First Attempt

I think its millet
 

I discovered that the small grain that I feed the chickens, sprouted 3 days after being placed in a little basket that I fashioned to be a bird feeder. This got me to thinking, which can be dangerous under the right motivation, Nikki can attest. The epiphany cloud formed overhead... This is a grain of some sort, grain is the main ingredient in BEER. Hmmmm...After a little internet search I found out I had actually completed the first step of Malting, purely by accident. Oh yeah!! Now this could get interesting, being the green minded soul that I am and don't forget the blog title. I have set out to create a purely local brew from supplies I can find at the local market. As with most great discoveries controlled replication can be difficult (watch The Medicine Man with Sean Connery and you will know my frustration). I immediately went to the market and bought 10 pounds of the mystery grain. I then soaked it for 3 days in water, seemed logical. Then I put it outside to get some sun and heat, again logical right? That is where is started to go downhill, I think It started to decompose. 2 days in the heat after 2 days soaked in water I decided to try and dry it out since there was no sprouting going on. So yesterday afternoon I spread it out like frosting on the plastic picnic table outside. Well last night we got an unexpected rain storm, and this morning all three chickens were at an all you can eat buffet. Thats fine, Ill try to salvage whats left, at this point the stench pretty much covers the entire back yard. Not to mention that it feels like a dung heap as the foul sludge that I created is obviously irresistable to flies. Sang helped me fix the table to drain off the nasty slime that was not drying out at all. Finally, this afternoon I couldnt imagine drinking whatever the result of this toxic ooze was so I scattered it for the birds. This weekend is attempt number 2.  On a good note, Nikki and I bottled our good ole american IPA on Monday so we are a week away from bliss.