World in motion, malt in miniature
I've been trying to make a new rye starter, but not had much success; plenty of lactics, but a defiinite shortage of yeast.
Tried wholegrain, freshly home milled rye and also T997 light rye. Both the same.
So I'm going to try Rusbrot's method 2:
https://brotgost.blogspot.com/2021/08/Itogi4.html
I needed a few grams of rye malt, but didn't want to buy 500g, so decided to micromalt my own. It went something like this:
80g rye grain, latest harvest
8hr steep
8hr air rest
4hr steep
Malt in sq plastic container 12x12x8cm
Loose plastic lid on top
Turn 2-3 x per day
Turn w magimix plastic spatula
Malt till acrospire is 2/3rd grain length - approx 2 days at 20c
Blow air through piece in a sieve w 12v fan - used old pet tea jar for approx 6 hours
Kiln in air fryer. 40c for 1hr and then keep increasing temp in 1/2hr steps until 80c on dial.
Use t/c thermom to set initial temp - about 50c max dial setting (no marks).
Done when dry and starting to colour
Rub off roots on paper towel or cloth.
Here's the malt, prior to rubbing off the culms:
It tastes and smells good, so I will give it a try soon.
Lance
Drying it at certain temps will produce flavours and colour. The malt is needed as food only for the starter. I think it would have been good enough to sprout them until the shoots are as long as the grain and then with a little water put them through the food processor and add to the feed.
What you have done would be great for adding to a rye bread. But of course still good enough to add to the starter. However i've just noticed you increased the temps to 80C! Wouldn't this make it non diastatic? They are now only good for flavour and colour in the final dough. Not sure if it has any diastatic power to give a starter some oomph. It certainly will be void of yeast.
If I were you i'd now keep this for breads and make another batch. The only use for your starter these will be now, I suppose, will be a 'sugar'. Feeding what's already in your starter but not adding anything.
If you have plenty of LAB but it lacks yeast then it might be because you're keeping the temps too high (just a guess without knowing your exact method). Try making it lower hydration and ferment at cooler temps. It might slow down at first, so slow down your feedings, but might encourage more yeast growth.
When drying the grain do not them go above 40C to keep them diastatic.
P.s Apologies. I just took a look at his recipe. He is using it as simply sugar and not for its diastatic power.
After looking at the video I think you are trying to develop two different type of starters. I'm thinking you want a starter that we all know and bake with. Rus is creating one from scratch and using very quickly which might be better in rye breads but not so good in wheat sourdough breads. I don't think it'll be strong enough yet. Don;t think he's developing a starter in 2.5 days which is abundant with yeast.
I think it will be alright, Abe; the malt is light in colour, similar to pale ale barley malt (it looks a bit darker in the pic) and it has a nice biscuity nose and flavour - no burnt/roast notes. My thoughts are that it will have plenty of diastase, whether needed or not.
Here's an example of a rye malting procedure with kilning profile:
https://brewingbeerthehardway.wordpress.com/2018/09/04/rye-malt/
I am looking to create a specific rye starter as I already have my stiff French starter.
I did have a rye starter previously, but it started to do the weirdest thing - the pH would drop during a refresh and then drop further in storage as expected, but after a week or so in the frij, the pH started to rise and often I could see a yeast film on top of the starter.
I never could get to the bottom of that one, so I scrapped it!
Lance