Oat braggot? Oat malt?

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Chevette Girl

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I have come into posession of a 25 kg bag of whole oats, not all of which will be used for the original purpose... now I'm wondering if they could be malted somehow, as a project to use up the excess?

Any advice from people who've malted their own grains would be welcome (that is the right term, right? where you sprout and then dry the grain so the enzymes are activated?)
 
Malting in theory is pretty darn easy. Usually you want to alternately soak in warm (I think it was mid-30s or so) water and drain, in 4-8 hour increments, for about a day or two. Then drain and just keep warm and moist while they sprout, takes a couple more days. Wait for the rootlet to get about as long as the seed, then dry at about 90C; kiln the dried malt to your desired "roastiness".

The hardest part is avoiding mold. I think I used either 1 or 3% sulfite solutions to soak and to keep the grains moist during sprouting. You can slog through some of the gluten free beer threads, I think both me and BBBF have some detailed malting descriptions. And his are slightly different than mine, so you might try both or combine to figure out what works for you.
 
You can buy malted oats, so I personally wouldn't bother trying to malt them or I would just use some 6 row barley malt to convert the oats. If you still want to try, I liked putting the grain in a 5 gallon mesh bag and rinsing often to prevent mold. I once tried using some lye to control the mold, but I think the concentration was too high and the grains didn't malt very well.
 
Thanks for the suggestions! Ordinarily I wouldn't bother, but you know, if the stuff is sitting right here... why not try to do it? :)

I'm also tempted to try seeing if quinoa will sprout for me, once I try some real beers I'm going to want to try a gf recipe for my mom.
 
I'm not sure if that was Akueck or AToE who did quinoa already but I sure won't be the first. :)
 
Quinoa malts well. I have only tried one beer with it, which was also the only time I used amaranth malt. Unfortunately, it got infected, so I can't comment too much.

Buckwheat also malts well, but has a strong buckwheat flavor and my 100% sweet potato beer was interesting enough to try again

I'm interested in your results with oats, so I hope you go through with it.
 
Yes quinoa is easy to malt, and I like it for its cute little curly-Qs. I think it makes a very tasty beer as well.
 
My little rice cooker does a great job cooking quinoa. I mix it with applesauce for breakfast :)

We'll see how much of the oats I go through in my sewing and I'll probably be back for advice on a recipe after Xmas! ;D
 
:D Yep. Into microwaveable heat-packs. I'm using some reclaimed fabric and everything (from an old horse blanket I took apart and washed a few times, it's good strong light canvas). First custom-order is going to be a microwavable bit-warmer for whoever's name I draw at my barn's Secret Santas thing this year, since we have a microwave in the tack room and no horse wants to put a freezing-cold piece of metal in their mouth...
 
How cool is that?

Here I thought you planned to "sew your wild oats" as it were...

I use flax seeds sewn into "bit warmers" but in my case the "bit" is whatever bit is cold...feet, tuchas, hands, you name it...
 
I have two oat bags, a flax shoulder-wamer and flax slippers (just don't try to walk in them!), they all make great bedwarmers since I don't heat my bedroom, three and a half minutes in the microwave for the shoulder warmer, an oat bag and the slippers, under the covers they go, by the time I've brushed my teeth and found my book, the blankets and mattress are both warmed up. They're also great for keeping me from getting too cold if I have to icepack my knees, shoulders or wrists... The 25 kg bag of oats was $14 at the feed store, and I'd be paying through the nose if I went with flax seeds at the bulk food store... I'm going to make my hubby a foot-warmer for when he's sitting at his computer in the basement... silly man refuses to wear socks unless he has to leave the house :)