Which grains

I bought myself a Barley Crusher last weekend and it will be on my doorstep this coming Thursday, I'm SO excited.

Anyway, I've got no grain. I love doing bitters and just about anything that's lineage traces back to England. That said a 55# sack of MO is already on my list to buy.

I also plan on grabbing about 10 pounds of Crystal 60.

Anyone else recommend some grain "essentials" to stock up on? I'm certainly not limited to English beers but I do like them more. I love a good porter or stout, so something that would enable me to do them "easily" would be cool to.

I buy specialty grains by the 5# bag. Good things to have on hand.
Chocolate malt
Roasted Barley
Crystal 120
a lighter crystal
Munich
Victory or aromatic

Others:
Black Patent
Special B
Carapils

Nearly every recipe I do uses some crystal so that is a must. I like stouts and porters also so the chocolate and roasted barley are used often. Victory and Munich are often used to add character to beers and I use them alot.
I think Special B goes well in dark beers and I use it in Dubbles.

Craig

I second CBBaron's list as that covers about everything I use for my English beers. One tip though is don't get 5# of black patent which I did. A little goes a long way. If you are thinking of adding more then 0.5# (and then only in something really bold) in a recipe it is likely too much.

GT

If you like English beers definitely get either some victory or some biscuit (they are the same).

I keep a lot of roasted barley on hand (and some chocolate as well) because I brew stouts more often than anything. Because of that I keep a lot of flaked barley as well.

Awesome, thanks guys.

Got Trub? said:

One tip though is don't get 5# of black patent which I did. A little goes a long way. If you are thinking of adding more then 0.5# (and then only in something really bold) in a recipe it is likely too much.

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I've had this sort of fascination with Black Patent and Chocolate malts since a series of articles in BYO the past few months. I'd rather start low and not waste money though, before I really get a fell for what to keep on hand, so I'll take that advice to heart.

Crystal, Choclate and a little black are good stock cupboard grains.