Bulk grain purchase - does brand matter?

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Per a suggestion on the board (I love this forum!!) I went out and bought Brewing Classic Styles and went through and earmarked all of the beers I wanted to brew to see what sort of grains would make sense to purchase in bulk.

My two biggest grains that I calculated needing were 51 pounds of pilsner malt and 48 pounds of British pale malt. My LHBS sells Weyermann Pilsner in 55 lb sacks and I have had good luck with it in the past. Will Weyermann Pilsner be ok for a wide range of beers that aren't necessarily German? Any brand suggestions for British malt?

PS...I really like the Brewing Classic Styles book. It made me put some beers on my brewing list that I probably wouldn't have normally.
 
I use Weyermann pilsner malt and find it to be a very versatile pilsner malt. It is not the type of malt that will limit you to certain styles or recipes.
 
Thomas Fawcett floor-malts their grain. I'm not sure about Crisp.

Thomas Fawcett's Halcyon is tasty, as is their Maris Otter. Depends on if you're doing a lager or ale.
 
The brands are different and can be noticable in the finished beer. It all comes down to preference. I am able to get Briess for $36/50 lbs and think it is a fine base malt.
 
Weyerman Pilsner is a german pilsner so it is an excellent "continental" pilsner as called out for in Brewing Classic Styles. As for your other question, brand makes a HUGE difference. I use Tomas Fawcett MOPA and Best Malz Pilsner exclusively as my base malts.
 
I know many people here and on other forums swear they can taste a difference between maltsters but I have my doubts about that. For years I bought whatever base malt the brewpub I bought from was using. For a while it was Cargill and my beer was good. Then it was Briess ad my beer was good, etc. I don't really think that after the malt has been mashed, boiled, adulterated with hops and finally processed by yeast that any subtle differences can still be identified. I really think other factors such as age of the malt and how it's been stored play a much bigger role in taste than brand.
 
I have also been wondering about brands. I kniw hops can vary deoending on where there grown but i have heard that todays malts are so robust and engineered that it wont matter.
 
Scallywag said:
Weyerman Pilsner is a german pilsner so it is an excellent "continental" pilsner as called out for in Brewing Classic Styles.
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I needed to know! I had no idea what they were referring to with a "continental" pilsner malt.

Will probably grab a sack of Wyermann Pilsner and see what they have for British malt.

Thanks again guys :mug:
 
Here's another aspect that most people are probably unaware of.
I have brother in law in France who is a grain farmer, and one of his crops is 2 row barley for beer, He harvests his own barley and sells it to whichever co-op offers the best price at the time, or he silos it until prices get better. he also harvests for many other farmers(he has 3 combines) and they also sell to whoever pays the most. The co-ops in turn sell to whichever maltster they have a contract with or is offering the best price. The point is that by the time that grain gets to a maltster it is a mixture of barley crops from all over central France and any real distinguishing aspects of any one of those barleys has been diluted and mixed up.
 
corkybstewart said:
Here's another aspect that most people are probably unaware of.
I have brother in law in France who is a grain farmer, and one of his crops is 2 row barley for beer, He harvests his own barley and sells it to whichever co-op offers the best price at the time, or he silos it until prices get better. he also harvests for many other farmers(he has 3 combines) and they also sell to whoever pays the most. The co-ops in turn sell to whichever maltster they have a contract with or is offering the best price. The point is that by the time that grain gets to a maltster it is a mixture of barley crops from all over central France and any real distinguishing aspects of any one of those barleys has been diluted and mixed up.
Click to expand...

The different malting processes used by different companies will make a difference even if the grain is all the same.
 
The last malt I bought was some two row and some Pale Malt, both from Great Western Malting Company. I was particularly interested in this brand because I am from Idaho, and they have a malting plant within the state.

Mark
 

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