Growing barley

[MHBT]

I wanna try my hand at growing and malting a crop of barley, still doing some researching , they have spring barley, winter barley i see they sell winter barley on northern brewer, midwest so i think im gonna go that route worst comes to worst i will produce straw mulch and some compost worm food, i live in a coastal area and we get some pretty heavy winds and snowy weather would i need a hoop house for winter barley? Any tips on growing And when i should sow the seeds etc etc, gonna be a small 8x2 all for fun dont expect enough to make a reasonable batch of beer maybe if im lucky a 2.5- 3 gallon batch

 

[Dr_Jeff]

Most of what they sell has been malted.
It won't grow.

 

[MHBT]

Most of what they sell has been malted.
It won't grow.

No they sell specifically for growing also I’ll send link if i knew how

 

[Dr_Jeff]

Ok, go for it.

 

[MHBT]

Ok, go for it.

Do me a favor please, can you tell me how to post a link here?

 

[Dr_Jeff]

in the window where you type your messages, there is an icon that resembles an eight leaning to the right, to the left of the picture icon, use it to insert a link

 

[MHBT]

Newdale Two Row Malting Barley - Seed Barley - Order Now for 2022 Season

 

[MHBT]

in the window where you type your messages, there is an icon that resembles an eight leaning to the right, to the left of the picture icon, use it to insert a link

Thank you

 

[Dr_Jeff]

Right there

 

[MHBT]

View attachment 771871
Right there

Got it thanks I posted link, can you see it or did i mess up? #7

 

[Dr_Jeff]

Consider checking at your local farmers COOP

I saw it.

 

[MHBT]

I practically live on a beach no local farmers but thanks id have to search out on the island and not looking to go crazy

 

[Dr_Jeff]

When you explain, that you just need a little bit, they might even give it to you.

BTW- there is a user on here, don't recall the name, that is a farmer that grows barley on a large scale.

 

[Dr_Jeff]

Possibly try growing sea oats first, then move on to barley

 

[MHBT]

Possibly try growing sea oats first, then move on to barley

Can you make a beer with 100% sea oats?

 

[Dr_Jeff]

Doubtful, I don't know

@bracconiere seems to be the resident expert on malting at home

 

[Dr_Jeff]

But with the sea oats, it would be something that would grow in your area. You would get the experience of growing, harvesting and malting and decide if you want to progress further from there.

 

[day_trippr]

I frequently find myself wishing HBTers would put more thought into their "location" info.
This is one of those times that I had to dig to find where the OP is located. Which matters.

Anyway...No "unmalted" grain will produce viable wort on its own, and I would not want to be the person claiming one could malt "sea oats" to end up with a self-converting mash, without experience. It might be a thing, but I haven't had any luck Googling that beyotch...

Cheers!

 

[MHBT]

I frequently find myself wishing HBTers would put more thought into their "location" info.
This is one of those times that I had to dig to find where the OP is located. Which matters.

Anyway...No "unmalted" grain will produce viable wort on its own, and I would not want to be the person claiming one could malt "sea oats" to end up with a self-converting mash, without experience. It might be a thing, but I haven't had any luck Googling that beyotch...

Cheers!

No clue what any of that meant man, not even being sarcastic, or a troll or anything negative, I legitimately have no clue what you just said

 

[Quentin Nelson]

So that I could provide useful information to students in our ADVANCED HOME BREWING class:
A few years ago I bought several different types of barley for malting and planting. First stop was the local farm/feed store for a 50 lb bag of cattle feed barley. It turned out to be 6-row of unknown variety. Grew beautifully in Western and Eastern Washington, planted in spring. June is a little late but will work fine. Cattle feed or anything for human consumption will be “UNTREATED”. “Treated” seed is sprayed with a colored dye, usually pink and something (poison?) to keep the birds from eating it. Barley will grow fine just scattered on the surface of moist soil. But is usually planted mechanically 1-2” deep. From planting to harvest is 90-100 days. It’s beautiful to observe! Easy as pie to grow barley grass or sprouts in the kitchen window for green smoothies too.

I have a few pounds of untreated Copeland 2-row malting barley I could share. Or look for Metcalf, Newdale, Harrington or others specified as “malting barley”. Cheap stuff from the feed store is probably 6-row.

I also spent dozens of hours experimenting with malting one to five pound batches. Also great fun. It’s not rocket surgery, but challenging. Then you can kiln/roast the grain to various darknesses and flavors. I put together a short one-page worksheet of instructions which I’m happy to share. All absolutely satisfying and fascinating! But really... not a cost effective way to get malt for brewing. But DO IT anyway just for fun!

I will find a couple pics to post later.

 

[bwible]

Malting is the process of converting the seeds of the plant to have sugars that we can use for brewing. Basically you wet the seeds and allow them to germinate. The emerging plant will naturally convert the starch in the barley seeds (kernels) to sugar for itself. Then they heat and dry the seeds to kill the emerging plant when it gets to a certain size so that we can have the sugar. We brew with malted barley. Unmalted barley has limited use in a couple Belgian styles and only as a small percentage. We can’t brew with 100% unmalted barley.

Barley seeds are one thing. Day Tripper is saying oats are a different kind of seed that would be much harder to work with.

 

[bwible]

When you explain, that you just need a little bit, they might even give it to you.

BTW- there is a user on here, don't recall the name, that is a farmer that grows barley on a large scale.

@grampamark

 

[Quentin Nelson]

Here’s a handful of 6-row (feed store barley) at the stage when germination should be stopped, then dried with 110-120F heat for malt Note rootlets on one end and acrospire about half to full length of the seed.

If these were put in the soil, there would be a green barley grass blade in a few days. Plump ripe barley in 90-odd days, stalk and head would dry out and turn golden color! Ready for harvest.

 

[Kevin Wurtz]

So that I could provide useful information to students in our ADVANCED HOME BREWING class:
A few years ago I bought several different types of barley for malting and planting. First stop was the local farm/feed store for a 50 lb bag of cattle feed barley. It turned out to be 6-row of unknown variety. Grew beautifully in Western and Eastern Washington, planted in spring. June is a little late but will work fine. Cattle feed or anything for human consumption will be “UNTREATED”. “Treated” seed is sprayed with a colored dye, usually pink and something (poison?) to keep the birds from eating it. Barley will grow fine just scattered on the surface of moist soil. But is usually planted mechanically 1-2” deep. From planting to harvest is 90-100 days. It’s beautiful to observe! Easy as pie to grow barley grass or sprouts in the kitchen window for green smoothies too.

I have a few pounds of untreated Copeland 2-row malting barley I could share. Or look for Metcalf, Newdale, Harrington or others specified as “malting barley”. Cheap stuff from the feed store is probably 6-row.

I also spent dozens of hours experimenting with malting one to five pound batches. Also great fun. It’s not rocket surgery, but challenging. Then you can kiln/roast the grain to various darknesses and flavors. I put together a short one-page worksheet of instructions which I’m happy to share. All absolutely satisfying and fascinating! But really... not a cost effective way to get malt for brewing. But DO IT anyway just for fun!

I will find a couple pics to post later.

Mind sharing instructions step by step. Thanks.