Home Malting Grains
Date: October 9, 2015

Overview
	There are three basic steps: 1. steeping, 2. germination, 3. kilning. Monitoring the moisture content through these three stages is critical.

Determining Seed Moisture Content
	The drying method – Weight (Wo) a small sample of grain, then dry them completely by placing them in an oven between 212–220°F for three hours. Once dry and cooled, weight (Wd) the sample again. Discard this sample of grain. Wd is the weight of the sample with 0% moisture content. The initial moisture content (Mi) can be determined by the equation below.
Mi = (Wo – Wd) ÷ Wo
	Now to calculate the dry weight, Wd, of the balance of your grain use the equation below where the grain weight is Gw.
Wd = Gw × (1 - Mi)

Steeping – consists of wet soaks and air rests
    1. Rinse the grains to remove debris such as (chaff, bugs, dirt and dead seeds). Remove any debris that float.
    2. Place the seeds in a container that is large enough to account for a doubling in volume during the steeping process.
    3. Intermittently soak the dry grain in cool water between 50–55°F and then let the water drain, until the seed moisture content is >45%.
        a. For the initial soak, change the water every hour to get new oxygenated water. Briefly let the grains drain and stir to ensure that they respirate and evenly wet. Do this for the first 3 hours.
        b. Some instructions say to soak for 2 hours and drain for 8 hours and to do this two cycles to complete steeping.
        c. 2.2.2. Micro-malting protocol from USDA Malting Lab in Madison, WI
The barley prior to micro-malting was passed over a 2.2 mm screen. The malting schedule consisted of an initial wash for 15 min to remove surface dust from the barley kernel followed by a 7 hour steep, 8 hour drain, 9 hour steep, 6 hour drain, and a final 0.5 hour steep. The barley undergoes germination for an additional 88.5 hour where the temperature was held at 15 °C (59°F) with constant air passing through revolving drums. At the conclusion of the germination, the green malt was kilned using the following protocol: 9 hour at 50 °C (122°F), ramping for 4 hour at 60 °C (140°F), ramping for 2 hour at 70 °C (158°F), ramping for 4.5 hour at 80 °C (176°F) and a cooling stage for 0.5 hour at 25 °C (77°F).
    4. At the end of steeping, the grains will start chitting which is the first sign of germination. Chitting is the rootlet starting to emerge from one end of the grain husk.

Germination
    1. Once chitting has started, place the grains in shallow trays and ensure that the grains are not more than 2” thick. Put the trays in a dark place that is between 55–65°F; 55°F is ideal. This temperature range is critical for top quality malt.
    2. To prevent the rootlets from getting entangled, gently stir them every few hours and give them a spray of cool water if needed to keep them moist. 
    3. Low modified malt has the average acrospires length between 50% and 66% of the length of the seed.
    4. Fully modified malt has the average acrospire length between 75% and 100% of the length of the seed. This is ideal and indicates that it is time to move on to the first step in the kilning process; drying.

Kilning
    1. Drying - After germination and before kilning, the moisture content of the malt needs to be decreased by drying at low temperatures (100–120°F) until the moisture content is < 10%, with the exception for crystal (caramel) malts. This is called green malt.
        a. At the end of drying, be sure to remove the acrospires and rootlets from the malt by usual chaff separation techniques. Then proceed to kilning.
    2. Kilning - Once the moisture content is < 10%, the malt needs to be kilned.
        a. For Pilsner and Lager malt, germinate between (59–63°F), dry to less than 8% moisture content, then kiln between 122–158°F for 4 to 8 hours; stirring every 30 minutes. Then cure at 158-185°F until the moisture content is less than 10%.
        b. For Pale malt, germinate between (59-63°F), dry to less than 8% moisture content, then kiln between 140-194°F for 4 to 8 hours; stirring every 30 minutes. Then cure up to 221°F until the moisture content is less than 10%.
        c. For Victory malt, kiln between 120–160°F, stirring every 30 minutes until the moisture content is less than 6%.
        d. For Munich and aromatic malts, kiln between 195–220°F for x to y hours; stirring every 30 minutes until the moisture content is less than 6%.
            i. Another option for Munich malt is to dry the malt at no more than 104°F to about 25% moisture content and then kiln between 140–149°F for 9 hours; stirring every 30 minutes. Cool the malt down to 122°F and allow it to dry until the moisture content is less than 12%. Then heat the malt back up to 220°F until the moisture content is about 3%.
        e. For Crystal/Caramel malts, start with green malt, place in a sealed pot and raise the temperature into the scarification range of 145–155°F for an hour, dry between 100–120°F to less than 10% moisture content and then kiln between 220–320°F, stirring every 30 minutes until . Light crystal = 275°F for an hour, Medium crystal = 350°F for 15–30 minutes until the moisture content is less than 6%.
        f. For Amber malt, start with green malt, kiln up to 335°F, stirring every 30 minutes until the moisture content is less than 6%.
            i. From Daniels, another option for Amber malt, place pale malt to a depth of ½” in a foil lined cooking pan. Heat to 230°F for 45 minutes, then at 300°F for another 20 to 60 minutes, until the endosperm is a light buff color.
            ii. From Mosher, another option for Amber malt, place pale malt to a depth no more than 1” in a foil lined cooking pan. Heat to 350°F for 20 to 30 minutes, until the endosperm is a light buff color.
        g. For Brown malt, start with green malt, kiln at lower temperatures than for Amber malt but for a longer period of time, stirring every 30 minutes until the moisture content is less than 6%.
            i. From Daniels, another option for Brown malt, place pale malt to a depth of ½” in a foil lined cooking pan. Heat to 230°F for 45 minutes, then at 300°F for another 20 to 60 minutes, until the endosperm is a light buff color. Then increase the temperature to 350°F until the endosperm is a full buff color or about the color of the paler types of brown wrapping paper.
            ii. From Mosher, another option for Brown malt, place pale malt to a depth no more than 1” in a foil lined cooking pan. Heat to 450°F for 30 to 40 minutes, until the endosperm is a full buff color.
        h. For Chocolate malt, start with a higher moisture content green malt than used for Brown malt, but less than Caramel malts. Kiln starting at 165°F and steadily increase to 420°F, stirring every 30 minutes until the moisture content is less than 6%.
        i. For Black malt, start with a higher moisture content green malt than used for Brown malt, but less than Caramel malts. Kiln starting at 165°F and steadily increase to 428–437°F, stirring every 30 minutes until the moisture content is less than 6%.
        j. For Roasted barley, kiln unmalted barley like Black malt.

Smoking Malts
    1. Start with dried malt. Place in a foil lined cooking pan to a depth from 0.5 to 1.0 inches.
        a. For smoked pale malt, smoke between 140–190°F for 4 to 8 hours; stirring every 30 minutes. Then cure up to 221°F until the moisture content is less than 10%.

Beeston Crystal Malts 
	Beeston's caramalt and crystal malts are all produced from green two-row malt using the following method: The surface moisture is dried off at about 122 °F (50 °C) for approximately five minutes. The malt is then stewed at approximately 149-167 °F (65-75 °C) for about 40 minutes to stimulate the conversion of starches to sugars (crystallization). Drying and curing then takes place at about 176 °F (80 °C) for another 40 minutes, depending on the color required. The final drying and curing temperature varies among products; curing is typically done at about 275 °F (135 °C) for approximately two hours, depending on the color required. The darker the colors, the more intense the flavor

Crystal and Cara-pils (dextrin) malt 
Are produced in a somewhat different manner in that the malt does not go through the initial drying phase. The green malt is placed in a kiln and the temperature is raised to 150-170° F (66-77° C) for 1.5-2 hours. The malt is heated without ventilation so as to prevent evaporation. During this "stewing" period the relatively high water content of the malt combined with the kiln temperature result in enzymatic reactions taking place within the individual malt kernels that are normally associated with mashing (i.e. starches are converted to sugars). This process is incomplete so not all the starches are actually converted to sugars and those sugars that are present tend to be complex and therefore, are not fermentable. After the stewing period the vents are opened and the malt is further roasted. In the case of crystal malt, the temperature is raised to at least 250° F(121° C) and the malt is roasted until the desired color is obtained. During this process the converted sugars are caramelized and the husks are darkened. In the case if cara-pils malt, after the vents are opened the roasting temperature is raised to no more than 240° F (116° C). Using crystal malt imparts sweetness as well as a reddish hue to the finished beer whereas the use of cara-pils adds body and some residual sweetness without affecting beer color.
Gleened from here: http://www.mosquitobytes.com/Den/Bee...wing/Malt.html

References
	
http://www.brewery.org/library/roastmaltGC.html
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=107409&page=8
http://brewery.org/library/
http://brewingtechniques.com/bmg/pauls.html