Field to brew

[doubletapbrewing]

I am considering growing my own hops and barley but am still lacking some expertise on how to complete this process. I understand the farming an harvesting side of it all. My co fusion comes after I germinate the barley as dry the hops. How do I roast the barley to get different flavors? Also, do I just throw the dried hops into a grain ba and bthrow the bag into the wort? If anyone has experience with this I would appreciate your input!

 

[gelatin]

Going as far as roasting your own barley is going to be quite difficult as you're going to be retreading the ground places like Briess have over the last 50 years. It'll take a long time and expensive equipment to really dial in the process to give you specific roasts. Not to mention harvesting isn't as easy as it seems to separate only the kernels out.

Hops on the other hand are quite easy. Get some posts and wire to allow vertical growth and maximum exposure to the sun. You don't even have to dry them if you don't want to. Check out this guy's drying methods though:

http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2011/07/drying-hops-at-home.html

 

[duboman]

There is an in depth article this month in Brew Your Own Magazine addressing the malting of your own grain and it is very interesting and informative so pick up a copy. You need to purchase raw, unmalted grain if you want to malt your own and IME and according to the article, most LHBS do not carry raw unmalted grain so you would need to search for a supplier. You also do not want grain used for feed as it is lesser quality.

As for the hops, once they are harvested you can do one of two things or both. You can wet hop your beer using the fresh hops although it takes a LOT of hops to achieve the same utilization or you can dry them.

For drying, I harvest them and spread them out on a large sliding door screen frame, actually a few on a rack, place the set up in my garage and use a fan underneath the screen to circulate the air through the hops gently. They dry our nicely in a couple days or so and then get sealed into 2oz bags for storage.

You can visit the hops growing forum for a lot more info and stickies!

 

[doubletapbrewing]

I have read a few articles on the harvesting an roasting of barley. I have a method of wrapping a paper bag around the heads of the barley and then drying it upside down. If dried out for a LNG enough time, they said the grain will almost fall off. As for roasting, I have read that you can use your oven or a dehydrator used for meat to roar the barley. I have also read more industrialized ways to do it with expensive equipment as you mentioned. Has anyone done this with their own home grown barley?

 

[F250]

Well, after the zombie apocalypse, we'll all be wishing we could grow our own barley and hops.

This could happen yet today ya know.

Rick

 

[doubletapbrewing]

Haha so I guess I can consider myself a prepper.

 

[F250]

Haha so I guess I can consider myself a prepper.

Well sure. Ever buy green bananas?

Rick

 

[keyman]

Once you harvest the barley you have to dry it to approx 14%. Then when you malt it you have three processes. Germanation by soaking the barley in water for 3 hours and air rest another 4 hours. Repeat this until the grain reaches 45% moisture. Spread out on a box and cover with black bag. Try to turn grains every 6 hours and mist with water. After the acrosprio's reach 75% in length you then dry the grain down to the original weigh you started with I have an oast and I set it at 100 degrees. After that I then turn it up to 140 degree's for about 3 to 4 hours. My final malt moisture is around 6%. This can all be figured by weight. Next you roast the malt to whatever style you want. Example: I roast the malt 30 minutes @350 degrees for a munich malt. I'm sure you can figure it out. Do some research and experiment. That's what homebrewing is all about.... Good Luck!

 

[doubletapbrewing]

Thanks keyman. The research I have started doing is consistent with what you said. Is there anywhere online that details the amount of time and temp to roast the malt to get different flavors (as you mentioned Munich)?

 

[keyman]

Somehow I beilive that may be some trade secret. I been looking and found several close details but each is a little different. What I did was went to my local homebrew shop and got small samples (1/8 oz) of the grains I use. I laid wide schotch tape out on a table with sticky part up. I carefully laid severl grains out on the tape then placed another tape on top. I marked on the tape what grain I have in it. When I roast I use this as a guide to how much I need to roast for. Seems to work ok for me. If you find a good roasting guid let me know.

 

[cheezydemon3]

Grain is cheap, grow as much Hops as you can!

Malting your own????? Talk about LABOUR INTENSIVE!!!!!!

Even if you JUST made pale 2 row, your consistency would be off.

 

[doubletapbrewing]

Grain is cheap, grow as much Hops as you can!

Malting your own????? Talk about LABOUR INTENSIVE!!!!!!

Even if you JUST made pale 2 row, your consistency would be off.

Consistency from batch to batch or consistency within one batch? I figure that if I grow lets say 50 pounds worth of barley, it all came from the same batch. Why would the consistency be off? I understand your point if it was from a different growing season.

 

[doubletapbrewing]

Somehow I beilive that may be some trade secret. I been looking and found several close details but each is a little different. What I did was went to my local homebrew shop and got small samples (1/8 oz) of the grains I use. I laid wide schotch tape out on a table with sticky part up. I carefully laid severl grains out on the tape then placed another tape on top. I marked on the tape what grain I have in it. When I roast I use this as a guide to how much I need to roast for. Seems to work ok for me. If you find a good roasting guid let me know.

That is a good idea. And as you said earlier, just experimenting with different time and temps is part of the fun. If I find anything I will be sure to post it on here.