite like a Rottweiler's?

            Wasmund says his secret is "chipping," a process in which bags of charred chunks of apple, cherry and oak wood are suspended in the liquor as it ages in the barrel. That accelerates the flavoring -- and mellowing -- of the whiskey, he says. Wasmund apprenticed with Scotch distiller Bowmore on the Isle of Islay, but Kevin Erskine, who is the author of "The Instant Expert's Guide to Single Malt Scotch" and writes on the subject at http://www.thescotchblog.com/, says Wasmund's product is "very much not Scotch."

            "Rick is on to something," Erskine says on the phone from Ireland, where he is visiting the whiskey maker Bushmills. "But I would like to see Wasmund's after two years in the barrel. It takes time for wood to interact with liquid."

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            • #7
              Hey-- these guys just bought a malt kiln for the micromalting Illinois barley-- call them 'cause they work for you!

              Department of Agriculture,
              Agricultural Research Service,
              Midwest Area Office,
              1815 N. University Street,
              Peoria, IL, 61604
              (309) 685-4011

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              • #8
                Almost like calling the DMV

                Well, they were very nice but no one knew if or why the would have a kiln. One person thought that maybe the dept. that was doing bact/fungal growth in grain might have it. But he did recommend getting in contact with the University out here and some other researchers to touch base with.

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                • #9
                  USDA like the DMV

                  Wow the DMV-- like standing next to the creepy guy that smells like old burrito and trying to desperately memorize driving rules you will deny all knowledge of later?

                  Very sorry to send you through that. Maybe having the names of those solicitors for malt kiln would have put you closer to success. Wait!-- if they don't know they have a kiln can I pull up in the middle of night. . . and be sure they don't have a malt kiln

                  FedBizOpps the Way You Want It - Best listing of FedBizOpps notices, searches and subscriptions with free, on-line Archives back to 1995


                  Malt Kiln Notice Date
                  4/21/2006

                  NAICS 333994 — Industrial Process Furnace and Oven Manufacturing

                  Contracting Office
                  Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Midwest Area Office, 1815 N. University Street, Peoria, IL, 61604

                  Solicitation Number
                  5114-6-0006

                  Point of Contact
                  Georgetta Stonewall, Contract Specialist, Phone (309) 681-6624, Fax (309) 681-6683,
                  Mark Volk, Contract Specialist, Phone 309-681-6618, Fax 309-681-6683,

                  E-Mail Address
                  gstonewall@mwa.ars.usda.gov,
                  mark.volk@mwa.ars.usda.gov

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                  • #10
                    yeah not one of the 5 people I talked had knowledge of said kiln, so I doubt they will miss it right? =) On an upside I talked to a briess rep (Penny) and she said that If I could find a way to get 50,000lbs of malting quality barley she could potentially hook me up. I also had a good response from someone on the forum here, Rebel Malting in Nevada (nohandslance is his forum handle) is looking for barley sources.
                    So as it stands I think I need to get in touch with the Illinois brewers guild and see if any other brewers are of a similar mind set as me and want in or have some helpful info.

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                    • #11
                      Buckley,
                      Sent you a PM about a brewery in your neck of the woods that may be interested in the "local option"
                      Jeff Byrne

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Buckley
                        I talked to a briess rep (Penny) and she said that If I could find a way to get 50,000lbs of malting quality barley she could potentially hook me up.
                        Is 50,000 lbs the lower limit for Briess or is that what you need?

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                        • #13
                          that is the lower limit of what they will malt as long as the grain stands up to malting quality.

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                          • #14
                            Micromalting vs. Microbrewing

                            A bit of a nomenclature note here - micromalting generally does not refer to malting on a small commercial scale the way that microbrewing refers to brewing. Generally the term refers to malting on a very, very small scale for experimental purposes. I suspect that kiln for micromalting at the USDA referred to a few posts ago is precisely for this purpose - malting a few pounds at a time to evaluate barley for malting and brewing suitability.

                            Perhaps "Craft Malting" would be a better term to use for small commecial maltsters such as the one mentioned in Nevada.

                            Cargill

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