Choosing heritage/landrace barley and wheat for lambic style beer

[alastairblake]

Hey HomebrewTalk,
A farmer friend has agreed to sow some old landrace / heritage barley and wheat for me to brew with. I am seeking help to identify the best varieties to plant. These grains are being targeted for use in brewing true-to-form Lambic and Gueuze beer.
I plan on using the approach of true lambic breweries to brew, and I want to use grains that have an old, rich history in the area I am from. I do not want to use grains from the past 70 years or so targeted for efficiency; I want to embrace well suited varieties that grew well / "belonged" in the soil where they were cultivated. So I am looking for wheat (to be used raw) and barley (that I will malt) that correspond to Lancaster, PA.

If anyone can help me identify what types they think might be wise to plant, I would be greatful. I will attach a list below of varities that I know were used in PA about a century ago.

Wheats grown/sold in PA in 1933

-“CHINA” aka “Pennsylvania Bluestem”

-“Nittany” / “Penn No. 44”
- “Red Clawson”
- “rice”
- “mealy”
- “DIEHL-MEDITERRANEAN “
(i am also considering "Fulcaster" and "Red May"

Barley grown and/or sold in PA in 1945
- Kentucky 1
- Tennessee Winter
- “Marnobarb” (a lil in pennsylvania)
- Tennessee Beardless 6
- “Alpha”

Big thanks to anyone with some perspective here!

-Alastair

 

[cactusgarrett]

I can't speak to barley type, but just curious: what scale are you dealing with here, and who do you intent on malting the barley?

 

[alastairblake]

I can't speak to barley type, but just curious: what scale are you dealing with here, and who do you intent on malting the barley?

scale: enough to make a yield of 10 gallons of "lambic" a season. BUT: this hinges on which variety I go after, and what quantity of seed is available. Some seed banks only give out 50 seeds to 28 grams etc.

Malting: if I am doing just a small batch of beer, i honestly will probably malt myself.
https://beerandbrewing.com/malt-your-own-barley/