Malt Extract...a molassas substitue?

[hopleaf]

years ago when i first began my beer brewing adventure i made all my beer using malt extract. it comes in a powdered dry form which is 100% malt extract, and they also have a liquid malt extract which is 80% malt 20%water. it didn't take me long to upgrade my brew system to an all-grain system making the extracts useless to me. i had always known that malt extract was obviously very high in maltose, sucrose, fructose, and glucose. several vitamin B complexes. such as B1, B2, B6, B12. i always knew that it had inerals as well. as for the minerals it's high in P, K, Mg, Ca, and a small amount of Na. tons of amino acids too, but this stuff is not cheap at all...almost twice the price of molassas.
i began making my compost teas with the malt extract along side of the molassas to create a more complete carbo and mineral make up for my teas.

just thought i'd offer my knowledge of another carbo source that is very similar to the wonderful molassas. i love it becuase as a brewer i like to be able to use left over brewing stuffs to grow my buds. nothing like adding used grains to the compost heap. full of protiens and sugars that all those little decomposers love.

go check your grandpa's basement for an old can of some malt extract and give it a try next time you run out of molassas.

 

[CannaExists]

I love it!

I also love the feeling of throwing a fat load of grain in the compost heap. My first all-grain brews weren't so successful (probably because I used Kamut instead of Barley), but I oft have grain loads to toss out when I make Rejuvelac and such. It is a priceless feeling contributing such nutrient heavy foodstuffs to your compost, and in turn your Ganja.

 

[Clackamas Coot]

hopleaf

I've been using both malted barley as well as the malted barley product used by bakers, i.e. diastatic malt.

I also fermented some barley seed sprouts (FPE) which I applied both to the soil as well as a foliar spray.

CC

 

[heady blunts]

i was just wondering this the other day! i have a jar of some very nice organic malt extract and i was thinking it must be comparable to molasses. hope to hear some more personal experiences.

 

[hopleaf]

the idea of sprouting the barley seeds is fricking genius! you'll get all that enzyme action going on which has to be a good thing. if you don't mind Clackamas i'd love if you would share your technique for doing the foilar and even benefits from it. i can only think of it in theory and it sounds like a good idea.

 

[hopleaf]

actually after looing at dry malt extract prices they aren't bad compared to molassas. you can get a pound of dry malt extract for about 6 bucks.

 

[Clackamas Coot]

the idea of sprouting the barley seeds is fricking genius! you'll get all that enzyme action going on which has to be a good thing. if you don't mind Clackamas i'd love if you would share your technique for doing the foilar and even benefits from it. i can only think of it in theory and it sounds like a good idea.

hopleaf

In the artisan bread baking world we use diastatic malt which is sprouted barley seeds, then roasted (i.e. malted) and then ground into a powder. At the San Francisco Baking Institute that I attended we learned to do this deal from scratch. However in a real world deal you simply buy diastatic malt and cut to the chase - LOL

So here's how I fermented the sprouted barley seeds:

I took 2-Row organic (non-GMO) barley from Eastern Oregon. This specific variety is used by the myriad of micro-breweries in the Pacific Northwest because it's considered to be a variety (not a hybrid) as having the highest levels of enzymes found in barley seed. I'll take their word.

I simply soaked the seed for about 24 hours in clear, clean water and did the strain and drain deal like you would sprouting any seed. Rinse every day with (again) clean, clear water until they sprout and then you cover with a lactobacillus culture product (EM-1) with some carbohydrates, kelp meal, sea salt and let it ferment down to < 3.2 pH and then again strain and drain and apply at 2 oz. of this fermented agent to 1 gallon of water as either a soil soak or as a foliar application.

I have a couple of question for you as well - LOL

When I went down to the local homebrew store that had a slew of malted barley products and as you said they're available as either a powder or a liquid.

The 'guy' at the store told me that the lighter malts have the highest enzyme action - does that sound accurate?

Is there an advantage of using the powder vs. the liquid products?

This may or may not be of interest to you but several months when I was trying to wrap my brain around the various lactobacillus cultures in EM-1 what I found to be interesting is that one of the strains is the EXACT and very SAME culture used to make Belgian beer (Lambic? sp?) and another is the EXACT and SAME culture for making Greek-style yogurt and another specific culture is used for Bulgarian-style yogurt. Weird, eh?

HTH

CC

 

[hopleaf]

and my love for 2-row continues grow. i'm doing that barley tea.

as for your question about the lighter vs. darker malt extracts and their different levels of enzyme action... i'd say that what the guy told is pretty accurate. now i am by no means an expert on malt extract, but from what i understand to make a dark extract you would use highly roasted grains. the roasting process can diminish the amount of available enzymes in a particular variety of grain quite a bit. on top of that most roasted grains tend to be less modified meaning they already have less enzyme action compared to that 2-row.

american 2-row barley for brewing is one of the most fine tuned grains in the world. highly modified and engineried for the very highest efficiency 2-row barley also has lots of extra enzymes. this is why all wheat beer contains about 60% barley, becuase wheat doesn't not contain the necessary enzymes to convert the starches to sugars. the 2-row has plenty of extra enzymes to do it for the wheat. 2-row is what they would use to create a lighter malt extract...the extra light is probly 100% 2-row extract (that what i'd suggest). i prefer the dry extract for a couple of reasons.
1) it's 100% malt extract...the liquid is 80% malt extract 20%water.
2)you can buy it by the pound which is key, becuase the smallest cans of the liquid they sell are 3lbs. unless your gonna use all 3lbs right away it's a waste of money...not to mention a 3lbs can of LME runs about 15-18 bucks.
3) it mixes readily with cool and room temp water unlike the liquid which mixes better in warm. (if you try to put DME in hot water it just clumps up and turns into a malt extract turd that takes forever to dissolve)

Thats pretty badass that they use that lactobacillus to make yogurt. i know it's a lactic acid bacteria, and when used in brewing it's typically used in conjunction with S.cerevisiae(average brewers yeast). if i'm not mistaken it was a wild yeast they would try to to target and draw into their open fermenters. it's a very cool alcohol tolerant bacteria known for what some would consider disgusting flavors like sweaty horse and barn floor. it also can be traced to flavors like cherry or a sourness. it's really a crucial fermenting tool in brewing history. i'd love to try and play around with some for brewing, but i'm a little afraid.

 

[Clackamas Coot]

hopleaf

As you probably know, 2 of the major producing regions for hops is the Yakima Valley in Eastern Washington and Mt. Angel, Oregon which is about 30 miles from our home.

Again at the local brew store are about 10 varieties of dried hops (a combination of products from both regions) and 7 of these are grown using organic processes.

I'm pretty much a 'fermented plant extract' grower and I wondered what you thought about fermenting some strain of hops to apply to the soil. Any comments will be appreciated.

For sh*ts and grins sometime, check out the historical link between beer brewing and the development of dried yeasts used in bread baking - particularly the connection in Germany in the late 18th Century through the late 19th Century. The earliest production of commercial dried active yeasts for breads were developed in Germany in the mid-19th Century from strains sourced and grown for brewing beer. Pretty interesting connection actually.

Peace

CC

 

[hopleaf]

i'll have to do some research into the possiblities of hops essential oils benefits to soils. i have had decent luck with making a hop foliar insecticide. the essential oils in hops are natrually anti-bacterial( which actually creates problems in beers brewed with lactobacillus... lol) the oils are also great for supressing things like powdery mildew and mold. i'll take an ounce of some nice strong hops, and since you live in the hop central of the country get your hands on some nice strong yakima gold, chinook, or simcoe. those are the true pride of that region in my opinoin( as for hops that is)... anyway you take an ounce of the hops and boil them in a gallon+ for an hour. it's key you boil them that long, so you can really acheive the best isomerization of the essential oils.(this also makes a very intense but effective tea that you can drink to help with indigestion) anyway you'll be left with about a gallon of really strong and fairly effective hop insecticide. just be sure you get the hops with the highest alpha acid units. (AAU is our way of measuring hop strength) i'm not gonna play it up as some super juice. the first time i tried the hop spray it got rid of my mild thrip problem indoors the while leaving a very pleasent aroma in the room.

also i'm sure you know this, but the hops from the yakima region are exrtemly high quality, becuase from what i understand it's dry but not to extreme. it makes for a perfect climate for growing varieties that can't be grown anywhere else on earth, and they are the of the highest quality.

 

[schwagg]

Hop extract contains substances such as lupulin, luparol, lupulon and humulon, which provide the plant with extra blooming power.

i've got a nice batch of compost going that i added 1/4 lb of hops to.

 

[heady blunts]

well it's not a clinical trial or anything but i've been adding about a 1/4 tsp of barley malt syrup to my EWC tea brews (~2gal) and they seem to be digging it.

 

[mad librettist]

you can get it in chinatown as well.

old chinese folk remedy for a cough is you chop up daikon and add the malt extract to it. The juice that comes out tastes disgusting but soothes a cough.