Barley Roller - For Malting Barley

If you're into home brewing and want to malt your own barley, this will make it easy and keep mold from destroying your malt!

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Home brewing
• brew
• all-grain
• all grain
• beer
• ale
• malting
• malt
• barley
• crystal malt
• chocolate malt
• pale malt
• specialty malts
• fermenter
• carboy
• lager home brewing equipment
• home brewing tools

[tlgrimmy]

Yeah, I bet if you could step it down enough it would work, but it could take some serious pulley work;). Wind shield wipers motors can be had for around $20 on amazon.com though, so you might spend that much just stepping the fan motor down. Good luck!

[tlgrimmy]

The tapered rollers idea would be fun to try. I didn't want to fuss with trying to drill the holes at just the right angle simply out of laziness, but I bet it would function very nicely. It could be a little tricky to drive an angled rod with the motor, but if the taper is really slight, you might not even need to change anything. Good idea:).

[kami3233]

Great idea! i like your fix too. Keep the vids coming!

[tlgrimmy]

@kami3233 Thanks! I need to get to making some more vids;).

[credible2]

oh, and how would you go about buying whole barley?

[tlgrimmy]

@credible2 It's really hard to source malting barley (the stuff malter's use in a malting factory). I've found a couple of sources online, but it's expensive with shipping, at which point you might as well buy already malted barley in bulk. If you happen to live in the northwest, you may have a good chance of sourcing some, as that's where the majority of malting barley is grown. Good luck!

[JSchneider321]

@tlgrimmy Maybe a grill rotisserie motor? Some of them even come adjustable! But brand new they're a little pricier.

[bowow0807]

im wondering if i can use an old electric fan motor its quite fast but i can make it go slower and i will keep it on for the 4 days the designs here is made to stay on for long periods of time.

what do you think?

[tlgrimmy]

@credible2 It's incredible cheap to malt your own. I bought a 50lb sack for $11, which is 22 cents/lb (as opposed to $1.20-$3.00 per/lb). You do have to use a bit more of it than store bought malted barley because it's not as high quality. The only problem is that the barley used is grown for feed, so they have significantly higher amounts of protein and less diastatic power (sugar conversion ability). None of your malts will be as sweet and you will have trouble getting clear beer.

[credible2]

how cheap is it to malt your own barley vs buying malted barley?

[tlgrimmy]

@HomeDistiller Sorry for the long replies. I realized I didn't mention anything for pale malt. I have a little video about that. The hops/barley oast one. I made a glorified box that heats up to about 120 F and circulates air to make my base pale malt.

[tlgrimmy]

@HomeDistiller I'm on the lookout for a used BBQ rotisserie. I may even make one if I can come upon the parts cheaply. I was thinking of using a coffee can to hold the malt so I can slow roast them and hopefully get a nice even malt. That'd keep the smoke outside for those darker malts too;).

[tlgrimmy]

@HomeDistiller I'll look forward to those videos! I'm actually recording the process I go through as well. I've got some in the roller with a few days left to go. I have just been baking them on cookie sheets in my oven. I bake them wet most of the time because it seems to help me get a more even malt. If I want the more nutty flavors I'll roast them dry but it tends to come out with chocolate style and light crystal styles in the same batch when I do that.

[HomeDistiller]

@tlgrimmy its lots of fun malting and roasting your own.. how do you dry/kiln? and im going todo some vids on how i make crystal malt and roast malts very soon

[tlgrimmy]

@HomeDistiller Thanks for getting me started! Your videos were what helped me decide to give it a whirl.

[HomeDistiller]

good to see another roller out there and another home malter!!