here for advice on my organic homebrew

[dimperdoo]

Hi!

This is my introductory post -but, I thought since I'm working on this plan, I'd post my plan here in beginning brewer's...


I'm just about to harvest some barley (robust) and oats (rodeo) grown specifically to brew my own beer.

My plan is to employ deathbrewer's easy stovetop method -described in this sticky thread
*edit: oops! I actually meant This thread

However, to get to step 1 in his instructions; I also have to make the grains into mash.

Feel free to comment like "Hi" or, "good luck" AND, since I've never done any of this before, members who have been through these steps feel free to post caveats and advice -particularly on converted harvested grains to mash...

 

[dimperdoo]

umm, bump?

 

[FATC1TY]

A lot of work with that idea.. Good luck.

When you say organic you mean homegrown right? Everything in beer is for all purposes organic and natural unless you add it.

 

[dimperdoo]

oh, I'm referring to "grown organic"

My plot pictured in post 2 is essentially "trash farming" The only thing I do is run that spring tooth around, lime & fishbone meal, and seed it to clover for a plowdown crop. This year, I seeded a couple areas to oats and barley to see how it's doing. You can see everything else is basically a fallow.

No chemicals or pesticides iow...

 

[TyTanium]

It needs to be malted first. (Actually, first it needs to be threshed)

You essentially get it wet with warm water, let it germinate, then dry over low heat.

 

[dimperdoo]

yeah - malted, I knew there was something I ran through earlier when I was planning this (last year) I even read through a tutorial -they had sprout then dry in the oven then screen it off or something like that. Can't remember where I saw it? Or, what you screen off and what you save.

 

[Minjin]

Here, check this out.
http://beersmith.com/blog/2009/12/05/malting-barley-grain-at-home/

Good Luck

 

[FATC1TY]

Yeah, you'll have to malt it, and then grind it. Then come up with a recipe to use it.

 

[dimperdoo]

my recipe will probably be fairly simple. My folks have hops growing @ their place. Next spring, I'll probably do this again and start specific strains of hops. The folks' might not be all that good for beer.

I actually could use some recommendations for hops strains -as well as which yeast to try?

 

[Pappers_]

Malting the grains is a big deal - most of us have never done that, my advice is to focus on that before worrying about your recipe, hop or yeast strains.

 

[dimperdoo]

Yes, I'm a little intimidated by this whole process! Threshing/cleaning is going to be interesting at the very least. Plus, I see that people have failed at malting -a little disconcerting.

I'm planning for success though! Really, there is no hop choice this year. I'm using the folks hops of unknown strain -because they're there and free... Success or no, I plan to plant hops next spring and, wish to choose some useful strains (which may include some rhizomes from the folks' plants.) More barley too!

I'll keep trying.

 

[CBXBob]

Get a copy of the Nothern Brewer's catalog, great section on hops, describes the attributes of the different varieties. northernbrewer.com
Also great descriptions on the different types of yeast. Good luck, and have fun!