Embarrased to ask this -

[TomHanx]

with at least one extract brew under my belt and all the reading i do about it all day online at work-
Whats the differance between barley and grain and barley and malted grain.

I know what grain is, I know what malted grains are but not sure about barley.

 

[Shift]

Barley is one type of grain, other examples of grains being wheat, oat and rye.

 

[IXVolt]

Barley is the type of grain and most commonly used as the base grain. It needs to be malted to produce enzymes that allow the conversion from starch to sugar.

Malting is allowing the grain to germinate, then stopping the germination and drying with hot air.

 

[asterix404]

So malted barley is exactly what you think it is, malted barley. Malting is the process of misting the grain until it germinates and kilning it, thus getting a lot of carbohydrates into the seed which you can then extract through mashing, then boiling to get the malt extract.

There is also unmalted barley or torrified barley, generally used as an adjunct to add body, head retention and a dry flavor to the beer. Roasted barley is not malted, they just took the raw barley and roasted them. There are also other grains which are malted, and other adjuncts which are not malted.

As a first time home brewer I always recommend the book, "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing"

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060531053/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

it's a wonderful read and really helps out to understand the basics of what you are actually doing. Enjoy brewing!

 

[mdwmonster]

Lots of information here.

 

[TomHanx]

OHHHHH. ok.
Barley is a type of grain. ok. got it.
Im looking on wikipedia and dictionary.com and its giving some confusing explanation and now that I'm reading it knowing this it makes sense. so you would never refere to grain as being 2 row grain or 6 row grain. Only barley. then whats the differance between wheat and barley?

"the complete joy of homebrewing"
a wonderful read and really helps out to understand the basics of what you are actually doing. Enjoy brewing!

I'm reading idiots guide to homebrewing which i got for a whopping one dollar on amazon then after that i have John Palmers how to brew:everything you need to .....

i was told palmers was a little more advanced than the joy of hombrewing. No?

 

[Ckarsanac]

I just made my first liquid malt extract (LME) brew 2 weeks ago. I read "How to Brew: Everything you need to know" by Palmer. There is some in depth information there, but he warns you ahead of time. You can skip ahead to the next chapter without having to understand all the in depth stuff. It's a great read, if you're at all interested in going beyond the "pour stuff together, boil, add yeast and wait" phase.

 

[asterix404]

Yes, Palmers "how to brew" is more advanced, it's the second book that every home brewer gets. The third is "Designing great beer". I have been doing this for about 3 years and I am just getting to the "Designing great beer". I would recommend having about 20 or more beers under your belt before attacking that book. Papizan is an amazing book. Also yes, read the first section of "The complete joy..." book, the rest of it has to do with what is actually happening in a mash. It's very complex chemistry but a fun read once you start getting into mini mash brewing or all grain.

There are two types of barley with a lot of subsections: 2row and 6row, 2row I would say is higher quality and it's all I have really used to my knowing. With that, there is also American 2row and English 2row which are slightly different.

Wheat and barley are completely different. Wheat is just wheat... the stuff you make flour with, cream of wheat, etc. I would go to a website and look around. Northern brewer or Midwest Brewing is a great site to just look around at the tons of various options. The really important thing to know about wheat is that it doesn't have a husk, so extra care needs to be taken in the mash, but doing extract brewing you don't need to worry about it.

 

[malkore]

I don't feel Palmer's book is 'advanced'...not in a bad way. He lays out everything from extract to all grain in one book.

Honestly I think its the 1st book you want...no disrespect to Charlie but I like Palmer's writing style and his information is more current.

I found Homebrewing for Dummies was a bit noobish...doesn't really cover anything you won't find online for free, so I assume the "Idiots guide" is just as poor a resource.

 

[emjay]

Honestly I think its the 1st book you want...no disrespect to Charlie but I like Palmer's writing style and his information is more current.

Agree. Especially with the "more current" part. Papazian's book is fairly outdated. Palmer covers all the beginner stuff with up-to-date info, as well as branching into some more intermediate/advanced stuff. The way I see it, "How to Brew" is a must-read anyways, and covers everything that similar books cover, and then some, so you might as well get that one. I hate to say it, but I don't think Charlie's book is a neccessary read anymore, and I think Palmer's is really the only book that covers the overall "how to" that a new brewer needs.

That's not to say there aren't other other books that aren't also useful. Jamil Z and John Palmer's "Brewing Classic Styles" is probably the next must-have, followed by Chris White's "Yeast", although a lot of that is pretty advanced.

"Designing Great Beers" by Ray Daniels and "Extreme Brewing" by Randy Mosher are also great books, though I wouldn't classify them as must-haves, nor anything else, except that prospective lager brewers should also read Greg Noonan's book on the subject.

And then other than that, books delving deep into specific styles are a great resource as well - my favorite is the whole Belgian series comprised of, "Farmhouse Ales", "Brew Like a Monk", and "Wild Brews."

Of course, reading shouldn't just be limited to that, and there are other books and other types of books you may want to pick up based on your own interests. A subscription to BYO or Zymurgy can't hurt either

 

[Qhrumphf]

There are two types of barley with a lot of subsections: 2row and 6row, 2row I would say is higher quality and it's all I have really used to my knowing. With that, there is also American 2row and English 2row which are slightly different.

Wheat and barley are completely different.

I've always understood that the principle difference between 2-row and 6-row was yield and diastatic power. 2-row will yield more fermentable sugar, but 6row has more conversion power. 6-row would primarily be used in adjunct heavy beers (corn/rice heavy a la BMC style light american lagers) to provide the enzymes necessary to convert the adjuncts. However, I thought the diastatic power of 2-row has been improved dramatically to make 6-row essentially unnecessary on a homebrew scale. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

Wheat and barley are two different types of grains. Most beers are based with barley. Most wheat beers use a high portion of wheat (50% or more) with a smaller percentage of barley. Some beers also use rye.

 

[slatebrew]

I am new to all grain and to this site and I found that combining all these books with commentary and advice from this forum really helps advance your brewing. The books have a great base knowledge, but the forum helps address specific issues and fill in the gaps.... so no stupid questions....just sub-par beer if you choose not to ask!