Raw Farm Grain - Triticale

[Tuner]

Hi All, a newbie question!

How does one test grain from the farm,  to calculate if grain will be suitable to be used as a fermentable grain. Be it raw barley, wheat, triticale, etc.

Did as sample today with one part raw triticale and one part 2-row barley. Using no enzymes other than the 2-row DP. Boiled the raw triticale, cooled the mash to 149 deg F then added the 2-row.   Then mashed for 90 minutes, after had a good iodine test.  Boiled wort for 30 minutes, cooled to 75 Deg F. calculated OG should have been 1.080, only got 1.045 or only  a little more than what the 2-row would have given. Was using 37 PPG for the  2-row and 33 PPG for the raw triticale, in the calculations.

 Cheers

[Glenlyon]

I came across this document recently - you may be interested. I tasted some triticale whisky the other day and it was quite tasty. 

 

A study on the suitability of unmalted triticale as a brewing adjunct(1).pdf

[DonMateo]

In his book Alt Whiskeys. Derek Bell from Coarsair whiskey distillery. Says that Triticale is a fantastic grain to work with and makes a very nice whiskey straight or as a blend where you want a softer taste than rye but you want some bite.  Apparently Triticale is a lot easier to work with than Rye.  I am in Argentina and I have been trying like crazy to get my hands on some and its not easy.  Go for it and try triticale.  

[Silk City Distillers]

Sounds like you answered your own question, just run a test mash.  The question is, what happened, because based on what you said, it should have been fine.  How coarse was your grind on the triticale, how long did you boil for?

I've done a few test mashes when playing with new grains, but have always just used enzyme so I don't introduce any other variables.  For raw grain, we almost always run a modified step mash, because Nitrogen/FAN will typically be on the low side, and we're almost always playing with higher glucan grains.