My First Attempt at Sprouting-Please Help!

[Holli]

I just bought some wheat berries and am anxiously awaiting my dehydrator that I ordered from Alissa's store. The first thing I'm going to do is make bread, and more bread, and more...well, you get the point. :)

Anyway, I'm reading the sprouting chapter in her book, but I want to make sure I'm doing this right. It says to soak the wheat berries for 8 hours. Do I need to put them in the refrigerator while they are soaking or just leave them out? Covered or uncovered?

Then it says to rinse 3-4 times a day for 2-3 days. Okay, so can I just drain the water they were soaking in and stick them in a collander in my sink for a couple of days and rinse them occassionally? How does everyone else do it? I don't have any sprouting equipment.

Last question: Once they have sprouted and I stick them in the refrigerator, how long will wheat berry sprouts be good for? Alissa says most sprouts will keep for 4-5 days...is that pretty accurate for wheat berries?

Thanks for your patience! Once my dehydrator gets here, I'm sure you'll be hearing from me a lot!

[sport]

I soak in a glass jar.
When the soak time is up I place a small square of cheesecloth over the top of the jar and put 2 rubber bands around the neck to keep it in place.
I rinse them well and place inverted at an angle of about 45 degrees so that the water can drain. Make sure that the entire cheesecloth is not covered as you need to allow air in to the jar.
Twice a day just fill the jar and swish and then invert again.

[justinesmith]

I use a cereal bowl and a hand towel on my counter by the sink. I've also used a collander but found that the sprouts will grow through the holes in the collander and stick so I am using only bowls now. I've had sprouts last up to a week in the fridge and if you use warm water to rinse, they will sprout a bit faster (Alissa's tip ~ always works for me). Have fun!

[EZ rider]

Last question: Once they have sprouted and I stick them in the refrigerator, how long will wheat berry sprouts be good for?

sprouts are a living plant. As long as they have what they need to grow they will continue to grow. Keep changing the water occasionally and give them some light and soon you will have a bigger plant.

[Holli]

Once they have sprouted, how do I store them in the fridge? Do I still need to allow them to breathe? Do I keep them in water?

[EZ rider]

Once they have sprouted, how do I store them in the fridge?

Instead of putting them in the fridge why not keep them growing until you use them ? That what I call the "still wiggling when you eat them" approach. Give them some sunshine too and they will green up.