Home Malted Grain Question

[Elliot K.]

A co-worker has a farm where he grows feed for his cattle and thought it would be neat if I could make a beer using his grains. This took a lot of work, in that I had to malt the 6 row barley and wheat that he provided. It took a little less time than I had originally thought to get the acrospire to indicate full modification. However, I've used a 5 ounce test batch to determine if the grains actually will convert the starch, and going through a step mash on the stove from 122 for a protein rest, then 149 for a sac rest, and another sac rest at 158, I cannot get all the sugars to convert as confirmed through a negative iodine test. I am thinking that if this grain is now only minimally modified, I might be able to help it along by using 50% two row from a professional maltster. I will say, this stuff has a very HIGH protein content...

Any thoughts on whether using some commercially available malt would give enough enzymes to convert the remaining crappy 6 row that I had to malt myself?

[JoeBeer100]

That sounds awesome! I'm by no means an expert, but the problem may not be lack of enzymes, but rather that the malt is not fully modified. As in, the starches that have formed are still complex, and not to simple starches that are easily broken down to sugar. Have you considered doing a decoction? That won't reduce the protein content, but it should help break down the complex starches to simple starches (I think). The simple starches can then be converted to sugars. From my recollection, 6-row barley has more enzymes than 2-row. If that's true, you should be OK, as long as you flood the enzymes out before boiling the grains.

Another issue may be that the varieties used for cattle feed may not be completely suitable for brewing. Maybe the decoction would help the flavors develop better flavors. But in the end you may end up having to make the batch with commercial malt added.

[BDawg]

yes, commercial malt will definitely help with the enzyme content, however, are you sure your pH is in line?

[ScottyB-Brewing]

I ain't no scientist but what about throwing in some amylase into the mash?

[BDawg]

I really think you should double check your pH. High protein content should not prevent your mash from converting, and adding more amylase enzyme will not help convert anything if the mash is out of pH range.

I live in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains in western WA. In the springtime, our water is nothing but rainwater and snow melt.
Like an improperly fast mash, the water channels through the aquifer very, very quickly, picking up almost no minerals along the way.

One time several years ago when I was first brewing all grain, I was trying to mash a hefeweizen, and I didn't make any water adjustments at all. It was February or March, the height of the rainy season. At 30 mins, I tried an iodine test and it showed black. Tried again at 45 - black. Every 15 mins - 60, 75, 90, 105, 120 - black, black, black, black, black. I finally realized what was going on and added a bit of gypsum to add calcium and acidify the mash. Within 10 or 15 mins, the mash converted and I was finally able to start lautering.

Note - My water has low mineral content, so adding salts worked for me. You may have high mineral content, so you may need to add phosphoric or lactic acid directly to hit pH, or if somehow your pH is low, add alkalinity (calcium carbonate) to get the pH up into range. My point is that low or high, your adjustment may be different but the net effect is proper mash pH and an effective conversion.

HTH-