Is this meant for making beer?

[djelemenohpee]

So I was doing some garage sale home brew equipment shopping over the weekend and cams across a guy who was moving over seas and couldn't take his gear with him. The only thing I got was a growler and a 6.5 carboy. But we got to talking about beer, as most home brewers do, and he said he had 25 pounds of barley he would throw in with my purchases. Now I am super new to brewing so I need someone to help me and tell me if what's he gave me is worth keeping. The. Bag is sealed and it has two tags seen below. My question is; is this stuff for brewing, and if so, is it any good?

 

[djelemenohpee]

Here's more pics....

 

[conpewter]

I don't think that was made for brewing, but that doesn't mean you cant use it. I'm guessing it is cat food, though... I don't have a cat, and I've never heard of feeding them hulless barley.

I've thought about picking up adjuncts for brewing at the feed store before, (oats and other grains) so it is not out of the question to use it though.

 

[TopherM]

Hulless Barley is not malted, so you wouldn't be able to use it in brewing unless you want to try your hand at the malting process,which isn't easy.

You could use it as an adjunct the same way you'd use unmalted barley. It would mainly add bran protein to the beer and help with head retention.

 

[djelemenohpee]

Thanks for your quick responses. I'm still really new to all this (first brew in secondary). So I don't know if this stuff would be any use to me this early in my brew career. Any easy extract recipes where I could use this product?

 

[JeepDiver]

I'm guessing it is cat food, though... I don't have a cat, and I've never heard of feeding them hulless barley.

I'm guessing CATtle feed.

 

[Magnanamous]

I'm going to use this product as the base in my CatFood Pale Ale. I was thinking some Meow Mix for body and dry hopping with cat nip for 14 days.

 

[djelemenohpee]

HAHAHA. I think your onto something here. With my 25 pounds and your brewing knowledge we could totally corner the market in the feline fermentation recipes!!!

 

[misterX]

let me know how the cat food ale turns out id try it

 

[TimpanogosSlim]

Thanks for your quick responses. I'm still really new to all this (first brew in secondary). So I don't know if this stuff would be any use to me this early in my brew career. Any easy extract recipes where I could use this product?

By definition, no, no extract recipes.

This is unmalted so it has no enzymes with which to convert the starches to sugars.

You could do partial mash, but you will have to do some math to figure out how much of some malted grain you have to mash it with to convert it -- different base malts having different diastatic power.

Maybe this is a good time to try your hand at BIAB all-grain.

 

[TarheelBrew13]

Cat food huh? Who feeds their cats Organic? Those are some lucky cats. But in response to the question. Topher is right. The best use of this for brewing would be for the proteins to aid head retention. I use unmalted barely in my brews where other people would use Carapils. It's a pretty common adjunct in commercial brewing.

 

[kmmuellr]

Unmalted. Can he use it w/ some 6-row and let the extra enzymes from the 6-row convert for him?

K

 

[sweetcell]

I'm going to use this product as the base in my CatFood Pale Ale. I was thinking some Meow Mix for body and dry hopping with cat nip for 14 days.

one of the funnier things i've read here recently, thanks for the laugh.

- a former cat owner who misses being a cat owner/owned by a cat

 

[sweetcell]

Cat food huh? Who feeds their cats Organic?

i knew a crunchy-granola-hippie couple who cooked for their cats. stuff they prepared for the kitties was often better-looking than what they ate: fresh meat, grains, alfalfa sprouts, etc. it was all organic. so they are out there... you've been warned.

 

[Bob]

It's cattle feed. That said, I don't see any reason why you can't brew with it, but as others have noted you need to mash to use it. If you treat it as a cereal adjunct you can use it up to probably ~40% of the grist.

Me, I'd give it to a livestock farmer. Make a new friend, maybe trade for some yumminess.

Bob