Any demand for malted millet?

[simon12]

I have been wanted to try some for ages for gluten free brewing and am now determined I will even if it has to come from Africa. Does anyone think there is much demand for it in the UK if I get a good source?

[oldbloke]

ISTR there was somebody producing it commercially in the USA.
I'd buy enough for at least 1 5gallon trial

[simon12]

I know about the guys in the US, its one reason I think there must be some demand in the UK. I just spoke to a friend in Kenya and they use it in the village he is from and the price for it there is about 45p per Kg I am waiting for a call back regards price and any complications with shipping a small quantity to try.

[oldbloke]

How much do you reckon is needed for a 5 gallon mash? When I did my tiny experiments it seemed to have a lot less sugar than barley malt. (was I supposed to say "diastatic power" there?)
I'd like quite a dark roast if it comes ready roasted, too.
I reckon I'd be in for at least 5 kg, just for LOLs if nothing else.

[Fil]

sure would be interesting to try, dunno about a 100% millet mash tho would it have the converting enzymes present or would a token handful or 2 of malt be needed for a good mash?

[oldbloke]

sure would be interesting to try, dunno about a 100% millet mash tho would it have the converting enzymes present or would a token handful or 2 of malt be needed for a good mash?

Well if the point is to be gluten-free you can't go slinging malted barley in.
I did a bit of reading up a while back and I'm pretty sure it has the same range of enzymes, but when I did my tiny experiments I wasn't confident of my mashing so added some amylase.
The hydrometer came out way below where I'd hoped from what I'd read though so I added sugar to get the SG up.
Ended up with a very pleasant pale ale.

[Blackaddler]

I have been wanted to try some for ages for gluten free brewing and am now determined I will even if it has to come from Africa. Does anyone think there is much demand for it in the UK if I get a good source?

Local pet shop?

Isn't millet used as bird feed?

[oldbloke]

That's not malted though, malting enough for a full mash is complicated and prone to going wrong for us amateurs.
When I did my experiments I used millet from an Asian cash&carry.
If I malt my own again it'll be the kind of stuff people get for birdfood, there's some good quality white and red panicum millet on ebay

[Blackaddler]

Ah OK.

A lot of effort, then.

[simon12]

Still not heard back about shipping. There is alot more info in this forum regards using the stuff http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f164/ as its mainly american where you can buy it. Also the stuff from Kenya is finger millet no idea what the difference is but they use it to make beer.

[oldbloke]

My experiment was with pearl millet (bajra)
Wiki says finger millet has lowest fat
The US stuff will be proso aka panicum
If your import doesn't come off I may try eBay for some finger millet


Edit:
I take that back, over £7 for 100gms, the pearl millet from the Asian c&c was about a quid a kilo
I know there's panicum on eBay for sensible ish prices though

[BenB]

Only if it was going cheep

[simon12]

I found this technical document about it http://www.tzonline.org/pdf/maltingcharacteristic.pdf so it sounds good from the conclusion but I understand little of the rest. I expect shipping to be around £6-7 per Kg for small quantities by air as thats what it cost me to send stuff there in the past, hopefully I can confirm soon.

[oldbloke]

So around 80% starch with enough diastatic power to fully convert, though might be worth adding amylase.
For a 5% ale we want about 100gm sugar per litre
20l batch, 2kg sugar, so 2.5 kg malted millet

Let me know what it will cost for 5 and/or 10kg and I'll decide if I want to play

[simon12]

Still not heard back from shipper so am experimenting with unmalted millet and sweet potato (apparently high in amylase) I will star a new thread later today or tomorrow with 1st results.