Welp....guess I know my next build project for this rabbit hole called distilling. I wonder about maybe rigging a variable speed motor. Keep it slow when malting and then increase the speed slightly for the drying with a fan directed at vent holes...or maybe rigging hair dryer with a "cool" setting for the drying then low heat to finish. You could then also make a bucket with screeneed panels in the sides to tumble off the chaff with a higher speed after it's dried. TOO AMAZON!!!!
The variable speed motor is a great idea, just need one that maintains a high torque during higher speeds. I think a drill would work well. I did put a box fan behind the bucket for an hour or two right before I dumped it all on the drying rack. It worked, but really needed to go way faster to expedite drying. I really like your idea for the paneled sides for winnowing the chaff. Seems like the easiest way to get that done quickly. Thanks Brother. TO THE BEARD LAB!
Bearded & Bored that's why I am thinking the variable speed...so you can spin faster while drying....you could also probably hack together a sifting tray like archeologist use at dig sites for the sifting. Basically a tall sided tray with a screen bottom on a set of pivoting legs so you can quickly sift back and forth. The torque does seem to be an issue though for the motor. I did find a replacement motor for a commerical kitchen paddle stirrer that may work. It would need decent torque to stir through various sauces and such.
That'd work and be pretty easy to put together. A kitchen mixer would definitely work. Very high torque. The main thing I'd check is that the gears aren't plastic. I bought a cheap one to tear apart initially and other than the motor, everything was plastic.
For the shoot removal you could build a screened tumbler kind of like a raffle tumbler with screen small enough to hold the kernels but big enough for the dust it look like it turns into.
Years ago made a simple angled tilt bowl tumbler with a 5 gallon bucket. I used a cordless drill on slow to turn it. A person could both malt and tumble dry grain this way by using a fan. It might even take off the roots tumbling fast enough
@@BeardedBored I hot gunned a 5 gallon bucket to a 3/4"thick flat round piece of wood at the base of the bucket. The round piece of wood is Bigger then the bottom diameter of the bucket that is glued to it. The center axis of that round wood is connected to a neutral shaft. Simple bearings or two bushings. That bearing shaft sits on a piece of wood, that is hinged at the base, (or the edge of the wood piece) Connected at the bottom to a frame. That way the edge of the round diameter wood sits on another rubber roller on a shaft, by gravity. That shaft then is turned by a motor of some sorts. Or a pneumatic or electric drill. Being that the round piece of wood sits on the small rubber roller on a shaft ,it reduces the speed of the tumble. I am sorry I can't post a link here for a picture of it. Its simple but very effective. Low cost. I have two bearings on the axis of the bucket and wood its connected to. But in retrospect, a person could just use a single bearing they use at the base of swivel chairs.
I built the same robot for my barley being lazy as well I adapted mine to debeard my malt I use a wire mesh trash bin from office supply store capped it and now just roll the unwanted roots away oh ya a space heater on low pointed at it also kilns and drys them
So finally back to reality/civilisation! Freaking awesome video man. You have me inspired to make one of these! Looks like a hell of a lot of fun. And pretty awesome of you to be thinking about me!
It's that beard of yours. I think it's gentle swaying in the breeze hypnotized me to send you some corn. Too bad it got waylaid by customs:-( Now you'll have to build a tumbler to enjoy the magic of malting.
Excellent little robot! And it would work for hobby beer brewing too (which would why you need a water distiller, lol...). Must have a go at making one of these.
Have an idea for separating the roots and shoots from the grain. Make a bucket with aluminum screen windows on the sides for your tumbler. Place a tray underneath to catch everything that falls off.
Nice, I need to make one of these, just checked my latest batch of corn I was sprouting and noticed some fuzz growing again, so tossing another 10 lbs, I do have a rock tumbler but it's to small for this type work, brass tumbler moves to fast I think as well. Appreciate the information. On a side note I lived in Christchurch New Zealand for a few yrs, back in the early 80's, great place and people, still keep in touch with old friends from there.
I made a de shooter with wire fencing and a blower works good and takes little time it just depends how money and ingenuity you put in to make it but I give you credit because I got the idea from one of your videos
Hey Bearded, not my first time watching this video, and I may have mentioned this idea before, honestly i don't recall. Once germination is to the point you want to stop, just stop spritzing the grain with water, and point your fan into one of the holes? You could put a small portable heater on the other 'suck' side of the fan to blow heat into the bucket with the air, and maybe even get to skip loading into a pillow case and the dryer too. More mesh on either end might be needed to increase air flow, which would probably require more spritzing during germination, or maybe just two buckets with different sized openings in the ends, one for germinating the other for drying and winding....yep, there I am about 9-10 comments down...
I have a few vague ideas for improvements. For drying: possibly a hair dryer (with heat on or not) blowing into one of the screen holes. Or a squirrel cage type fan. For separating the roots/sprouts: Either an internal drum inside the bucket with holes smaller than the corn kernels, so the roots/sprouts fall through to the bigger bucket. Or a straight or slightly curved divider in the bucket with the same sized holes so the seeds & sprouts make their way to the smaller section of the divider. I'm not sure if these would work; like I said, vague ideas.
The fan idea will work. I tried it with just the box fan for a few hours and could feel the humidity blasting out the front end of the bucket. But I didn't know how long I could run that rotisserie motor continuously. I only have it run the tumbler for 30 minutes at a time and didn't want to risk burning it out by running for 36 hours for a drying cycle, so I opted for the window screen drying racks this time. Might try it in the future though, just to see how tough the motor is. It would save a lot of hassle to just leave the grain in the bucket. For the root separation-those are great ideas. I'll do some quick sketches to see what I can put together. Thanks so much for the ideas:-)>
For your sorting process of the dried malt use your robot. Build a caged barrel using disks on the end with braces between and screening for the bucket. When completed should look like a a cage. It will come both similar to your current process and sift out your smalls. Or drill a bunch of small holes in a bucket like you did with your aluminum foil pan. However building a small cage with screen should work well.
Bearded... I use a leaf blower on idle, set it on a chair or... Put a bucket down wind pour what ever through the air stream lights blow away heavy falls into the bucket
Easier way to dry the corn might be to use a different bucket with holes drilled in the sides and put your robot on high with a fan on it the entire time. Also use a colander with larger holes to shake the roots out. I hope this helps! I would also use food safe items for this application. The buckets from Home Depot are not food safe! Also use some Stainless steel screen. Thank you for sharing!
If you were going directly from malting to distilling, so you weren't worried about storage, you could skip the drying process and go right to the dryer for chaff removal, right?
Never tried it, but possibly. It would probably take 5-6 hours (maybe longer) on low heat. Never go above low heat, otherwise you'll destroy the enzymes necessary to convert the starches to sugar.
Hi! First of all, thank you for your diligence in constructing these vids, and I've been studying them thoroughly.. I've been building a malt kiln type of thing in combination with a malt tumbler so that I can malt year round.. I'm planning to do everything inside the kiln, but I'm not fully sure how to start the malting.. Did you soak the corn similar to the first 2part video in baking trays or did you just fling it in the bucket and started to moisten with the h2-flow? Id like to hear from you, and maybe, if you'd like, send you some pictures, and see what you have to say
Yeah you do the steep cycles first to get the grain to chit, then drain it and dump it in the tumbler. You should check out the "Grain Bench" channel. He's my malting guru;-)
Never tried it. If you try it, let me know how it goes. Just make sure it doesn't get so humid that water pools anywhere in the bucket. Slight dampness on the grain is all you need to keep the germination going.
problem with bucket slipping? tried everything then came up with this . move axle at motor down 1/2" and to left 1/2" to make up for taper .still slip some idea !!! took spray adhesive and non slip shelf line glue around bucket in 2" wide strip.. no more slipping..
Thank you very much for this video! I plan to make the same machine, but could you please provide me with some details on the motor so I could finf the replacement? I.e. what is it's wattage, torque, max weight load? A link would also be appreciated. Thank you in advance!
I've been thinking about that and will probably rig that up when I can malt enough to store some long term. I usually use it up as soon as I make it, LoL:-)
@@BeardedBored thanks, but I was unclear. My intention was for something you would drink directly after fermentation. I only put beer in quotes because without the usual grains it’s not strictly beer. My fault, forgetting who I was talking to. If you were to make a drinkable wash, how much would you use?
@@ilchickentv340 Ooooh, hahaha! 2 pounds per gallon will give you about 1.060 to 1.050 starting gravity. So after fermentation, around 5-6%abv. Do some googling on corn beer recipes like chicha for tips on how to do it;-)
Hey, thanks for the nice idea, I'll definitely try it. I have a question: can I leave the barley (or corn) to germinate in the fridge? Would that eliminate the risk of overheating? I saw that optimum temperature for germination is 18°c which I can only reach in a fridge, but I foresee an aeration problem. What do you think?
Most refrigerators are set around 4C, so unless you have a temperature controller to make it run much warmer than normal it will likely be too cold for the seeds to germinate. As long as you stir the grain bed gently to help dissipate the heat and aerate it a few times a day it should be fine at room temperature.
I have watched the video of the tumbler for malting 3 or 4 times I seemed to have missed on how much spray and how many times a day. I'm thinking about building one
3 to 4 times per day, just a few sprays will do it. The grain doesn't need to be wet, just slightly damp once it's in the tumbler. Good luck on your build!
thank you, now I like to know if you let the tumbler cut off and on? if so how long on and off? how long to soak the corn before putting in the tumbler? maybe l should go back to your video. thanks again.
@@jamesbrittain1978 I set the lamp timer to run for 30 minutes each time it comes on, and have it turn on 6 to 8 times per day, spray with water 3 times per day while it's in the tumbler. The pre-soaking cycle is 8 hours soaking, 8 hours dry, repeat 3 times. There is more detail on the soaking, what to look for in my other malting video here - th-cam.com/video/g8fBsFxcoCs/w-d-xo.html Hope that helps:-)
You can use green malt, but the green flavor will come through unless you boil the wort for at least 20 minutes after you mash. That'll give you a nice clean malt flavor.
Greetings from Tanzania BB. We have challenges here, not least of which is lack of quality beer and ale. Started brewing recently with 'kits' brought back from the UK and USA. However, the kits are now used and we only have yeast and hops, no malt! We are going to have a go at making our own, but here comes the challenge, we can't get barley here! We can get wheat, rice and corn. What mixture could we use, of these grains, to use as a base for our malt mash? Happy brewing, Gary.
That is a tough one. Let me ask you some questions to see if we can find some good brewing options for you. Can you order barley online? If not, how about malt extract? Are there any other grains available like millet, teff, amaranth, etc? If shipping is going to be too much hassle I'd say malt some corn and wheat, maybe even some rice too. You can even roast small portions of the malted grains to add color and flavor so you're not stuck drinking only pale beers. Sorghum is also common in Tanzania. You could try substituting sorghum syrup for malt extract syrup for a gravity boost. Let me know what beer styles you'd be most interested in trying to see if I can get a recipe together. Thanks for the challenge!😀
Hi Bearded and Bored. Many thanks for getting back to us so quickly. Getting malt/grain delivered or brought into Tanzania is a pain. As a 'shipment' it's expensive, as we aren't talking huge amounts. To ask friends to bring it in as part of luggage allowance is pushing friendship boundaries lol. We have two brewers here, InBev and Diageo. We are actually trying to find a contact within one of these 'big guys' who is willing to supply us with malt (10 / 20lbs) on a regular basis? I also know that they use millet/sorghum here in their brews. Question, If we can get malt from the brewers here, can we further roast it for a darker beer, even though it may have been malted weeks/months previously? Tanzania produces barley and millet, but it's all sold directly to the brewers before it's harvested. Beer styles....We would kill for an IPA, Belgium blond or a nicely coloured, Harvest beer. All we have here are generic larger type beers, think Bud, Bud Lite, Coors etc. Many thanks, have a great day and fun brewing. :)
I hear you on the shipping troubles. My attempt to send corn to Jesse ended with my shipment going into an incinerator in the customs office. Brother, if you can get malt from one of the big brewers, do it:-) You might have to grease some palms, but it's for a good cause. (And yes, you can absolutely roast the malted barley even if it's not the freshest. Once it's dried it keeps for months. For 5 gallon batches you'll only need to roast small amounts of malt to add to your base malt.) If they're willing to sell you some malt, try asking to buy some hops too. You're going to run out eventually. Might as well get a source set up now, or get some seeds and try to grow your own hops. If you have a local market where you can talk to growers, ask around to see if anyone grows barley. You never know what you'll find. Also, do some research on yeast washing. Basically you harvest yeast from the bottom of your fermenter, rinse it, let it settle, pour off the water and top it up with clean water. Or make a perpetual yeast starter to keep a healthy stock on hand. The biggest problem with a mostly wheat beer is that it'll always be cloudy. Not necessarily bad, but sometimes you want a crystal clear beer. Corn and rice are fine for adjuncts, but if they make up too much of the total grain bill it can come out tasting thin and watery. If you can get your hands on some barley any beer forum will have a shit ton of great recipes. I'll get back to you tomorrow night with a wheat/corn/rice recipe in case you can't secure barley. Good luck!
Bearded & Bored. What star you are 😊. BTW, hops/yeast not a problem because it's light and we just tell customs it's 'hops and yeast for cooking', not a lie? Lol. Have a great day. Right, now where's my book with all my contacts...........
I find it awesome that I'm talking to another person about beer brewing all the way in Tanzania. God, I LOVE the internet! You have a great day too:-)>
Hey, good video. Have you ever come across any data regarding sugar content of fresh picked sweet corn vs dried field corn? I know the sweet corn is sweeter, but how much sweeter as far as converting to ethanol and other processes. I live in the Ozarks of Missouri and distilling for private use, up to 200 gallons per year for two adults in a household, is legal here. I also have many Amish neighbors who grow fine organic sweet corn. Even frozen sweet corn from Walmart makes a sweet mash, so I was wondering if sweet corn straight off the stalk/cob and into the kettle would be a sugar fest.
I've seen it mentioned in the homedistiller.org forum, but haven't run across real data on sweet corn being better. What I have seen is that sweet corn has less starch and more sugar. But I never found a ratio. I don't know if they balance out, or if field corn would be higher in sugar post-conversion vs sweet corn. Either way, I'd still do a conversion mash on the sweet corn and add some barley malt or amylase powder and give it an hour at 155F just to make sure all the starch is converted to sugar. Wouldn't want to waste it;-)> If you test it out for yourself, let us know what happens!
So I built one a few weeks ago and it works good for like a day then the wheels just spin and the bucket doesn’t move, I got the blue rubber wheels from Harbor F. Cuz they seemed grippier. I tweaked everything possible short of remaking the whole thing with the drive axel in the center and two wheels on each side to keep it centered above the axel or adding another axel and make em both drive? Have you had this issue at all? It’s like the wheels make the bucket slick as hell after running awhile
I had trouble with dust sticking to the wheels and reducing their grip. Didn't seem to matter how clean they started, or how clean the bucket was. My solution was to wrap a long bungie cord over the bucket to add a little bit of compressive force to maintain wheel contact. Seems to have done the trick. You could also try using a wire wheel on a drill to scuff up the outside of the bucket and give the wheels some more friction. Let me know how it goes.
@@BeardedBored i found the same thing. cleaning didnt change much, i scotch brighted one bucket and that seemed to make it worse, tried this wide tape. im sure the bungee cord would do the trick cuz if i push down when its spinning it goes fine. i think it might have to do with the taper on the bucket causes the one wheel to slip a little.. ill prolly end up remaking it with a center axle but im having some serious problems malting too and i dont get it cuz ive done it several times flawlessly and now i cant at all. did you make the bungee like a belt around the axle or just over the bucket and secured to the base? wish i could show you the bucket i made with perforated aluminum sheet on the top and bottom
@@dougwelsh3989 I hooked the bungie cord to each side of the base, but kept is close to the wheel that was slipping the most. I'd be happy to see what you built. Send me an email. i.am.bearded.and.bored at gmail
out of curiosity -- what's the point of malting corn? I've been doing it too, and I wonder how necessary it actually is. Corn gelatinizes (releases the starches into aqueous solution) at around 180-200 *F, which is about 50* F too high for a-amylase and b-gluconase, and they start to break down, thus undoing all your hard work malting the corn to develop those enzymes in the first place. Barley, rye and wheat on the other gelatinize roughly between 140-150*F. I've been having lower than expected conversion rates from my malted corn, which I mash as normal along with my barley and rye at ~145*F. I expected a 10% ABV beer and ended up with around 8% twice. I'm doing another batch soon - 12 lbs corn, 4 lbs of 6 row, 3 lbs rye and 1 lb rice hulls to prevent a stuck mash. 5.5 gallons going into the fermenter, which should give me a 1.100 starting gravity, I've been getting more like 1.070 with this same recipe. I'm going to try gelatinizing the corn at around 200*F, letting the mash drop to ~150*F and then mash in my barley and rye and let it do it's thing like I normally do with beer. I'm hoping that gelatinizing the corn first is going to get me where I should be with my starting gravity so if that works, then I really have to question how useful malting the corn is? unless you wanted to do an all corn brew, gelatinize half of it, and then convert the mash with a second addition of highly modified and very finely milled corn malt. but I question how good the result would be, both in terms of flavor and conversion rate. I just don't think corn has enough enzymes on it's own to do the heavy lifting.
First, let me say DANG! That is a heavy mash bill :-) Must be a workout to stir it, but that's a heck of a yield for an all grain mash. Most folks add sugar to get an OG that high. Respect! Your observations are spot on. Malted corn only has a Lintner rating of about 30 as opposed to 2-row barley at around 120L, so the corn has about enough diastatic power to convert itself and that's it. Interestingly, if the malted corn is still fresh the Lintner rating jumps to over 200L, but green malt has it's own set of issues. Since the corn is malted most folks don't gelatinize it since that will kill the enzymes. They'll instead opt for overnight mashes, or fermenting on grain to get the most out of it. I don't bother for beers, but for ...other things... I'll let it go overnight in a hot ice chest and ferment on-grain since enzyme action will continue slowly even at the much lower temps. However, I completely agree with gelatinizing just to see what that does to your yield. Let the barley do the conversion. I'm guessing your yield will go up a bit. I'm very curious as to how it turns out. Let us know how it goes. BTW, since I haven't tried a 100% corn mash yet I mainly malt my corn for the flavor, and I like the tinkering aspect of the hobby as much as the drinking, probably more. Good luck on your next batch and thanks for posting!
I had not considered fermenting on grain. Been brewing beer for several years and I go to great lengths to ensure my finished product is crystal clear. My typical plan of attack is Irish moss in kettle > gelatin + cold crash post ferment > 1 micron canister filtration prior to force carb in keg. I get commercial quality beer on tap. I guess it just never occurred to me to leave it on the grain. I use a marine cooler mash tun for beer, I’d have to get a bucket just for that. I suppose when what’s coming out is crystal clear for ... other reasons.. I guess it matters less how clear to beer is beforehand. I may try that with a future brew!
Yep, depends on the final purpose of the wort. If you need it for something other than beer you can really do a lot more to it. You can be rougher with it since oxidation isn't really a concern. I'd still filter it as clear as you can before it goes into a boiler because particulate scorching will ruin your product. Good luck.
welp... the latest batch is fermenting away right now. I gelatinized the corn at 200*F, let it drop to 150*F and mashed in the rye/barley. The corn ended up soaking up WAY more water than expected, I had to run about 3 gallons of sparge water through to get ~5 gallons. SG went up to 1.080, so that's a .01 increase. I'll have to play with the amount of strike water to get this recipe dialed in, but I'm on the right track. Pitched onto a gallon of backset + yeast cake from two prior generations. Assuming an FG of 1.010 (which is probably pretty conservative), I'll get about a 9% ABV beer. Not too shabby for AG.
You, my friend, are a fuckin genius. I am making one now. Then I'm going to check if you posted a video on how to grind it. Because my coffee grinder has a hard time.
No video specifically on grinding unfortunately. Corn kernels are so big that they don't fit through most brewing grain crushers. I got tired of beating the crap out of my food processor, so I got one of those old timey hand crank grinders on Amazon. That thing rips through corn:-)
The shaking off of the sprouts, I am wondering if you could use a sifting pan, used in gold panning > www.amazon.com/SE-GP2-14-Patented-Stackable-Sifting/dp/B008B0T5Z2. They are usually mesh bottoms of different sizes. You could also try a mesh roasting pan like this one > www.amazon.com/Charcoal-Companion-Stainless-Roasting-11-Inch/dp/B0099I5U0O/ Not sure if the holes are the right size. But it's a place to start looking, or you could fabricate something similar on your own using the right size mesh. If you made your own, you could make a top and bottom piece that close together, clamshell style, and then you could violently shake it all around. Another idea, albeit kinda crazy, is to make another apparatus similar to your robot. But build a mesh tube, like a minnow trap, with holes slightly smaller than the grain size, and rotate it at a high speed, it might cause the sprouts/shoots to break off and pass through the mesh, while the grain stays inside. You could even house it inside a 5gal bucket. Minnow trap > www.amazon.com/Gees-G40-Minnow-Trap-Extension/dp/B07P6N7GS6
No, malting converts starches in the grain into sugars:-) Without malting you just have starch, which does not ferment without the introduction of a source of enzymes.
@@BeardedBored I didnt know if malting the grains ended up making the grains use the sugars after they're converted. I guess that would happen if you let it go too long??
@@micahcarey3042 Yeah, if you let them go beyond sprouting they will start using the sugars for growth, but that takes several more days. Basically if leaves are growing then that's too far, LoL:-) From studies I read, the maximum enzyme production is around 6-7 days from first root growth.
to get separate the chaff from the grain take it out on a windy and slowly pour the grain into another container the wind will take the chaff and the grain will land in the bucket. This is called winnowing
All right people, can someone give me a clue? I am trying to do ethanol to use in vehicles using corn. I wanted to know if i can use 100% malted corn, and if this is goingo to give a good yield. Also, i wanted to know what the proportions are between malted and normal corn to have a good yield. I live in brazil, and here we use sugar cane, but i want to experiment with other grains starting with corn. Buying enzymes is no an option for me unfortunately
Hi Lucas, If all you need is fuel then cane sugar is the best option. The yield is much better and you won't need enzymes, and you save time since you don't have to cook grain. If you still want to try using corn for fuel you can use 100% malted corn. Malted corn has very low enzyme content so you can't use unmalted corn. For maximum enzyme content grind it while the malt is still wet and fresh and has the roots and sprouts on it since you won't need to worry about flavor. Fresh wet malt makes liquor taste bad and has a flavor like fresh cut grass, but if you just need fuel, then that is not a problem. I would use fresh wet malt for making fuel, and not bother drying it since the wet malt has a much higher enzyme content than dried malt. However, if you need to use dried corn malt because your vehicle wants the ethanol to taste good😉, you'll need to boost the enzyme content of your mash. Corn has a very low enzyme content so if you can get some malted barley to add to you batch, or malt your own barley I would do that to make sure you have full conversion. Barley has a much higher enzyme content than corn so if you make sure that at least 20% of your grain is malted barley you will get full conversion of the starches for maximum yield. Let me know if you have any questions about this. Check out this channel - th-cam.com/channels/atCieEI4cPNteKXzBomVMQ.html for lots of great advice on this topic. Also, this channel - th-cam.com/channels/ThY8lOKKkVDd9HVBT59zCg.html has great videos on still building, refining your process, making cuts and things like that. Good luck:-)>
Bearded & Bored wow, this answer was way more than i have expected. You know, the information you put there no money can buy. Thanks a lot, this will surely help imensily. I am really gratefull for this info. Hugs from brazil my friend.
Gr8 video. 2 things I give me the shits about Jessie's TH-cam channel. 1. Very rarely, he tells you how much hearts he gets l. tells about fore shots and the heads. By look of the jar, not much. 2 he never taste mash b4 distill it. I always have smell and taste.
lazy? i dunno about that. i would consider it innovative. i knew a guy that used to collect sap that made his own collection system with some hospital tubing, and he had a piece of unistrut hing by wire in front of his fire place, which was for the express purpose of resting his hot dog fork to roast his brats, and he was working on a little motor to keep them turning over the fire so he didnt have to do anything with them. fantastic guy. you guys would get around just famously.
what about making a screen gage and use a rotisserie to turn the gage on a gas grill at the right temperature. haven't tried it but it might work. better than facing my wife standing in front of the dryer saying no way. just a suggestion
You could dry it in that type of set up out in the sun for a few days, but I wouldn't use the gas grill because it might over heat the grains and denature the enzymes you need in the malt. First time I used my dryer I told my wife I was drying my sneakers, LoL. She said "Your shoes smell like corn chips.", ha ha!
thank you for your response, I was thinking using a thermometer and weighing corn before and weighing after a time to get a dry check.i have heard of drying in an oven,
want sum kick ass likkr .. do a Rye , Apple .and use Brown Sugar . malt your corn and malt your Corn .. now here is the kicker . ferment these 3 sepparate and then when you distill them . run all 3 at the same time threw a manifold .. you will get the carmal apple flavor with the Pepper bite , very nice . and who dont like carmel apples .
Why don't you create a second 5 gal tumbling chamber made of mesh, then rather than spreading your malt over screens with a big fan under them, point a big fan at your mesh basket and dry it that way? If your hole size is right, you may lose a bunch of your roots and shoots even before final drying in your clothes dryer.
I've been thinking about it. Might need to build a different rig since this motor is so slow. Not sure if the gentle tumbling would do much. Might need speed comparable to the dryer.
yeah i see many others suggested the same,,of course the screen has to be just the right size but it will def be light weight and easier to run for a faster motor or slow ,either way ,,i still did not understand about your tumbler ,is this process from start to finish of malting or only one part of the end process? do they sprout while being tumbled?
heck you could probably put a space heater or small oven under it and roast while tumbling like they do with coffee beans in case you wish to make specialty grains,,btw do all these malted grains start as a base pale and then get kilned to desired types from there? cause im wondering if the sprouting time is the same for all grains or if some are sprouted for longer periods depending on what they want that end result to be ,be it pilsen,chocolate,munich etc etc
You soak the grain in water for 8 hours, drain for 8 hrs, repeat 3 more cycles, then toss them in the tumbler. They'll sprout in the tumbler over the next several days with a few squirts of water each day.
Still a bit broken up about it. Hope the customs guys gave it a good funeral in the incinerator. Maybe they played a bag pipe dirge as the box went into the flames.😢
Awww you guys never been on a corn farm. th-cam.com/video/LBmqqG2MgU8/w-d-xo.html You could build a mini version using a post hole auger for a hand drill since this won't be in the middle of a field you can use electric heating elements which makes temp control dead simple, the chafe removal could be done with a couple PC muffin fans, even if it doesn't initially remove the chafe when it's wet it will once it dries, anything less flimsy than the corn will get turned to a very fine dust in short order, most of your chafe will come off looking like flour (it can be pretty flammable too so take some precautions to not let it become air born near any open flame) There would be a bit of fabrication with the bottom and the inside screen but it wouldn't be impossible. The key thing is to keep the grain falling through a warm (dry) stream of air, now I'm thinking of other ways to do this with just a conveyor belt. I look forward to seeing what you come up with. H/T to Still It for recommending your channel, he knows his audience.
I think I've seen one of these on the farm near my parents' land, but never knew what it was for. I'll have to watch that video a few more time to see about adapting some of that design for my small scale set up. Thanks for the link and ideas:-)>
I give you the credit as I get a lot of my ideas from your videos thank you so much ! I'm a disabled vet and I started watching your videos a few years ago it has given me renewed purpose and my oldest son and I have become so much closer because of our shared interest in distilling hes 40 so don't worry and because of my health I can't drink but I love creating something people enjoy . Thank you so much I will allways consider you a freind !
Great question. I've never done more than multiple rinsing, but I've thought about testing to see if using a contact sanitizer like StarSan would be a helpful step to prevent infection. Since StarSan is a no-rinse sanitizer safe for brewing and food contact it can't hurt to try. Let me know if you try it because I'd be very interested to hear the results:-)>
I don't have any experience with sodium nitrate so I don't know if that would have any effect on the germination, or if it would have any effect on the yeast once you're ready to ferment. Sodium nitrate is a preservative, and some preservatives will stop yeast activity, but I don't know if that would. If you're going to try sodium nitrate I'd do a small test batch. Malt the corn, dry it, grind it, make a mash and see if it will ferment. That way if there is a problem you're not losing 50 pounds of corn, just a small batch. Hopefully it'll work though. If you want to try StarSan too here's a link for the one I get. amzn.to/2i4upw2 1oz will do 5 gallons of water which should be enough for a 50 pound bag of corn. Basically as long as the corn gets wet with whatever sanitizer solution you use, it should be enough to kill any nasties.
Welp....guess I know my next build project for this rabbit hole called distilling. I wonder about maybe rigging a variable speed motor. Keep it slow when malting and then increase the speed slightly for the drying with a fan directed at vent holes...or maybe rigging hair dryer with a "cool" setting for the drying then low heat to finish. You could then also make a bucket with screeneed panels in the sides to tumble off the chaff with a higher speed after it's dried. TOO AMAZON!!!!
Blind Squirrel it's sweet eh?
The variable speed motor is a great idea, just need one that maintains a high torque during higher speeds. I think a drill would work well. I did put a box fan behind the bucket for an hour or two right before I dumped it all on the drying rack. It worked, but really needed to go way faster to expedite drying. I really like your idea for the paneled sides for winnowing the chaff. Seems like the easiest way to get that done quickly. Thanks Brother. TO THE BEARD LAB!
Bearded & Bored that's why I am thinking the variable speed...so you can spin faster while drying....you could also probably hack together a sifting tray like archeologist use at dig sites for the sifting. Basically a tall sided tray with a screen bottom on a set of pivoting legs so you can quickly sift back and forth.
The torque does seem to be an issue though for the motor. I did find a replacement motor for a commerical kitchen paddle stirrer that may work. It would need decent torque to stir through various sauces and such.
That'd work and be pretty easy to put together. A kitchen mixer would definitely work. Very high torque. The main thing I'd check is that the gears aren't plastic. I bought a cheap one to tear apart initially and other than the motor, everything was plastic.
You know I've been keeping an eye out for one of those curbside treasures for a while. No luck yet, but hopefully I'll find one soon:-)>
I like how friendly all you TH-camrs are with each other. Crossover, and semi-crossover episodes are some of my favorites.
Mine too. Jesse and I got started at the same time and have been friends the whole time. It's really cool to work with great folks on here:-)
yes this is one of the better instuction videos that i have seen in the brewing world. thumbs up thanks.
For the shoot removal you could build a screened tumbler kind of like a raffle tumbler with screen small enough to hold the kernels but big enough for the dust it look like it turns into.
Years ago made a simple angled tilt bowl tumbler with a 5 gallon bucket. I used a cordless drill on slow to turn it. A person could both malt and tumble dry grain this way by using a fan. It might even take off the roots tumbling fast enough
Cool idea!
@@BeardedBored I would say slow tumble in the water spraying mode, with a cover off and on. Then a faster tumble when the fan for drying is needed.
@@BeardedBored I hot gunned a 5 gallon bucket to a 3/4"thick flat round piece of wood at the base of the bucket.
The round piece of wood is Bigger then the bottom diameter of the bucket that is glued to it. The center axis of that round wood is connected to a neutral shaft. Simple bearings or two bushings. That bearing shaft sits on a piece of wood, that is hinged at the base, (or the edge of the wood piece) Connected at the bottom to a frame. That way the edge of the round diameter wood sits on another rubber roller on a shaft, by gravity. That shaft then is turned by a motor of some sorts. Or a pneumatic or electric drill. Being that the round piece of wood sits on the small rubber roller on a shaft ,it reduces the speed of the tumble. I am sorry I can't post a link here for a picture of it. Its simple but very effective. Low cost. I have two bearings on the axis of the bucket and wood its connected to. But in retrospect, a person could just use a single bearing they use at the base of swivel chairs.
@@NormBaker. Cool design:-)
I corrected this explanation a little. Refresh .
I built the same robot for my barley being lazy as well I adapted mine to debeard my malt I use a wire mesh trash bin from office supply store capped it and now just roll the unwanted roots away oh ya a space heater on low pointed at it also kilns and drys them
Dude, you rock!!! Thanks so much for the tips:-)>
So finally back to reality/civilisation! Freaking awesome video man.
You have me inspired to make one of these! Looks like a hell of a lot of fun. And pretty awesome of you to be thinking about me!
It's that beard of yours. I think it's gentle swaying in the breeze hypnotized me to send you some corn. Too bad it got waylaid by customs:-( Now you'll have to build a tumbler to enjoy the magic of malting.
Why get ridd of roots and shoots and not just mill everything ?
Excellent! I came over from Still it.
This solves a problem that I didn't know that I will have, and now won't.
Glad I could help you avoid problems:-)
Just finished my tumbler. Got the first run of malt in it. TYVM for this video
Glad I could help. Hope your batch turns out great!
That’s awesome dude, I’ve been doing it in a big plastic garbage can with a bunch of holes in it. But I have to turn it by hand.
Love your malting vids, didn't realize you had made them. Great information and a cool robot, I think I'll start the manual method for my first UJSSM
Excellent little robot! And it would work for hobby beer brewing too (which would why you need a water distiller, lol...). Must have a go at making one of these.
Yep. Need clean water for brewing beer;-)
I use the tumble dryer. remove te screen it clean the barley from all shoots, sprouts and any loos staff.
Hey buddie good to see you back...
Going to build mine with a fifteen gallon barrel and a bigger motor thanks for the great ideas an information.
Gonna make some big boy sized batches;-)
@@BeardedBored Go big or go home is my motto
I use a plastic colander with slots and just stir with hand Love your work 👍. I’m going to try the Kentucky common cheers 🍺
Thanks Michael! Hope you enjoy the Kentucky Common:-)
Have an idea for separating the roots and shoots from the grain. Make a bucket with aluminum screen windows on the sides for your tumbler. Place a tray underneath to catch everything that falls off.
Nice!
Nice, I need to make one of these, just checked my latest batch of corn I was sprouting and noticed some fuzz growing again, so tossing another 10 lbs, I do have a rock tumbler but it's to small for this type work, brass tumbler moves to fast I think as well. Appreciate the information. On a side note I lived in Christchurch New Zealand for a few yrs, back in the early 80's, great place and people, still keep in touch with old friends from there.
Speaking of Kiwi's check out the Angry Parrot channel. Another NZ hobby distiller who makes some really great builds.
I've got a case tumbler that would probably work for knocking off the roots
I made a de shooter with wire fencing and a blower works good and takes little time it just depends how money and ingenuity you put in to make it but I give you credit because I got the idea from one of your videos
Very cool:-)
NO!!!!! You are not full of crap!!!! Another great video! Love your channel Bearded!!!!
Haha! Thanks man:-)>
Hey Bearded, not my first time watching this video, and I may have mentioned this idea before, honestly i don't recall. Once germination is to the point you want to stop, just stop spritzing the grain with water, and point your fan into one of the holes? You could put a small portable heater on the other 'suck' side of the fan to blow heat into the bucket with the air, and maybe even get to skip loading into a pillow case and the dryer too. More mesh on either end might be needed to increase air flow, which would probably require more spritzing during germination, or maybe just two buckets with different sized openings in the ends, one for germinating the other for drying and winding....yep, there I am about 9-10 comments down...
Thanks Mark...again, LoL;-)
Nice background music not annoying or drowning a great example
Jessie is pretty darn cool!
I have a few vague ideas for improvements.
For drying: possibly a hair dryer (with heat on or not) blowing into one of the screen holes. Or a squirrel cage type fan.
For separating the roots/sprouts: Either an internal drum inside the bucket with holes smaller than the corn kernels, so the roots/sprouts fall through to the bigger bucket. Or a straight or slightly curved divider in the bucket with the same sized holes so the seeds & sprouts make their way to the smaller section of the divider. I'm not sure if these would work; like I said, vague ideas.
The fan idea will work. I tried it with just the box fan for a few hours and could feel the humidity blasting out the front end of the bucket. But I didn't know how long I could run that rotisserie motor continuously. I only have it run the tumbler for 30 minutes at a time and didn't want to risk burning it out by running for 36 hours for a drying cycle, so I opted for the window screen drying racks this time. Might try it in the future though, just to see how tough the motor is. It would save a lot of hassle to just leave the grain in the bucket.
For the root separation-those are great ideas. I'll do some quick sketches to see what I can put together. Thanks so much for the ideas:-)>
Threadlock might be good as the higher strength does take a lot of force to undo. But could be undone for further needs/builds.
Yeah, I had expected this dude to use red locktite instead of epoxy...
Very cool. You do know that if you ground up some of roots and shoots with some of the corn that you have a natural yeast for home brewing right?
Thumbs up on your work!
For your sorting process of the dried malt use your robot. Build a caged barrel using disks on the end with braces between and screening for the bucket. When completed should look like a a cage. It will come both similar to your current process and sift out your smalls. Or drill a bunch of small holes in a bucket like you did with your aluminum foil pan. However building a small cage with screen should work well.
@@raddad701 Thanks man, great idea!
Malting other grains is I know same process. But how long of sprout on wheat or more specifically triticale before stopping the process. Thanks
Bearded... I use a leaf blower on idle, set it on a chair or... Put a bucket down wind pour what ever through the air stream lights blow away heavy falls into the bucket
Thanks for the tip!
nice little set up.
Hey thanks!
Easier way to dry the corn might be to use a different bucket with holes drilled in the sides and put your robot on high with a fan on it the entire time. Also use a colander with larger holes to shake the roots out. I hope this helps! I would also use food safe items for this application. The buckets from Home Depot are not food safe! Also use some Stainless steel screen. Thank you for sharing!
I thought the same thing about home depot buckets, but they are HDPE plastic which is food safe. Thanks so much for your suggestions on the drying:-)
If you were going directly from malting to distilling, so you weren't worried about storage, you could skip the drying process and go right to the dryer for chaff removal, right?
Never tried it, but possibly. It would probably take 5-6 hours (maybe longer) on low heat. Never go above low heat, otherwise you'll destroy the enzymes necessary to convert the starches to sugar.
Could you just whack the bits back in the tumbler and ramp the speed up to knick the dried shoots off?
It's a 1 speed motor, very slow. With the current setup if you get it all dried and let it tumble for a week or so, that would maybe do it.
@@BeardedBored cheap battery drill maybe, and a couple of zip ties?
Hi! First of all, thank you for your diligence in constructing these vids, and I've been studying them thoroughly.. I've been building a malt kiln type of thing in combination with a malt tumbler so that I can malt year round.. I'm planning to do everything inside the kiln, but I'm not fully sure how to start the malting.. Did you soak the corn similar to the first 2part video in baking trays or did you just fling it in the bucket and started to moisten with the h2-flow? Id like to hear from you, and maybe, if you'd like, send you some pictures, and see what you have to say
Yeah you do the steep cycles first to get the grain to chit, then drain it and dump it in the tumbler. You should check out the "Grain Bench" channel. He's my malting guru;-)
@@BeardedBored thanks! Will do!
Can you use a humidifier through your tumbler instead of spray??
Never tried it. If you try it, let me know how it goes. Just make sure it doesn't get so humid that water pools anywhere in the bucket. Slight dampness on the grain is all you need to keep the germination going.
problem with bucket slipping? tried everything then came up with this . move axle at motor down 1/2" and to left 1/2" to make up for taper .still slip some idea !!! took spray adhesive and non slip shelf line glue around bucket in 2" wide strip.. no more slipping..
Nice!
Thank you very much for this video! I plan to make the same machine, but could you please provide me with some details on the motor so I could finf the replacement?
I.e. what is it's wattage, torque, max weight load?
A link would also be appreciated.
Thank you in advance!
I linked all the parts in the video description. Click "show more" to expand that section to show the link. Good luck on your build.
@@BeardedBored Oops, now I feel dumb for not checking it first. Thank you anyway, and please keep up the great work you're doing!
Is it worth the work of malting corn in relation to the amount of sugar released. ??
Would love the Measurements of the 2"x4" so I have Rough estimate of what to build... if u can help
for removing roots and shoots. just make a screen bucket with a faster motor to tumble it over a tray to capture all the debris.
I've been thinking about that and will probably rig that up when I can malt enough to store some long term. I usually use it up as soon as I make it, LoL:-)
How much would you use per gallon for a corn only “beer?” For gluten free purposes.
2-3 pounds per gallon...for "beer";-)
@@BeardedBored thanks, but I was unclear. My intention was for something you would drink directly after fermentation. I only put beer in quotes because without the usual grains it’s not strictly beer. My fault, forgetting who I was talking to. If you were to make a drinkable wash, how much would you use?
@@ilchickentv340 Ooooh, hahaha! 2 pounds per gallon will give you about 1.060 to 1.050 starting gravity. So after fermentation, around 5-6%abv. Do some googling on corn beer recipes like chicha for tips on how to do it;-)
Hey, thanks for the nice idea, I'll definitely try it.
I have a question: can I leave the barley (or corn) to germinate in the fridge? Would that eliminate the risk of overheating? I saw that optimum temperature for germination is 18°c which I can only reach in a fridge, but I foresee an aeration problem. What do you think?
Most refrigerators are set around 4C, so unless you have a temperature controller to make it run much warmer than normal it will likely be too cold for the seeds to germinate. As long as you stir the grain bed gently to help dissipate the heat and aerate it a few times a day it should be fine at room temperature.
I have watched the video of the tumbler for malting 3 or 4 times I seemed to have missed on how much spray and how many times a day. I'm thinking about building one
3 to 4 times per day, just a few sprays will do it. The grain doesn't need to be wet, just slightly damp once it's in the tumbler. Good luck on your build!
thank you, now I like to know if you let the tumbler cut off and on? if so how long on and off? how long to soak the corn before putting in the tumbler? maybe l should go back to your video. thanks again.
@@jamesbrittain1978 I set the lamp timer to run for 30 minutes each time it comes on, and have it turn on 6 to 8 times per day, spray with water 3 times per day while it's in the tumbler. The pre-soaking cycle is 8 hours soaking, 8 hours dry, repeat 3 times. There is more detail on the soaking, what to look for in my other malting video here - th-cam.com/video/g8fBsFxcoCs/w-d-xo.html Hope that helps:-)
Can you go ahead and use the multi grain while it’s still wet or do you still have to dry it
You can use green malt, but the green flavor will come through unless you boil the wort for at least 20 minutes after you mash. That'll give you a nice clean malt flavor.
You can take the same idea but for the drum, use a small hole hardware cloth as a couple panels in a bucket
I've seen bigger tumblers from plastic drums. Might need one someday:-)
@@BeardedBored you have me stoked to try sprouting my hard red wheat and try to make a mash. 350 lbs could make me a whole lot of shine. Hopefully
@@gregbreitz972 Practice on 5lbs first if you haven't malted before so you know what to look and smell for.
So, it's been a while. Would you still recommend building this? What's your thoughts? Thanks.
Greetings from Tanzania BB. We have challenges here, not least of which is lack of quality beer and ale. Started brewing recently with 'kits' brought back from the UK and USA. However, the kits are now used and we only have yeast and hops, no malt! We are going to have a go at making our own, but here comes the challenge, we can't get barley here! We can get wheat, rice and corn. What mixture could we use, of these grains, to use as a base for our malt mash? Happy brewing, Gary.
That is a tough one. Let me ask you some questions to see if we can find some good brewing options for you. Can you order barley online? If not, how about malt extract? Are there any other grains available like millet, teff, amaranth, etc? If shipping is going to be too much hassle I'd say malt some corn and wheat, maybe even some rice too. You can even roast small portions of the malted grains to add color and flavor so you're not stuck drinking only pale beers. Sorghum is also common in Tanzania. You could try substituting sorghum syrup for malt extract syrup for a gravity boost. Let me know what beer styles you'd be most interested in trying to see if I can get a recipe together. Thanks for the challenge!😀
Hi Bearded and Bored. Many thanks for getting back to us so quickly.
Getting malt/grain delivered or brought into Tanzania is a pain. As a 'shipment' it's expensive, as we aren't talking huge amounts. To ask friends to bring it in as part of luggage allowance is pushing friendship boundaries lol.
We have two brewers here, InBev and Diageo. We are actually trying to find a contact within one of these 'big guys' who is willing to supply us with malt (10 / 20lbs) on a regular basis? I also know that they use millet/sorghum here in their brews.
Question, If we can get malt from the brewers here, can we further roast it for a darker beer, even though it may have been malted weeks/months previously?
Tanzania produces barley and millet, but it's all sold directly to the brewers before it's harvested.
Beer styles....We would kill for an IPA, Belgium blond or a nicely coloured, Harvest beer. All we have here are generic larger type beers, think Bud, Bud Lite, Coors etc.
Many thanks, have a great day and fun brewing. :)
I hear you on the shipping troubles. My attempt to send corn to Jesse ended with my shipment going into an incinerator in the customs office.
Brother, if you can get malt from one of the big brewers, do it:-) You might have to grease some palms, but it's for a good cause. (And yes, you can absolutely roast the malted barley even if it's not the freshest. Once it's dried it keeps for months. For 5 gallon batches you'll only need to roast small amounts of malt to add to your base malt.) If they're willing to sell you some malt, try asking to buy some hops too. You're going to run out eventually. Might as well get a source set up now, or get some seeds and try to grow your own hops. If you have a local market where you can talk to growers, ask around to see if anyone grows barley. You never know what you'll find.
Also, do some research on yeast washing. Basically you harvest yeast from the bottom of your fermenter, rinse it, let it settle, pour off the water and top it up with clean water. Or make a perpetual yeast starter to keep a healthy stock on hand.
The biggest problem with a mostly wheat beer is that it'll always be cloudy. Not necessarily bad, but sometimes you want a crystal clear beer. Corn and rice are fine for adjuncts, but if they make up too much of the total grain bill it can come out tasting thin and watery.
If you can get your hands on some barley any beer forum will have a shit ton of great recipes. I'll get back to you tomorrow night with a wheat/corn/rice recipe in case you can't secure barley. Good luck!
Bearded & Bored. What star you are 😊. BTW, hops/yeast not a problem because it's light and we just tell customs it's 'hops and yeast for cooking', not a lie? Lol. Have a great day. Right, now where's my book with all my contacts...........
I find it awesome that I'm talking to another person about beer brewing all the way in Tanzania. God, I LOVE the internet! You have a great day too:-)>
Hey, good video. Have you ever come across any data regarding sugar content of fresh picked sweet corn vs dried field corn? I know the sweet corn is sweeter, but how much sweeter as far as converting to ethanol and other processes. I live in the Ozarks of Missouri and distilling for private use, up to 200 gallons per year for two adults in a household, is legal here. I also have many Amish neighbors who grow fine organic sweet corn. Even frozen sweet corn from Walmart makes a sweet mash, so I was wondering if sweet corn straight off the stalk/cob and into the kettle would be a sugar fest.
I've seen it mentioned in the homedistiller.org forum, but haven't run across real data on sweet corn being better. What I have seen is that sweet corn has less starch and more sugar. But I never found a ratio. I don't know if they balance out, or if field corn would be higher in sugar post-conversion vs sweet corn. Either way, I'd still do a conversion mash on the sweet corn and add some barley malt or amylase powder and give it an hour at 155F just to make sure all the starch is converted to sugar. Wouldn't want to waste it;-)>
If you test it out for yourself, let us know what happens!
So I built one a few weeks ago and it works good for like a day then the wheels just spin and the bucket doesn’t move, I got the blue rubber wheels from Harbor F. Cuz they seemed grippier. I tweaked everything possible short of remaking the whole thing with the drive axel in the center and two wheels on each side to keep it centered above the axel or adding another axel and make em both drive? Have you had this issue at all? It’s like the wheels make the bucket slick as hell after running awhile
I had trouble with dust sticking to the wheels and reducing their grip. Didn't seem to matter how clean they started, or how clean the bucket was. My solution was to wrap a long bungie cord over the bucket to add a little bit of compressive force to maintain wheel contact. Seems to have done the trick. You could also try using a wire wheel on a drill to scuff up the outside of the bucket and give the wheels some more friction. Let me know how it goes.
@@BeardedBored i found the same thing. cleaning didnt change much, i scotch brighted one bucket and that seemed to make it worse, tried this wide tape. im sure the bungee cord would do the trick cuz if i push down when its spinning it goes fine. i think it might have to do with the taper on the bucket causes the one wheel to slip a little.. ill prolly end up remaking it with a center axle but im having some serious problems malting too and i dont get it cuz ive done it several times flawlessly and now i cant at all. did you make the bungee like a belt around the axle or just over the bucket and secured to the base? wish i could show you the bucket i made with perforated aluminum sheet on the top and bottom
@@dougwelsh3989 I hooked the bungie cord to each side of the base, but kept is close to the wheel that was slipping the most. I'd be happy to see what you built. Send me an email. i.am.bearded.and.bored at gmail
@@BeardedBored email sent dude! Thanks
Put a wide rubber band around each wheel. This will give you great grip.
Thank you for the awesome videos and content! Instead of trying to figure out the dimensions of your wood frame, what are they? :) thank you!
Looks to be about 14" W x 2-2.5' L
Great vid!
Thanks!
Great job. Now build another with a heater and fan blowing from the one end. Eliminate the drier and pillow cases
out of curiosity -- what's the point of malting corn? I've been doing it too, and I wonder how necessary it actually is. Corn gelatinizes (releases the starches into aqueous solution) at around 180-200 *F, which is about 50* F too high for a-amylase and b-gluconase, and they start to break down, thus undoing all your hard work malting the corn to develop those enzymes in the first place. Barley, rye and wheat on the other gelatinize roughly between 140-150*F. I've been having lower than expected conversion rates from my malted corn, which I mash as normal along with my barley and rye at ~145*F. I expected a 10% ABV beer and ended up with around 8% twice.
I'm doing another batch soon - 12 lbs corn, 4 lbs of 6 row, 3 lbs rye and 1 lb rice hulls to prevent a stuck mash. 5.5 gallons going into the fermenter, which should give me a 1.100 starting gravity, I've been getting more like 1.070 with this same recipe. I'm going to try gelatinizing the corn at around 200*F, letting the mash drop to ~150*F and then mash in my barley and rye and let it do it's thing like I normally do with beer. I'm hoping that gelatinizing the corn first is going to get me where I should be with my starting gravity
so if that works, then I really have to question how useful malting the corn is? unless you wanted to do an all corn brew, gelatinize half of it, and then convert the mash with a second addition of highly modified and very finely milled corn malt. but I question how good the result would be, both in terms of flavor and conversion rate. I just don't think corn has enough enzymes on it's own to do the heavy lifting.
First, let me say DANG! That is a heavy mash bill :-) Must be a workout to stir it, but that's a heck of a yield for an all grain mash. Most folks add sugar to get an OG that high. Respect!
Your observations are spot on. Malted corn only has a Lintner rating of about 30 as opposed to 2-row barley at around 120L, so the corn has about enough diastatic power to convert itself and that's it. Interestingly, if the malted corn is still fresh the Lintner rating jumps to over 200L, but green malt has it's own set of issues.
Since the corn is malted most folks don't gelatinize it since that will kill the enzymes. They'll instead opt for overnight mashes, or fermenting on grain to get the most out of it. I don't bother for beers, but for ...other things... I'll let it go overnight in a hot ice chest and ferment on-grain since enzyme action will continue slowly even at the much lower temps.
However, I completely agree with gelatinizing just to see what that does to your yield. Let the barley do the conversion. I'm guessing your yield will go up a bit. I'm very curious as to how it turns out. Let us know how it goes.
BTW, since I haven't tried a 100% corn mash yet I mainly malt my corn for the flavor, and I like the tinkering aspect of the hobby as much as the drinking, probably more.
Good luck on your next batch and thanks for posting!
I had not considered fermenting on grain. Been brewing beer for several years and I go to great lengths to ensure my finished product is crystal clear. My typical plan of attack is Irish moss in kettle > gelatin + cold crash post ferment > 1 micron canister filtration prior to force carb in keg. I get commercial quality beer on tap. I guess it just never occurred to me to leave it on the grain. I use a marine cooler mash tun for beer, I’d have to get a bucket just for that.
I suppose when what’s coming out is crystal clear for ... other reasons.. I guess it matters less how clear to beer is beforehand. I may try that with a future brew!
Yep, depends on the final purpose of the wort. If you need it for something other than beer you can really do a lot more to it. You can be rougher with it since oxidation isn't really a concern. I'd still filter it as clear as you can before it goes into a boiler because particulate scorching will ruin your product. Good luck.
welp... the latest batch is fermenting away right now. I gelatinized the corn at 200*F, let it drop to 150*F and mashed in the rye/barley. The corn ended up soaking up WAY more water than expected, I had to run about 3 gallons of sparge water through to get ~5 gallons. SG went up to 1.080, so that's a .01 increase. I'll have to play with the amount of strike water to get this recipe dialed in, but I'm on the right track. Pitched onto a gallon of backset + yeast cake from two prior generations. Assuming an FG of 1.010 (which is probably pretty conservative), I'll get about a 9% ABV beer. Not too shabby for AG.
Wow! That's impressive:-)>
Where did you buy the corn? What kind of corn?
Popping corn that I got from the grocery store.
You, my friend, are a fuckin genius. I am making one now. Then I'm going to check if you posted a video on how to grind it. Because my coffee grinder has a hard time.
No video specifically on grinding unfortunately. Corn kernels are so big that they don't fit through most brewing grain crushers. I got tired of beating the crap out of my food processor, so I got one of those old timey hand crank grinders on Amazon. That thing rips through corn:-)
I bet you or anyone could start a small malting company pretty easy. Selling different kinds of malted grains.
Not a bad idea;-)
Why they only malt barley and make a mash with corn . Instead of malting the corn as well . So to skeep the maching process??
Do ya still have to soak the corn first then put in to tumbler?
Yep. 8 hours soaking, 8 hours draining. Repeat that cycle 3 more times:-)
maybe you can attach some fan helix to increase the airflow
The shaking off of the sprouts, I am wondering if you could use a sifting pan, used in gold panning > www.amazon.com/SE-GP2-14-Patented-Stackable-Sifting/dp/B008B0T5Z2. They are usually mesh bottoms of different sizes. You could also try a mesh roasting pan like this one > www.amazon.com/Charcoal-Companion-Stainless-Roasting-11-Inch/dp/B0099I5U0O/ Not sure if the holes are the right size. But it's a place to start looking, or you could fabricate something similar on your own using the right size mesh. If you made your own, you could make a top and bottom piece that close together, clamshell style, and then you could violently shake it all around.
Another idea, albeit kinda crazy, is to make another apparatus similar to your robot. But build a mesh tube, like a minnow trap, with holes slightly smaller than the grain size, and rotate it at a high speed, it might cause the sprouts/shoots to break off and pass through the mesh, while the grain stays inside. You could even house it inside a 5gal bucket.
Minnow trap > www.amazon.com/Gees-G40-Minnow-Trap-Extension/dp/B07P6N7GS6
Great ideas. Thanks:-)
So when you malt corn does that take away any fermentable sugars??
No, malting converts starches in the grain into sugars:-) Without malting you just have starch, which does not ferment without the introduction of a source of enzymes.
@@BeardedBored I didnt know if malting the grains ended up making the grains use the sugars after they're converted. I guess that would happen if you let it go too long??
@@micahcarey3042 Yeah, if you let them go beyond sprouting they will start using the sugars for growth, but that takes several more days. Basically if leaves are growing then that's too far, LoL:-) From studies I read, the maximum enzyme production is around 6-7 days from first root growth.
It would be nice if you make a video on "How to make a tumbling dryer"! Thanks!!!
I'm fiddling with a few ideas. Hopefully I can come up with something this summer:-)>
When the logo flips over it looks like vegeta with sunglasses on
Surprisingly, you're not the only one who's noticed that. Sadly, I had to look that up because I'm oooooold.
why do you have to break off the roots and shoots? If you are going to ferment it and remove it anyway, couldn't you just leave them on?
Next project will be malt dryer using a hair driey combined with your robot.
to get separate the chaff from the grain take it out on a windy and slowly pour the grain into another container the wind will take the chaff and the grain will land in the bucket. This is called winnowing
Thanks, I'll give that a try:-)>
Probably a good idea to use a white food grade bucket rather than the orange or blue variety.
Surprisingly the orange bucket is HDPE plastic, which is food safe:-)
All right people, can someone give me a clue? I am trying to do ethanol to use in vehicles using corn. I wanted to know if i can use 100% malted corn, and if this is goingo to give a good yield. Also, i wanted to know what the proportions are between malted and normal corn to have a good yield. I live in brazil, and here we use sugar cane, but i want to experiment with other grains starting with corn. Buying enzymes is no an option for me unfortunately
Hi Lucas,
If all you need is fuel then cane sugar is the best option. The yield is much better and you won't need enzymes, and you save time since you don't have to cook grain.
If you still want to try using corn for fuel you can use 100% malted corn. Malted corn has very low enzyme content so you can't use unmalted corn. For maximum enzyme content grind it while the malt is still wet and fresh and has the roots and sprouts on it since you won't need to worry about flavor. Fresh wet malt makes liquor taste bad and has a flavor like fresh cut grass, but if you just need fuel, then that is not a problem. I would use fresh wet malt for making fuel, and not bother drying it since the wet malt has a much higher enzyme content than dried malt.
However, if you need to use dried corn malt because your vehicle wants the ethanol to taste good😉, you'll need to boost the enzyme content of your mash. Corn has a very low enzyme content so if you can get some malted barley to add to you batch, or malt your own barley I would do that to make sure you have full conversion. Barley has a much higher enzyme content than corn so if you make sure that at least 20% of your grain is malted barley you will get full conversion of the starches for maximum yield.
Let me know if you have any questions about this.
Check out this channel - th-cam.com/channels/atCieEI4cPNteKXzBomVMQ.html for lots of great advice on this topic. Also, this channel - th-cam.com/channels/ThY8lOKKkVDd9HVBT59zCg.html has great videos on still building, refining your process, making cuts and things like that.
Good luck:-)>
Bearded & Bored wow, this answer was way more than i have expected. You know, the information you put there no money can buy. Thanks a lot, this will surely help imensily. I am really gratefull for this info. Hugs from brazil my friend.
I'm glad to help Brother. Boa Sorte!
I was watching the video of popcorn sullton, in the video, he commented that the used only corn, malted corn, and sugar with water. no yeast.
nice vid
Thanks!
Where you located
Thread lock, red.
At work...so I can't watch now :(. .....I'll be back (in my best Arny voice)
Get to the CHOPPAAAA!
Best Amy voice???????errrrrrrrm??
Gr8 video. 2 things I give me the shits about Jessie's TH-cam channel. 1. Very rarely, he tells you how much hearts he gets l. tells about fore shots and the heads. By look of the jar, not much. 2 he never taste mash b4 distill it. I always have smell and taste.
lazy? i dunno about that. i would consider it innovative. i knew a guy that used to collect sap that made his own collection system with some hospital tubing, and he had a piece of unistrut hing by wire in front of his fire place, which was for the express purpose of resting his hot dog fork to roast his brats, and he was working on a little motor to keep them turning over the fire so he didnt have to do anything with them. fantastic guy. you guys would get around just famously.
Thanks brother:-)
You should make the spay automatic
That's my plan for the next one:-)>
Bearded & Bored ahhh wanna see that!
Would love to see a 2.0 video!!
what about making a screen gage and use a rotisserie to turn the gage on a gas grill at the right temperature. haven't tried it but it might work. better than facing my wife standing in front of the dryer saying no way. just a suggestion
You could dry it in that type of set up out in the sun for a few days, but I wouldn't use the gas grill because it might over heat the grains and denature the enzymes you need in the malt. First time I used my dryer I told my wife I was drying my sneakers, LoL. She said "Your shoes smell like corn chips.", ha ha!
thank you for your response, I was thinking using a thermometer and weighing corn before and weighing after a time to get a dry check.i have heard of drying in an oven,
@@jamesbrittain1978 Just keep the temp below 130F to be safe, and that'll give you a good margin for error.
thinking of trying it on regular corn . not as expensive.let you know how it turns out
@@jamesbrittain1978 That will work out great! Regular corn is a bit easier to germinate since the kernels aren't as hard.
Aww darn I literally just found your channel and seen that your not as active D:
Stay tuned. I've got some new videos coming up this week:-)>
want sum kick ass likkr .. do a Rye , Apple .and use Brown Sugar . malt your corn and malt your Corn .. now here is the kicker . ferment these 3 sepparate and then when you distill them . run all 3 at the same time threw a manifold .. you will get the carmal apple flavor with the Pepper bite , very nice . and who dont like carmel apples .
That sounds amazing! Thanks LuckyB:-)
@@BeardedBored
good chance you already tried it . I pulled that off many years ago and it was a big Hit .
It's astonishing how much grey is in my beard now😞
Why don't you create a second 5 gal tumbling chamber made of mesh, then rather than spreading your malt over screens with a big fan under them, point a big fan at your mesh basket and dry it that way? If your hole size is right, you may lose a bunch of your roots and shoots even before final drying in your clothes dryer.
I've been thinking about it. Might need to build a different rig since this motor is so slow. Not sure if the gentle tumbling would do much. Might need speed comparable to the dryer.
His logo upside down looks like guy fieri
The corn could be good for baiting a catfish hole 🕳
Long time to wait for bait;-)
7 snowflakes were grossed by the drying process into.... the washing machine XD
Just toss the malted corn back in the tumbler let it take the roots and shoots off.
yeah there is easier way to knock the sprouts off,,just make a tumbler made of a screen mesh and run it faster
I've been toying with the idea. Another commenter suggested a wire trash can. Might give that a try.
yeah i see many others suggested the same,,of course the screen has to be just the right size but it will def be light weight and easier to run for a faster motor or slow ,either way ,,i still did not understand about your tumbler ,is this process from start to finish of malting or only one part of the end process? do they sprout while being tumbled?
heck you could probably put a space heater or small oven under it and roast while tumbling like they do with coffee beans in case you wish to make specialty grains,,btw do all these malted grains start as a base pale and then get kilned to desired types from there? cause im wondering if the sprouting time is the same for all grains or if some are sprouted for longer periods depending on what they want that end result to be ,be it pilsen,chocolate,munich etc etc
You soak the grain in water for 8 hours, drain for 8 hrs, repeat 3 more cycles, then toss them in the tumbler. They'll sprout in the tumbler over the next several days with a few squirts of water each day.
The sprouting, or malting, is always the same. The variation comes from the time and temps for roasting.
I think you can´t send the malt to New Zealand in an normal way. They are very strickt with food/plants of all kind :(
Yep. We found that out the hard way. I'm sure Jesse will explain it in his next video, but loooong story short, the corn never made it.
hahahaha yeah dude :(
Still a bit broken up about it. Hope the customs guys gave it a good funeral in the incinerator. Maybe they played a bag pipe dirge as the box went into the flames.😢
Growbot
Nice:-)
Or you could put your corn in a strong sack and put it in the clothes dryer for a bit
Yep, that works.
Awww you guys never been on a corn farm.
th-cam.com/video/LBmqqG2MgU8/w-d-xo.html
You could build a mini version using a post hole auger for a hand drill
since this won't be in the middle of a field you can use electric heating elements which makes temp control dead simple, the chafe removal could be done with a couple PC muffin fans, even if it doesn't initially remove the chafe when it's wet it will once it dries, anything less flimsy than the corn will get turned to a very fine dust in short order, most of your chafe will come off looking like flour (it can be pretty flammable too so take some precautions to not let it become air born near any open flame)
There would be a bit of fabrication with the bottom and the inside screen but it wouldn't be impossible. The key thing is to keep the grain falling through a warm (dry) stream of air, now I'm thinking of other ways to do this with just a conveyor belt.
I look forward to seeing what you come up with.
H/T to Still It for recommending your channel, he knows his audience.
I think I've seen one of these on the farm near my parents' land, but never knew what it was for. I'll have to watch that video a few more time to see about adapting some of that design for my small scale set up. Thanks for the link and ideas:-)>
Jesse at Still It is the real deal!!!
Can't you just use your dryer?
dude about a motorized shaker like they use in gold mining. Just down size.
That's not a bad idea. I'll look into it. Thanks dude:-)>
I'm like you work smart not hard.
There's no fish in my pond.....
Malting with corn robots? Wtf?
Robots made of corn. Dear God!
Mine is much better than yours and it malts and drys and can handle up to 30 lbs at a time
Sounds cool. I hope you post a video. I'd love to see it:-)
I give you the credit as I get a lot of my ideas from your videos thank you so much ! I'm a disabled vet and I started watching your videos a few years ago it has given me renewed purpose and my oldest son and I have become so much closer because of our shared interest in distilling hes 40 so don't worry and because of my health I can't drink but I love creating something people enjoy . Thank you so much I will allways consider you a freind !
@@helmsrobert1958 Thanks, that means a lot.
Would it be a good idea to disinfect feed corn before malting?
Great question. I've never done more than multiple rinsing, but I've thought about testing to see if using a contact sanitizer like StarSan would be a helpful step to prevent infection. Since StarSan is a no-rinse sanitizer safe for brewing and food contact it can't hurt to try. Let me know if you try it because I'd be very interested to hear the results:-)>
I thought either that or some Sodium Nitrate used for sausage making. I know some say Nitrates are bad, but so is the smell of “Rancid Fecal Corn”
I don't have any experience with sodium nitrate so I don't know if that would have any effect on the germination, or if it would have any effect on the yeast once you're ready to ferment. Sodium nitrate is a preservative, and some preservatives will stop yeast activity, but I don't know if that would. If you're going to try sodium nitrate I'd do a small test batch. Malt the corn, dry it, grind it, make a mash and see if it will ferment. That way if there is a problem you're not losing 50 pounds of corn, just a small batch. Hopefully it'll work though. If you want to try StarSan too here's a link for the one I get. amzn.to/2i4upw2 1oz will do 5 gallons of water which should be enough for a 50 pound bag of corn. Basically as long as the corn gets wet with whatever sanitizer solution you use, it should be enough to kill any nasties.