Blackened Grains in Rye Malt

[micraftbeer]

I found these black grains in my rye malt tonight while pouring them into my measuring bucket before grinding. In hindsight it seems like I've seen these bits occasionally in rye malt. They look almost like grains of rice that have burned to charcoal. But they are hard, not brittle like I would expect if they were burned.

Anyone seen these before, or know what these are?

 

[Dland]

I use a lot of rye malt, and I recall seeing ones like that once in a while, but not in great quantity. Could be some burnt grains that got stuck in malting oven for a few cycles. If they taste burnt, that is likely it.

If they taste like something else, I wonder if they could be rye ergot, a fungus one does not want to ingest in any quantity.

 

[micraftbeer]

Well if reading the Wikipedia page for Rye Ergot isn't an ad for "but good quality grains", I don't know what is... At least one of the little black bits looks exactly like that stuff. I'm guessing the extreme hardness of it means it didn't like roasting in the malting oven, so probably safe from all those effects listed. But I will only buy "premium rye malt" from now on.