So my sister's boyfriend lives on a family farm. As a thoughtful gift, he gave me a 5 gallon bucket of barley (already crushed and everything) to make a beer with. Unfortunately, this bucket was 6-row. Since I'm not really interested in brewing a Bud Light clone, I am curious to hear ideas of what I could brew. I am only a year into brewing, so this may be a good chance to experiment with free grains... Any ideas are appreciated! Thanks!
6-Row Gift
- Thread starter Silentp
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JordanKnudson
Well-Known Member
Maybe something like a cream ale... You could also do any sort of high-adjunct beer, since 6-row's best feature is its high diastatic power.
chickypad
lupulin shift victim
I'm thinking that's not malted barley.
Jonkl
Well-Known Member
Yeah, that would be my concern, too.
Bob
Well-Known Member
Yeah, sounds like feed barley. The overwhelming majority of 6-row is unmalted animal feed. I'd thank him, hand him a beer, and also hand him the bucket back. 
If it's malted, you can use it just like you would 2-row. They are similar, but 6 Row has more husk material and usually a little higher diastatic power.
If it's unmalted, you need to mash it with a malt that has enough diastatic power to convert itself and adjuncts. You could use it as a portion of your base malt. You could use it in a sour beer where higher starch content would be welcome. You could also eat it or feed it to your livestock.
If it's unmalted, you need to mash it with a malt that has enough diastatic power to convert itself and adjuncts. You could use it as a portion of your base malt. You could use it in a sour beer where higher starch content would be welcome. You could also eat it or feed it to your livestock.
He assured me that it is, as that was one of my concerns also.
What would be a good examples of a high-adjunct beer? Fairly new to writing my own recipes with several failures thus far..
azscoob
Brewpub coming soon!
I use 6 row in my Hefeweizens, adds a bready flavor, but I'm only adding a pound to the grainbill
Checking... I need to confirm
O, so apparently it is malting barley but has not been malted. Miscommunication. Do I really have any options?
JordanKnudson
Well-Known Member
If that's the case, I'd say doing a straight ahead wheat beer with 60% 6-row and 40% unmalted wheat is your best bet (don't overcomplicate it!). From there you can decide how to shape the rest of your beer. Here are some ideas:
A) You could go hoppy and use lots of citrusy hops (Amarillo would be a great choice, as would Cascade, Centennial, etc. Mandarina Bavaria would be fantastic, too, as it is more orange-y than grapefruit)
---in which case---
B) You would probably then want to use a neutral yeast like wlp001/wy1056
OR
C) You could go classic and use noble hops for about 15 ibus, then add orange peel and coriander near the end of the boil
---in which case---
D) Your yeast choice could have more impact on the beer. WY1010 (American Wheat) will give you a totally different beer than WLP400 (Belgian Wit). You could look around and see which type of yeast sounds like what you're going for. FWIW, one of the best wheat beers I ever made was done following this blueprint and fermenting with WY1007 German Ale yeast.
JordanKnudson
Well-Known Member
Welp...just saw this post, so my above suggestions are kind of moot now. Womp womp.
