bit of a challenge

[anderj]

I have mentioned before that I work at the local Co-op in the bulk food department, life is full of lots of grains, rice, beans, nuts, and granola.

My "boss" and I have (well, I talked him into it) decided to carry some malted barley and light DME.

No shop in the area offers organic malted barley other than special order so I cleared it with them, said that we would deal in organic exclusively and got the OK.
(no need to burn a bridge at ye ole LHBS)

Big victory for me.

So here lies the big challenge.

I thought that we would carry Briess organic 2 row as a staple but I have been given one more bin to fill.

I am leaning toward the organic C-20.

If you could pick just one to carry what would it be?

Just to see what you guys would go for if you could only sell two barleys here is the list from the distributor: http://www.brewerssupplygroup.com/pdf/pricing/Prices-Pacific_Northwest.pdf

Organic grains are located on pages two, six, and nine, with the malting company as the header of each page.

I have about three days to choose.

-sometimes the workplace is a good thing, I have full insurance, plenty of free groceries and I get to sell 2-row (with employee discount of course

-ander

 

[Kai]

I guess putting a crystal malt would give you the option of making all-organic beers, though I'd go with something more like C-40 or 60 to give a wider range of possible flavours.
On the other hand, to me it makes most sense to go for Pilsner malt or Vienna, because those will make up larger percentages of each beer they're used in. Base malts and all.

Or is the organic mentality more along the lines of "all-organic or don't bother"?

 

[DeathBrewer]

i'd go for munich or wheat, myself...it would be nice to make some organic wheat beers and they don't need anything but 2-row and wheat. i use munich like crazy, so that's only a personal preference

 

[Kai]

Or Munich, right. I associate that strongly with Vienna in my head.

+1 on the wheat. That's an awesome idea. Talk about how hazy yeasty unfiltered wheat beers are high in anti-oxidants. The organic crowd likes that stuff, right?

 

[BuffaloSabresBrewer]

i went wheat carapils was my second i love me some hefes

 

[DeathBrewer]

whoops, forgot to vote. there we go...looks like munich and wheat are tied for the lead right now!

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

Wheat, FTW!!!

 

[mr x]

Personally, I get my soft and hard wheat berries at the local organic food store already. I'm not sure which other I would pick. It's been my experience that the organics crowd leans hard towards total organic. If I had to pick one I'd say the C-40.

 

[Yooper]

I don't like wheat beers at all, so I have to go with something else! I love munich and use it a lot, but for an every day purchase, I'd probably go with the crystal 60. Still, when I did buy munich, I'd buy more of it. I recently bought 14 pounds of munich for 2 recipes, but I've never bought that much crystal 60 in my life!

 

[Soulive]

I voted Vienna but I could see Munich as well. Tough call...

 

[CatchinZs]

I'm not voting because I don't have enough experience with grain but my thought from a business point of view.

What is going to sell the fastest so that you can convince him to carry a few more small bins of specialty grains to really take care of people.

The 2 row is a gimme...can't really go wrong there.

The other bin can be munich.

Then as your first post said carry some Light DME and see if you can swing some wheat dme also.
I can't find any organic wheat dme though so that may be a stumbling block.

That should cover most of the basics.

 

[Catfish]

Vienna or Munich

You want to sell large amounts, not 10 lbs of 2 row and .5 lb of the crystal. If you are moving 5-10 lbs of 2 row and munich/vienna at a time your boss will take notice (nobody in their right mind is buying 10 lbs of Organic Raspberry Crunch Granola).

That being said, you need to post recipes, how to instructions, your picture (as the guy to bug with questions), also post directions to the LHBS for equipment and to build bridges (maybe they'll send some organic customers your way in return, or at least not flatten your tires).

 

[anderj]

thought I would give this one a bump and maybe a few more votes

and about the granola, we sell 25lb boxes often, I don't get it either

-ander

 

[ohiobrewtus]

Another vote for Vienna.

 

[the_bird]

Thing is, 90% of recipes - extract and all-grain - seem to call for some form of crystal malt. I love Munich, I use it wherever I can - but I still use a medium crystal malt a lot more often than I use Munich.