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Detritivore Reged: 11/02/11 Posts: 6812 Loc: 29.9792ยฐ N, 31.1342ยฐ E |
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I decided to write a wheat prep tek. I do prep my jars carefully and slowly. I dont like burst grains and I dont like dirty jars. So if your goal is speed, this probably isnt the tek for you. I see some really bad jars and so I felt compelled to write this. Im one of the oldest noobs on the block because I dont get too deep into this hobby despite being around this forum since the early 2000's. I still use an SAB, I dont mess with LC, and I periodically neglect the hobby and let things fall to trich. That said, I feel like my jars are a lot nicer than some of the jars I see around here, and they are 100x better than anything you can order from an online store and at least 9748382x better than anything I see on reddit. So if youre like me and believe that grain prep is the most important part of this hobby, have access to bulk wheat or rye, and dont mind taking the time to do it right, keep reading. Im a visual learner. I believe that some things are easier done than said. That said, my goal with this tek is to create a very visual tek for those who learn similarly. Ive included as many pictures and animations as I could to really give you a good idea of what the grain is supposed to look and feel like at various stages. I use wheat. Its basically identical to rye but its what I have access to. I buy a 50lb bag of it--untreated--at the feed store for $12. Its a bit bigger than rye and seems to hold a little more water. I live in a very dry climate and Ive struggled with no-prep rye teks drying and stalling out. Lets get into it. Heres the raw product: EDIT: 1/6/24 Its come to my attention that not all wheat is created equal. I finally got my hands on some of this red winter wheat, and its a lot more like rye. The process remains the same, but I find that its a lot harder and denser than the white, and in my opinion, inferior. Its taking a much longer time to colonize jars using this wheat, and I went out immediately and got myself a bag of white and went back. I think that red winter wheat, or hard white wheat are similar to rye and can be prepped this way, but just be advised, this tek was made using soft white wheat, which I think is the best grain to use for this craft. I've heard tales also of "hard white" wheat which I have not seen or used either. I can't think of any difference these different products could possibly make in terms of the process, but I do think the harder kernels hold less water and are harder to tell if they've been saturated. I do think the harder wheats break apart easier, but the slower colonization time isn't worth it in my opinion. Apologies to anyone who experienced trouble using hard wheats using my tek not getting the same results I did. Heres the nutrition profile of wheat. Zoom in and you can see all kinds of chaff and debris. A few bits of corn, so the first thing I do is clean it. I measure it out. It more than doubles in volume when cooked, so If I want 10 jars, I measure 5 jars. I load it into my 23qt presto, but a bucket would be fine. I take it outside and I float the chaff and dead grain off. I suppose you could do this in a large sink or your bathtub but be careful you dont clog your drains. I pour off the dirty water. I fill and stir with the hose to get more chaff and debris loose. I pour it off. I keep doing this maybe 2 or 3 times until the water is clean. Like so: Dont worry about the corn for now. Now I soak. Approximately 20 hours at room temp. The grain softens a bit. Now it looks like this: Then I cook it. Slowly. I never boil it. Boiling gives an inconsistent cook and bursts grains. My flame is set about like so: From one of my favorite members, Rumfor, he says that he gets fewer burst grains starting with cold water at this phase. I cook it for a couple hours. Never boil, Never even simmer. I check it obsessively. I stir. I want it totally saturated but not with burst grains. It will change color. It gets daker as the white starches become imbibed with water. I eat a few. should be real tender. Its tasty. No starchiness or crunchiness. Until it looks like this: (note the white spots. This is merely the tip of the endospore of the grain and not a sign of it being undercooked. Do not try to cook this out or you will ruin the batch and overcook.) Now I rinse. Same process as cleaning at step one. Rinse until the water runs clean off it. Then I drain and cool it. I use a big screen with a shoebox below it. You can do it however you like. Figure it out its not rocket science. Dont get burned. I let it cool until its cool enough to handle with my hands. edit 9/17/23 Ive made a strainer for this step that really helps. Its a 20q tub wirh a bunch of 1/8" holes melted into the bottom. i did it with a hot nail. It works great. I run the hose over it. It drains slow enough that with wnough water volume from the hose, it fills up. so Im stirring with my hand as i add cold water. when it fills up, i dump off the ugly water and I keep agitating and rinsing and pouring until the water is more or less clean. Im not going to post a pic of this. Its simple enough. A tub with "a bunch" of holes melted into the bottom. Drilling always cracks the tub so do it with a hot nail. Sorry to be repetitive. Then I dry it. this is the most important part and I believe it is the step that most people mess up. Wet grain is the kiss of death for myc. I use this "herb dryer" thing. You can use a screen but I really love this thing. It hangs from the ceiling. I used to spread the grain out on a table with a layer of butcher paper or news paper. It works but it takes forever and the results are inconsistent. the edges get crispy dry. If you do it this way, stir it up frequently. edit 9/17/23 Yes I am aware that brewers bags probably also work for this step, GUERILLA, but this is how I like to do it. I think i get a real consistent dry with the herb dryer but if you dont have room for one, Brewers bags work well (allegedly) and if not that, you can always lay it all out on newspaper or butchers paper old school bod style. edit 4/12/23 i used to spend hours drying it. sometimes id be up late at night doing it. Recently i accidentally fell asleep and woke up the next morning and the grain was perfect. So now, thats standard practice. set it on the herb dryer and go to bed. its perfect by morning. I transfer it with this to-go cup from the phรด place. I run an oscillating fan on it but I don't think that's totally necessary. Also, you can pick the corn out now. In my climate, it takes about 2 hours to get to the magic dryness. Heres where the herb drier is really nice. you give each layer a shake and the grain settles into nice little piles to transfer out: I find it very easy to transfer every single grain into an empty shoebox without spilling a single kernel. I put my hand under the pile--under the screen--and scoop it into the cup. easier done than said. shake to get it into a pile again and repeat. Now it looks like this: Zoom in. it is dry to the touch. Swollen. Not burst. Here are some animations I made to give you an idea of what it should look like and how it should behave: Notice how it doesn't stick to my hand. (Only a coulple cracked kernels might be sticky) See how it pours. Will not stick to the jar. see how it rolls in the jar. No clumping. Wont stick to either the glass or itself. And thats it. Perfection. PC'ed: Wrap lids in tinfoil if your filters arent waterproof and PC for 90 minutes. Dont forget to vent your pc . edit 9/17/23 : perfection. not a single burst grain. heres a new gif i did to show the non-clumping consistency after the pc cycle: -------------------- Edited by BeefSupremeJr (01/06/24 08:28 AM)
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