All grain brewing supplies

[DreBourbon]

I'm switching from extract to all grain brewing and I'm thinking of buying grains in bulk. What diverse basics should I be keeping stocked...in other words is there a base grain that's used in most mashes or do they all differ depending on the recipe?

 

[daksin]

An American 2-row or pale malt would be a pretty good start. If you make a lot of British beers, you could stock maris otter or British pale malt instead. If you make a lot of German style lagers or Belgian beers, you might want to stock Pilsner malt as your base. You can make beers of any style with most of these malts, but a 2-row or Pils malt will be the most versatile. I wouldn't want to make a helles lager with Maris Otter, for instance, but I could do a decent pilsner with my 2-row.

 

[DreBourbon]

Cool. Thanks. I'm a big fan of IPA and Irish Reds.

 

[microbusbrewery]

+1 what daksin said. I usually have three base malts on hand. I'll rotate through US 2-row, Maris Otter, Belgian Pils, and German Pils. For storing grain, Lowe's and Home Depot have 5 gallon food grade buckets for pretty cheap. Two buckets will hold about one 50 pound sack. Add on gamma seal lids and you're good to go.

 

[JosephN]

For ipas I would consider stocking up on hops as well. Check yakimavalleyhops.com or hopsdirect.com.

Irish reds I'm not sure about, haven't made one yet.

 

[sikkingj]

I echo the advice already stated 2-row, Pilsner and Harris otter for your base malts.
The new piece of advice is that i would look to join a local group buy (there is a DC one on this board) to save yourself some cash and let you jump in on some exotic grain splits (special b, etc.).

 

[DreBourbon]

I'm in Canada so usually the shipping costs are very high.

 

[RM-MN]

I'm in Canada so usually the shipping costs are very high.

Canada raises a bunch of malting barley and it is malted in Canada so I'd start with a Canadian malted 2-row. As you progress with your brewing and decide you need a different malt for a particular flavor, you buy what you need, gulp a bit at the high shipping cost, and then decide if you really need to brew that kind of beer.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

You realize if you purchase a sack of grain you have to mill it. Right?

I am fortunate to have a LHBS in my town, so I always buy grains within a week of use and mill them at the store. If you review several recipies, you'll notice a pattern. Most grain bills start with *about* 2 pounds per gallon of base malt, then add up to 2 pounds each of one, two or three specialty grains. The base malt provides the enzymes to convert starch to sugar, and also provides most of the fermentables. The specialty grains provide color and alter the flavor. Since all recipies have a large proportion of base malt, you could stock up on that. Typical base malts in my neck of the woods are American 2 row, American 6 row, etc. Look on the malt analysis sheet for an enzyme content somewhere north of 150 or so to help you identify suitable base malts. You need an average of 60 points per pound in the total mash to ensure successful conversion. That means that highly kilned malts (with low diastic power) need base malt to supplement.

 

[JosephN]

^^^ yep you are gonna need a mill and with all the looking that I've done I've settled on a crankenstein 3 roller.