Drying Rye Berries
Some might have seen an issue I'm having milling rye berries. Didn't want to gum up the works,** so thought it might be better here.
Looking around some, I do see people can have an issue with milling rye due to the grain's moisture. Various drying regimes I've seen include just air drying, putting it on a proof-oven setting of 90-100 for 8 hours, or up to 200F for no longer than 30 minutes.
As much as I don't want to screw up the miller, I also don't want to damage the grain as to baking and nutritional properties. The 200 F "rest" at 30 minutes feels dicey to me, in this regard. Anyone have any science or technical info on this? Or, simply, your thoughts on how best to dry out rye - as well as how far, and how to tell?
** Truly very sorry. Terrible, terrible pun.
My thought is to use a desiccant for drying the berries.
"Cellphone" rice: Place rice in a mesh bag (like a laundry bag) and add to the container with the berries.
Food-gade silica gel packs:
https://amazon.com/Desiccant-5-Gallon-Storage-Moisture-Control/dp/B00G1S5ICA/
Supposedly rechargeable. We used these (this brand) frequently in an over-pack when packaging or storing moisture-sensitive chemicals. I haven't tried regenerating, but it should work. You might have to dry smaller quantities at time due to the limited capacity of the desiccant.
You're not the only one wanting a solution. Here's a journal article from UC Davis on the subject of controlling moisture in food:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092422441730482X?via%3Dihub
Great, thanks alcophile! Right now I've got them in a hotel pan and I'm raking them every now and then (much like the Maris-Otter floor maltings, actually - which was my preferred base malt for my English pales and bitters). But appreciate the ideas and the link to the dessicant packs. Article as well, will read it tonight.
Safe storage study. 8 pages
https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.498.6611&rep=rep1&type=pdf
temps, the abstract gives answers without having to open the pdf.
https://orbit.dtu.dk/en/publications/high-temperature-treatment-for-efficient-drying-of-bread-rye-and-
Wow, serious stuff, thanks Mini. When I worked for a regional brewery we used some, but not a ton, rye malt. Pallets of 55 # bags. I'd forgotten completely about the potential hazards involved.