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Step-mashing with home malted barley

Post #1 made 10 years ago
by bionut
Hey guys and girls :salute:

The last summer i malted about 20 kg of barley (six row i think). Now i want to experiment with it, the problem is that with homemalted grains you want to do some steps in the mashing schedule (at least a protein rest around 50-55°C) due to the non profesional malting techique.

Is there any problem if i heat the water slowly (or as quicly as my burner can do it) from a protein rest temp to the starch conversion temperature? Some say that you need a quick temperature change.

How will i keep the bag from scorching?

Is pulling the grain bag out between these steps a viable alternative?

Post #2 made 10 years ago
by joshua
Bionut, There is Nothing wrong with a Ramp/Step mashing process.

If you can find a Pizza screen the size of your Kettle, or a False Bottom, you can lift the screen .75"/20mm from the Bottom of the Kettle with 4 sets of nuts and bolts.

Pulling the bag off the Bottom is your only simple (a lot of Work) way to go.
Honest Officer, I swear to Drunk, I am Not God.
    • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From United States of America

Post #3 made 10 years ago
by Contrarian
It depends how you lift your bag, if you have a sky hook of some descriptiont that you can lock off then just lift it far enough off the bottom to prevent scorching before raising the temperature. It also depends on the grain bill as some people do this just by securing the bag to the side of the pot with pegs (how intense the heat being applied is would be a factor to consider here as well).

A stainless pizza tray a similar size to your pot with a few stainless bolts will also do the trick as will a stainless collander of a suitable size, people have also used a cake rack.

There's 101 ways to skin a cat, what works best will depend on your exact set up.

Post #4 made 10 years ago
by bionut
I am talking about lifting the bag out of the wort, not just from the bottom. I think that scorching can be done even if the bag isn't on the bottom of the pot by the very hot water trapped under it.

Post #5 made 10 years ago
by joshua
Bionut, unless you have a "Blast Furnace" heating the water, the Maximum temperature is 212F/100c.

Polyester will get Soft at 165C, and Melt at 230C. You may want to cut the Maximum heat to 50%, or you might miss the Protein Rest.

If your in a real Hurry, skip the Ramp/Step mash.
Honest Officer, I swear to Drunk, I am Not God.
    • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From United States of America

Post #6 made 10 years ago
by BDP
Hey bionut,

I believe that 1C per minute is the desired rate of heating for raising the temp during step mash. If you can't achieve this or better, I think you should consider alternative approaches.

BDP

Post #7 made 10 years ago
by DaveDoran
All good advice here.
I have a pulley system which use to lift the bag and tie off above the vessel.
Im interested in how you malted the grain.
I have some unmalted grain at home and was looking at ways to do it but could only really look at using the oven and for 1-2 days straight.

Post #8 made 10 years ago
by mally
bionut - You haven't mentioned your heating method. Is it gas or electric? If electric what elements are they?

The reason I ask is that I would not advise anybody to do SOME kinds of step mashes if using electric with kettle elements.
You are far safer with gas & low watt density electric elements. Ask me how I know :whistle:

see here.

Oh, and congratulations (& good luck) with the home malted barley. I would love to have a go at that myself.
Last edited by mally on 30 Jan 2015, 16:03, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Step-mashing with home malted barley

Post #9 made 10 years ago
by bionut
I will post a video from youtube later. I malted in the summer and dried the malt in the sun. If you gonna use the oven you will need to respect some temperatures, i belive around 50oC so you don't kill the enzimes. I will get back with the details later from my computer.

LE:
I use gas for heating. I don't know for sure how many BTUs i have.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOk0cmjdnMM this is the video that i used for malting.
As for the drying technique i will tell you the one that i am going to use with the next malting batch:
Dry at 30-35°C for 3-5 days (probably the night temp will be lower, no problem. For this temp interval you can use your attic or cellar if is it dry enough in there)
50-55°C for 1-2 days (you will need a kiln of some sort, or you kitchen oven if you do small batches. I plan to make a simple kiln with electric heating)
The last step is curing the malt at 75-80°C for 5-10 hours.

The current batch i skipped all those steps and just dryied in the summer sun. No curing at all. Probably the beer will not be a very good one.

Thats a very good and documented read http://byo.com/hops/item/1108-malting-y ... techniques
Last edited by bionut on 30 Jan 2015, 16:06, edited 1 time in total.
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