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Malt Barley Grains

Post #1 made 14 years ago
by Snews Brews
Hi All,

I'm looking at doing my first BIAB soon and my mate can get some Malt Barley grains straight from his dad's farm.

I've tried to google my options and had a search on a few different forums but feel like I'm at a dead end.

What are my options using this? When people mention "barley" do they mean malt barley?

I have a 25L stock pot for the BIAB so I'm looking at getting as close to 23L after doing some sparging.

I'm thinking 5kg's of grain in total the majority being the malt barley, plus a few other grains for flavour plus hops etc but if possible I want to make a beer that reflects the malt barley that my mate is getting me.

I want to make an ale with the malt barley grains, and probably going to try to make a starter out of a couple of Coopers Sparkling Ale stubbies.

So to summarise my quesion: -

What are my options
Is Malt Barley a good base to start a beer with?
What amount would you suggest for a 25L stock pot?
If it is, what other grains would add some flavour/body etc without overpowering the malt barley?
What hops would go with Malt Barley to make a nice ale? Schedule?
Is Sparkling Ale yeast starter a good idea for this?

Thanks for any help. Love that there is a noob section on here!!!

Rob
There's only one thing better than a beer. And that's another one.

Post #2 made 14 years ago
by joshua
Good Day Rob(Snews), When most people say barley, they mean malt barley. Malt barley...2 row or 6 row IS the base for almost all Ales.
If you like Toast, go with Biscuit Malt, If you like carmel, toffee, or chocolate, those are all malts too.
Now, Barley from the Field is not malted, and you need about 60% malted grain to make beer.

Now for some trouble..23L is about 6 gallons, you could start with around 1.6 pound per gallon, which is 10 pounds or about 4.5Kg and you should get 1.045 to 1.055sg into the fermenter.

In America the best hops are Cascade, you could use about any 5%-7% alpha acid hops, see http://www.beersmith.com/hop-list/

A good ale yaest is Sparkling Ale yeast starter, But there are many others out there also.
I hope this helps, and maybe some of our Mates can contribute more information!
Honest Officer, I swear to Drunk, I am Not God.
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Post #3 made 14 years ago
by Snews Brews
That's awesome info thanks Joshua. I'm glad I was sort of on the right track there. I'll have a look at the hops and malts available, use the Coopers for yeast and get some Cascade or Galaxy hops. Can't wait!
There's only one thing better than a beer. And that's another one.

Post #5 made 14 years ago
by Snews Brews
Cheers Lylo. My mate was telling me that only select grains get chosen and malted by his father in law. I'm pretty sure these mean they'll be ok.....I hope.
There's only one thing better than a beer. And that's another one.

Post #6 made 14 years ago
by NME
If it's been malted, then you're away!

In combination with the info given here, you might want to have a look at Maxi BIAB too. It allows you to squeeze more out of less. See here.
Last edited by NME on 09 Jan 2012, 11:50, edited 3 times in total.
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Post #8 made 14 years ago
by stux
Snews,

Malted Barley is made by malting malting grade malting barley :)

You need to be 100% sure that the barley malt you have has been malted, and is not just malt grade barley.

Matling is the process of germinating the barley and then halting the germination by drying. Various types of malted barley can be made by using different drying temperatures and techniques. This is where the crystals and other types of malt come from.

For a simple "of the land" beer you want to go for what's called a smash beer, ie Single Malt and Single Hop.

You're in the hunter, so pick a nice hop to use, perhaps go for the aussie ale hop pride of ringwood, and then use that as a bittering addition in a 100% Your Own Malt brew.

But you need to be certain that the grain you're using is actually malted and just not malting grain ;)
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Post #9 made 14 years ago
by thamnophis
I was interested in growing my own barley too. Here in central Iowa I can buy barley to seed (usually a cover crop)cheaply, but I doubt it is a malting variety. But how would I know? I wonder if there is much difference. The local farm cooperative sells a 6-row variety.

The place I buy a lot of my vegetable seeds from sells a malting 2 row barley but it would be more than $65US for 50 pounds shipped, about enough for 25,000 square feet.

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-7543-barley-conlon-og.aspx

I have no experience malting (sprouting and roasting) but I think I can pull that off. Whether its worth the trouble is something I'll have to find out for myself I guess.

Post #11 made 14 years ago
by Emjay3478
Hey Thamnophis,
You see alot of people on various sites (forums, youtube etc) talking about malting barley at home. Alot of them talk about buying cheap feed barley and malting that. Yes it can be done but as I live in an area where barley, wheat and oats are grown I can offer the following advice. 1. There are different species of barley which have been developed for animal feed and malting. In a bad season (drought or rain at the wrong time) even the specific malting varieties get downgraded to feed quality, this is because the consistency of grain size and protein levels make for uneven sprouting/malting. The big brewers have very specific quality standards for their malt barley grains.
Some good information is here http://www.barleyaustralia.com.au/Accre ... fault.aspx
Use the best grain you can and have a crack at it. I am sowing barley this season and definately going to try malting roasting and toasting some for my new season brews.

Post #12 made 14 years ago
by thamnophis
Thanks guys. I'll spend the money for the better malting barley.

I plan to sprout the barley in a tub with a hose attached at the bottom drain plug. I'll set the water (well water filtered) on a timer and irrigate the seeds daily to the correct stage of development.

But then what? I was thinking I could dry and roast in a wood oven I have. The hearth is about 3x4 feet (maybe 1 x 1.3 meters) We bake bread by heating it up to 1000F then letting it cool to baking temps. After that there is plenty of heat left - it is still at 225F the following day.

So how do I begin to think about drying/roasting? Are their a bazzilion options, or a couple standard ways to do this?

I should say, I'm not looking to do anything fancy, just a good basic beer.

I seem to be having a lot of trouble staying logged in. I had to login 10 times just to reply to this thread!

Joe

Post #13 made 14 years ago
by Snews Brews
Hi guys,

Had a play around with about 250g of my barley. Soaked overnight in water then left to dry all day. Repeated this two more times and white buds started to grow out of the barley. I spread it out on some paper towel and put some more paper towel on top and kept this top sheet moist with misted water spray. After 2 days the shoots were twice as long as the seed and I spread them out on a baking tray and put them in the oven on the lowest setting overnight. The next morning they were dry and I split them into four groups. The first I kept as is, the second I put in the oven for 30 mins at 120*C, the third at 160*C and the fourth at 200*C. I plan to do a mini-biab (10L) very soon to see if anything happens.
There's only one thing better than a beer. And that's another one.

Post #14 made 14 years ago
by lambert
thamnophis & Snews Brews
I love what you guys are doing. Please post the results and feedback, it's really interesting! During autumn I always cycle past fields of barley (part of my daily commute) and I always imagine that I'll be drinking those fields of gold, either in the beer I brew or as a 12 year old single malt!

Lambert
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Post #15 made 14 years ago
by thamnophis
Snews - how did you decide when to halt the sprouting? I know the sugars develop to a certain point, them diminish as the plant starts to use them for energy. I have an image in my head of the root growing to about the length of the seed before its halted, but can't relocate that reference. So, were you guessing, or was their a reference you found somewhere?

Do keep us posted here. Small scale is probably the way to go till you figure something out.

Good luck -

Joe

Post #16 made 14 years ago
by Snews Brews
Hi Joe, I did a bit of googling & one page that looked pretty good suggested drying when the sprouts were 2x the length of the grain.
There's only one thing better than a beer. And that's another one.

Post #17 made 14 years ago
by Emjay3478
Hey Snew and all,

When you're malting your barley you need to check the acrospire not the rootlets.
When the green shoot which is under the husk is 3/4 along the grain or just about to emerge the grain is fully modified.

The white rootlet growth can be variable, specifically if you keep the grains very moist they will be short and if you keep them drier they will be longer. It is the acrospire that gives the true indication.

Good youtube videos here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC2HqcQR6PQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBWmCkZieXE
They all do it slightly differently which is cool.

Snew you definately need to let us all know how it turned out.

Cheers all
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