Job's Tears

I read about using the seeds from Job's Tears (coix lacryma) as a GF barley substitute. I planted a bunch of it this year to find out how it might turn out. Does anyone have any experience using this grain? How hard will it be to malt the seeds? If it works I'm going to make a GF beer using it along with hops that I'm also growing.

Never even heard of this. Sounds promising. I say go for it. There are a few articles on here about malting your own grains. Not that hard to do.

Seems like it replaces barley's texture but, doesn't quite taste like it.

I'm really curious if they have any of the chemical properties of barley that are useful for brewing or if they are just similar in look and name. Definitely keep up posted!

As an acupuncturist, I know of this plant from a medicinal perspective; the chinese name is yi yi ren, and it definitely looks like barley. I've thought about trying to brew with it before, but from what I've been able to find about it, it's more of a seed than a grain and has a pretty high fat content. Still, a local health food store sells it in bulk, I'm kind of mad at myself for not experimenting with it. It's readily available in most Chinatown herb markets, because it is a very popular medicinal herb, but the problem with the medicinal stuff is that it's almost always sulfured, which will certainly cause off-flavors. I will definitely make a point of trying it with some added enzymes soon, though...probably just a 1-gallon batch, but I've been curious for quite a while. I know of no one who has actually tried it in beer, or investigated its properties when malted.

Well given this will be my first year growing it, drying, and malting it (sans sulphur) I'm just hoping for enough for a 1 gallon batch so I definitely will add to this thread as I progress through the whole process. But based on our acupuncturist friends comments, I may try an Asian market to see if I can find some Yi Yi Ren to experiment with as my plants continue growing. I wonder if the sulphur is added as a preservative, if so then it should malt easily.

What are its medicinal properties?

Any one have ideas as to the sugar/carbohydrate amount in these seeds once malted? I may try asking USDAs agricultural lab since it is not too far away?

Any news about the way this beer turned out? i bought some Job's tears from Hmart and i wanna do a mini mash of it and see what kinda beer comes out. thoughts?

Dan Mistry said:

Any news about the way this beer turned out? i bought some Job's tears from Hmart and i wanna do a mini mash of it and see what kinda beer comes out. thoughts?

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Welcome to HBT!

Be aware, the thread you replied to is almost 7 years old. The original poster ("OP"), who said he would brew a batch, hasn't been on here since Jan. 2016. Hope you'll get some replies and ideas here or elsewhere.

Those seeds you bought likely need to be malted first, to develop the enzymes, which will enable you to mash and make wort from it.
Or try with added enzymes, or use a GF base malt along with the Job's Tears to convert the starches to sugars.

Keep us posted. Sounds like an intriguing project.

My understanding is they have a really, really hard shell. Probably simplest to just try and convert the shelled grains using enzymes like Ondea pro as a first step.