I recently started milling my grain and now want to start smoking some malt. I don’t have a dedicated smoker and will be using a gas grill with a box on the side. I’m doing a dry run today with some applewood chips and a temp probe where the malt would be, and 40 minutes in the temp is 131. Ambient temp is 89. What do you think? Is this too hot for base malt, thinking about diastatic power and roasting the malt? I was planning smoking for 1-2 hours. Any advice is appreciated!
I smoked mine for 2 hrs but i don't remember the temp. Probably around 200. I'm curious how much smoke applewood will add since it's light. I used mesquite.
Two hours is good. Spritz the malt with distilled water, turn it periodically. The dampness of the husks help the smoke to stick. I've been going lower and lower on temp. Now cold smoke, the grains are <100F. I won't smoke untill mid to late September to get lower ambient.
I cold smoke my malt for all my rauchbier. Temps usually are under <100F. I use a smoke tube filled with pellet, the smoker itself isn't even on. I am able to run a "fan only" mode to keep air moving, so I run that only. Helps keep the chamber temp down, too, with fresh air. I will wet the grain pretty heavily with distilled water. Spread out evenly on multiple perforated trays. Allow to smoke 3-4 hours and then run in the oven on "warm" mode that I cycle off to keep the oven itself just 'warm', probably 100-120ish? Do that for a few hours until everything feels nice a dry. Usually out of the smoker, it already feels pretty dry. I just be sure to eliminate risk of mold or other issues. Then I place in my grain bucket or a brown bag until I crush/use it in a beer within a few days or a week or so.
