Unmalted Barley

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Gobaloon
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Unmalted Barley

Post by Gobaloon » Sun Feb 16, 2020 9:36 am

Hello!

A farmer friend gave me 25KG of Barley who he traded from someone else . I was very happy with this. When I got the bag it said Malting Barley. Went back to farmer and he said it’s Barley that is ready to be malted.

I thought farg and started to look at how I can malt the barley myself but since I am lazy, it’s still in my garage untouched.

Since then I have read that unmalted barley can be used in brewing beer although it may make cloudier, taste a bit Grainier and overall is less efficient than malted barley.

Any thoughts? I was thinking I could use some of this to subsidise my grain bill but not sure how efficient it is or what other impact it may have.

Cheers

CJ


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Last edited by Gobaloon on Sun Feb 16, 2020 9:36 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Jim
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Re: Unmalted Barley

Post by Jim » Sun Feb 16, 2020 10:54 am

I've not used raw unmalted barley myself, but I've used roasted barley (lots of it in stouts, and just a small amount in bitters) and it works fine - no problems with haze in dark beers obviously. Maybe you could look into roasting it and using it that way?

Obviously it'll need milling and then mashing with something diastatic to convert the starch if you use it as it is.
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Gobaloon
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Re: Unmalted Barley

Post by Gobaloon » Sun Feb 16, 2020 10:59 am

Cheers Jim. Good suggestion on the roasting. Will try that.

“My plan” is to start off with using maybe 10% of total grain bill and take it up to a max of 25% over the next few brews if I don’t see a negative impact. And I will be putting it through the grain mill before using.

Cheers

CJ



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Eric
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Re: Unmalted Barley

Post by Eric » Sun Feb 16, 2020 3:18 pm

Roasting barley for about 40 mins at typically 230C should produce a usable product. It won't be exactly like the commercial version and the beer produced will taste different.

More frequently I will use torrified barley, up to 10% of the grist. For this the barley is first washed and drained, then allowed to absorb some of the moisture. A couple of handfuls are spead on a micowave's turntable, run full power while listening for the grain to "pop". It won't take long to find the time needed for best results. For maximum extraction the corns should be milled, but can be used to improve run-off if not milled.

Similar can be done on a silicon sheet in an oven at 150C, but I prefer the microwave.
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Chug
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Re: Unmalted Barley

Post by Chug » Mon Feb 17, 2020 9:58 am

Plenty of info online for home malting your barley, here is a good one.
https://brewingbeerthehardway.wordpress.com/

Gobaloon
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Re: Unmalted Barley

Post by Gobaloon » Mon Feb 17, 2020 10:00 am

Thanks Chug

I am interested in doing it and read quite a bit...but...it will be another thing/distraction I will get into trouble for!

Looks like good info though. Thx for feedback.

Cheers

CJ


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Gobaloon
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Re: Unmalted Barley

Post by Gobaloon » Sun Feb 23, 2020 11:31 pm

[quote="Eric"]Roasting barley for about 40 mins at typically 230C should produce a usable product.[/quote]

Thx Eric


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