For making beer?
For making beer?
I have a hops plant in my garden grows like crazy.
I'm sure it grows easily enough, but not sure it would be worth the hassle over just buying it.
You do, you need to germinate them first then at a certain stage you need to cook them slowly turning them over regularly to get an even colouration. The germination has to be stopped whilst the starch is still present and once the enzymes are available because this what makes the sugar when mashing for fermentation. The roasting stops the germination process and the degree of colour has a marked impact on the taste of the malt. It's one of those very simple but probably really difficult crafts, maltsters used to be big buildings for doing just this in nearly every town in the country, all but gone now. I imagine a very clever industrial process does it now.I thought for beer you need to germinate the grains just before use, then there's getting an even germination using heating etc etc.
Any pics? And where in the country are you? I like the idea of trying to get a hops plant to grow as a climber outside my new house but doubt it’ll be possible in Scotland.
You do, you need to germinate them first then at a certain stage you need to cook them slowly turning them over regularly to get an even colouration. The germination has to be stopped whilst the starch is still present and once the enzymes are available because this what makes the sugar when mashing for fermentation. The roasting stops the germination process and the degree of colour has a marked impact on the taste of the malt. It's one of those very simple but probably really difficult crafts, maltsters used to be big buildings for doing just this in nearly every town in the country, all but gone now. I imagine a very clever industrial process does it now.