Anyone here ever do the whole process...from farm to brew?

[jake-ale]

New member here, hi!

I have a wild aspiration this year. I plan on growing my own wheat, barley and hops, culturing my own yeast and brewing a beer in the late fall this year.

I want to get some practice brewing first. Should I go and buy a ready made kit and try that for ease? Any suggestions? Does anyone here grow their own ingredients, malt their own barley etc?

I really love beer and I don't wanna make a mess of the first go, so for me, simple might be best. I have read a bit and I feel pretty comfortable with most of the process. Not sure what beer I want to start with. Any comments or suggestions would be most welcome.

 

[hbomb]

With a lot of hard work it's certainly possible to make something that would qualify as beer by that point, although I would recommend just focusing on learning to make decent beer before biting off such a huge undertaking. If that were my goal, I would focus on mastering one aspect at a time. Brewing, growing hops, growing barley, malting, etc.

The other issue you might run up against is that often hops plants don't produce much the first year, so you may need to adjust your expectations there.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big proponent of self sufficiency and that individualist ethic of producing what you consume. I just think it's a lot to try and tackle in one year and you might have more fun/success focusing on a couple of skills at first.

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[dunleav1]

Good advice. Brew a few dozen beers and get your process down.
Add one new thing to your process once you can repeat your process.

 

[david_42]

I'd start with a few kits. There are many good suppliers on the site and buy what you like to drink. Read up on hops gardening (probably the simplest part of the process) and yeast farming. In the Spring, buy some rhizomes. Next year, you'll be ready for planting the barley.

My neighbor's family grew hops commercially before Prohibition and he says his father did the whole process. Lots of work.

 

[COLObrewer]

Yes, this is alot of work, malting alone takes 7-11 straight days of almost constant attention (Thats after the grain has been grown, harvested, threshed, cleaned and stored). If you have alot of time on your hands it can be done, I too suggest taking it slow, especially if you haven't brewed before. Otherwise, a failure in one aspect may cause you to become dissapointed and decide it's not worth it. That being said, I don't know you, you may have the exact requirements for such an undertaking, if that is the case then, GO FOR IT!:rockin:

Edit: Here is a link to my malting efforts last year, I'm currently working on means to go through all the malting processes in one contraption.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/happiness-home-malting-107409/

 

[jake-ale]

With a lot of hard work it's certainly possible to make something that would qualify as beer by that point, although I would recommend just focusing on learning to make decent beer before biting off such a huge undertaking. If that were my goal, I would focus on mastering one aspect at a time. Brewing, growing hops, growing barley, malting, etc.

The other issue you might run up against is that often hops plants don't produce much the first year, so you may need to adjust your expectations there.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big proponent of self sufficiency and that individualist ethic of producing what you consume. I just think it's a lot to try and tackle in one year and you might have more fun/success focusing on a couple of skills at first.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Well, the thing is...

I already grow many things. I know about the hops and even if I get a tiny bit I will try to use it. It's just fun for me but I am a very methodical person. I will indeed try to brew as many batches as I can until the fall to get warmed up to it but it's not my first rodeo. I have assisted in a couple really great batches and know the basics as I said. Thanks for the advice, I will be sure to let you know how my attempt goes.

 

[jake-ale]

I'd start with a few kits. There are many good suppliers on the site and buy what you like to drink. Read up on hops gardening (probably the simplest part of the process) and yeast farming. In the Spring, buy some rhizomes. Next year, you'll be ready for planting the barley.

My neighbor's family grew hops commercially before Prohibition and he says his father did the whole process. Lots of work.

I have already cultivated local yeasts for bread starter.

Do you have a brand preference for brew kits?

 

[jake-ale]

Yes, this is alot of work, malting alone takes 7-11 straight days of almost constant attention (Thats after the grain has been grown, harvested, threshed, cleaned and stored). If you have alot of time on your hands it can be done, I too suggest taking it slow, especially if you haven't brewed before. Otherwise, a failure in one aspect may cause you to become dissapointed and decide it's not worth it. That being said, I don't know you, you may have the exact requirements for such an undertaking, if that is the case then, GO FOR IT!:rockin:

Yes, I am very lucky in this regard. My location and self employment give me the freedom to cultivate and process whatever I want. We have chickens, a huge garden and can/jar about 3-400 jars of almost anything you can think of.

Edit: Here is a link to my malting efforts last year, I'm currently working on means to go through all the malting processes in one contraption.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/happiness-home-malting-107409/

Very cool, I have read a lot about the process of malting and it sounds like fun. Separating wheat from chaff is the thing I am not super excited about. I plan on having enough for some bread as well. Not to mention a quarter acre of corn for who knows what....beverages.

 

[jake-ale]

Ok, after reading that...

I really don't think I will be attempting to malt that much. Maybe a small batch for fun. Can't I just roast it instead?

Edit, here's a better question: what is the simplest beer I could brew that I stand a chance of growing and processing all the ingredients to?

 

[IXVolt]

Malting is what keeps the majority of brewers out of the field - to - glass type brewing. I looked into it a while back, and quickly decided to keep having that 50lb bag delivered to my door...

 

[Edcculus]

Edit, here's a better question: what is the simplest beer I could brew that I stand a chance of growing and processing all the ingredients to?

Nothing that I can think of. Every style of beer requires a majority percentage of malted grain. You could do some Witbiers. They usually contain up to 40% unmalted wheat. You will have to do a cereal mash on the unmalted wheat to gelatanize the starches for conversion.

 

[jake-ale]

Ok. I may go with commercial malted grains the first year. Or only do a small amount. That does look like a huge undertaking with everything else going on.

 

[NorJerseyHomebro]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1580170102/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I don't know if you have read this book yet but it could be really handy in reaching your goal. I don't know if you should be discouraged with the size of the undertaking. Just give it more time. ya know? The goal is to brew self sufficiently weather it takes a year, or 5. I think one day I would really like to do the same. But it would be in a hell of a lot more then 5 years. Good luck to ya!

 

[nebben]

Ok. I may go with commercial malted grains the first year. Or only do a small amount. That does look like a huge undertaking with everything else going on.

Heh :cross:

It's amazing we can buy malted barley in 50# sacks for as cheap as we do 'eh?

 

[Goatey]

Wow... this is intense.

I've thought about this sort of thing. I think I'd stop at growing my own hops.

My first question is: do you have a green thumb or experience in farming?

 

[dvdfnzwbr]

Here is a video link with some gentlmen discussing growing barley. Seems that you need to grow your yard full with it just to make one brew. I thought about doing it myself until I watched this video.

http://www.byo.com/videos/24-videos/1807-growing-barley-a-hops-with-byo-editor-chris-colby

Get a bag of raw barley at an animal feed store and try malting that first to see if you really want to grow it in your yard. I see that you reside in Oregon. If I lived there I would of started growing hops like YESTERDAY! You live in hop soil country! Although hops to are very light and you will have to grow alot for a few ounces. lol

 

[FxdGrMind]

I started growing Hops last year, and selected the varieties by what grows well here and what I wanted in my beer recipes.
It's a great idea to go the whole way, but I'm thinking and have done, a step by step process might be a better plan rather than trying to do it all at one time.

I brewed quite a few PM and Extract brews last year, planted my hop garden and then in the fall went All Grain with my hops used. Turned out fantastic, and Cheap in comparison to my PM and Extract brews earlier in the year. While going AG I then saved the yeast and have a growing yeast store to save more in the long run.

So over the year I have gone from PM/Extract.. buying everything, to only purchasing the grain bill. It has made a tremendous difference in my per/gal bill for my brewing.

Also I think my quality has gone up along the way as I've learned a lot this past year.

I wouldn't say No don't do it, but rather, do it a step at a time. I have and I have found that growing hops and a yeast bank have saved me enough and the rest is too much work to get the quality I desire... as I don't think that can make malt better or fresher than what I can buy locally.

Cheers

 

[Beernik]

I've considered stealing a couple pounds of winter wheat from the farms near my house.

 

[ohad]

I agree with all that was said about one-step-at-a-time.

if you still plan on malting yourself, I suggest you focus on barley only.
malting is hard enough as it is, without learning how to do it for different grains.
The second reason for malting only barley is that barley has a higher enzimatic content. You'll probably end up with medium-low quality malt the first few tries, so it is best to work with a grain that has high enzymatic content, so it could still convert itself.
That leads to a second thing - you should learn how to work with poorly converted malt i.e. decoction mashing.

 

[Cliff897]

I have a wild aspiration this year. I plan on growing my own wheat, barley and hops, culturing my own yeast and brewing a beer in the late fall this year.

Ummm OK. Ya must have a fairly large little patch for your garden.

I want to get some practice brewing first. Should I go and buy a ready made kit and try that for ease? Any suggestions? Does anyone here grow their own ingredients, malt their own barley etc?

Well the learning curve for all grain is so short what with all the information that is instantly available to your finger tips online there is really no reason to bother with extracts. Start by googling John Palmer's book. The whole thing ( & it is the bible) is free on line.

I really love beer

That's awful nice. Ya see Beer is proof that god loves us and wants us to be happy. So said Ben Franklin I'm told. Anyway you wouldn't want to piss the big guy off by dissing his gift.

and I don't wanna make a mess of the first

That's what she said. I just smiled.

go, so for me, simple might be best.

Nice philosophy, but don't you think it sort of contradicts the idea of the soup to nuts: grain farm; hop vineyard; and brewery idea?
Have you considered capturing your own yeast strains?
You are going to be one busy home brewer.


About the raising grain, and hops, capturing yeast etc.
Different places have different soil compositions and different weather. These along with farming practices make for different products.
Or stated another way: The same grain planted in Alsace and Idaho will have differences. Same as to hops. Interestingly yeast too are distinct from region to region. For example the yeast that makes San Francisco sourdough famous does not exist in Nebraska or New Jersey. It's a local wild yeast. The Yeasts you can capture in Nebraska and NJ will raise your bread but they won't impart any nice flavors.

So there are very good reasons to be looking around the world for grains and hops and yeasts instead of in one place.

As an interesting aside when I was in college I took the nursing Nutrition course for a science requirement. Our Proff' insisted that you should consume food from as wide a geographic area as possible to maximize the nutritional potential for minerals and other things that manifest in some locations more than others as well as to dilute the toxins in some and not in others.