Anyway, making malt vinegar from wheat is not rocket science, but it does take a few months. Fortunately, it is not labor-intensive.
Start off with the same instructions for sprouting wheat and making diastatic malt powder. To keep you from having to refer to those posts, I've cut and pasted the pertinent information here.
To start your sprouts, in a quart-size canning jar, soak 1 1/4 cups of wheat in cool water for 6-12 hours.
After the initial soaking, drain the wheat and rinse thoroughly. Do not soak or let the wheat stand in water again. For two to three days, repeat the rinse and drain cycle every six to twelve hours, with 8eight hours being ideal, but this also depends on the temperature. The ideal temperature for sprouting is 70 degrees; warmer temperatures will necessitate more frequent rinsing.
For draining the wheat, the jar must be inverted and at an angle, ideally about 45 degrees. A large bowl or dish drainer in the sink works well. Putting the jar upside down will not permit draining.
After two to three days you should have sprouts with roots about the same length as the wheat berry itself. At this point, it is time to dry the wheat sprouts. Dehydrate the wheat berries on trays in the dehydrator or on cookie sheets in the oven at a temperature no greater than 120 degrees. Temperatures above 125 degrees will destroy the enzymes required to produce malt vinegar.
Once the wheat is completely dry, grind it to the consistency of coarse cornmeal. If you do not have a grain mill, a coffee grinder or blender will substitute.
Use a flour sack towel, jelly bag, or even the front or back of a clean, but discarded t-shirt to make a bag for the ground wheat. Place the ground wheat in the center of the bag and secure the ends of the bag with a large rubber band or string.
To make the wort (the sticky, sweet amber juice from which the vinegar will be made), begin by putting one quart of water in a medium saucepan. Mark the depth of the water with a ruler, or spoon or other utensil, and remember where that level is. It will be needed later. Now add three more cups of water to the pan so that there are seven cups total in the pan.
Place the bag of ground wheat in the pan of water, and put the pan on the stove over medium heat. With a candy thermometer attached to the side of the pan, constantly and gently stir the bag and the water until the temperature reaches exactly 160 degrees. Immediately remove from heat and cover the pan.
Set the pan on hot pads on the counter and wrap it with towels to retain heat. Incubate for one hour.
After one hour, lift the wheat bag above the pan. Set it in a strainer so that liquid in the bag can drain into the pan. When the wheat bag is fully drained, discard the wheat. Return the pan to the stove and bring it to a boil. Boil for about an hour, until the wort (the liquid in the pan) is reduced in volume to just less than one quart, the level that you marked when you first added water to the pan.
The wort needs to be cooled rather quickly. To do so, remove the pan from the heat and replace the lid. Fill a 9x13 pan halfway with water. Place it on the counter on hot pads and set the covered pan of wort in the cake pan. Do not remove the lid from the saucepan of wort.
When the saucepan is lukewarm, pour the wort into a sterilized canning jar. Sprinkle in 1/4 teaspoon of yeast. Place a new canning lid on top, and then just barely apply the canning band. Do not tighten it. Gas needs to escape while at the same time preventing fresh air from entering. If the gas cannot escape, you risk building up pressure inside the jar and breaking it.
Put the jar in a plastic bucket in a dark area of the house. The next few days of fermentation will involve some hissing and fluid leaking from the top of the jar. Clean it up daily to avoid attracting insects.
Within a few days the liquid will separate into four layers:
Strain the wort through a coffee filter or cheesecloth into a clean bowl, leaving the gray sediment and yeast in the bottom of the jar. Discard the sediment and thoroughly clean the jar. Pour the liquid back into the jar. Then add raw, unpasteurized apple cider vinegar, between 1/2 and 1 cup, to within an inch of the top of the jar. Cover the top of the jar with a piece of plastic wrap and poke a hole through it with your finger. Then cover the top of the jar with a layer of cheesecloth and secure with a canning ring. Place the jar in a warm (ideally around 80 degrees), dark cabinet where it can remain undisturbed for one month, or longer if temperatures are cooler.
Once the wheat is completely dry, grind it to the consistency of coarse cornmeal. If you do not have a grain mill, a coffee grinder or blender will substitute.
Use a flour sack towel, jelly bag, or even the front or back of a clean, but discarded t-shirt to make a bag for the ground wheat. Place the ground wheat in the center of the bag and secure the ends of the bag with a large rubber band or string.
To make the wort (the sticky, sweet amber juice from which the vinegar will be made), begin by putting one quart of water in a medium saucepan. Mark the depth of the water with a ruler, or spoon or other utensil, and remember where that level is. It will be needed later. Now add three more cups of water to the pan so that there are seven cups total in the pan.
Place the bag of ground wheat in the pan of water, and put the pan on the stove over medium heat. With a candy thermometer attached to the side of the pan, constantly and gently stir the bag and the water until the temperature reaches exactly 160 degrees. Immediately remove from heat and cover the pan.
Set the pan on hot pads on the counter and wrap it with towels to retain heat. Incubate for one hour.
After one hour, lift the wheat bag above the pan. Set it in a strainer so that liquid in the bag can drain into the pan. When the wheat bag is fully drained, discard the wheat. Return the pan to the stove and bring it to a boil. Boil for about an hour, until the wort (the liquid in the pan) is reduced in volume to just less than one quart, the level that you marked when you first added water to the pan.
The wort needs to be cooled rather quickly. To do so, remove the pan from the heat and replace the lid. Fill a 9x13 pan halfway with water. Place it on the counter on hot pads and set the covered pan of wort in the cake pan. Do not remove the lid from the saucepan of wort.
When the saucepan is lukewarm, pour the wort into a sterilized canning jar. Sprinkle in 1/4 teaspoon of yeast. Place a new canning lid on top, and then just barely apply the canning band. Do not tighten it. Gas needs to escape while at the same time preventing fresh air from entering. If the gas cannot escape, you risk building up pressure inside the jar and breaking it.
Put the jar in a plastic bucket in a dark area of the house. The next few days of fermentation will involve some hissing and fluid leaking from the top of the jar. Clean it up daily to avoid attracting insects.
Within a few days the liquid will separate into four layers:
- gray goo at the top,
- white foam,
- amber liquid, and
- gray sediment at the bottom.
Strain the wort through a coffee filter or cheesecloth into a clean bowl, leaving the gray sediment and yeast in the bottom of the jar. Discard the sediment and thoroughly clean the jar. Pour the liquid back into the jar. Then add raw, unpasteurized apple cider vinegar, between 1/2 and 1 cup, to within an inch of the top of the jar. Cover the top of the jar with a piece of plastic wrap and poke a hole through it with your finger. Then cover the top of the jar with a layer of cheesecloth and secure with a canning ring. Place the jar in a warm (ideally around 80 degrees), dark cabinet where it can remain undisturbed for one month, or longer if temperatures are cooler.
The final step is aging the vinegar. Remove the vinegar from the cabinet and strain it through a coffee filter or cheesecloth. Wash the jar and lid thoroughly and return the vinegar to the jar. Replace the lid, and set the vinegar in a dark cabinet to age for a few months. The longer the aging the better the flavor and color. If possible, a year would be nice.
Remember to always set aside some vinegar for starting your next batch.
If mold develops at any point in the process, discard the vinegar and begin again.
Remember to always set aside some vinegar for starting your next batch.
If mold develops at any point in the process, discard the vinegar and begin again.
Because the process depends greatly on having the right air temperatures, you may need to consider that when beginning your vinegar.
For further reading:
For further reading:
https://nevadatodd.blogspot.com/2011/04/making-malt-vinegar-with-wheat-and.html#comment-form
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Here's an update! ;)
ReplyDeletehttps://nevadatodd.blogspot.com/2020/
Enjoy!
That's an awesome design I haven't seen before. I'm going to build one!
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