Malt inventory

[Josephryanevan]

Hey folks,
My LHBS just closed. So, I’m looking for some other options as far as malt. What I’d like to do is order/acquire a sort of inventory of a limited number of malts. Like one base malt and 5-10 specialty/adjunct malts. What I’m invisioning is having an inventory from which I could build some basic beers out of. That way I wouldn’t have to think ahead as much and order the whole recipe each time. What malts would y’all suggest? What do y’all keep on hand? What makes for versatile ingredients?

As far as styles of beer that I like: bitter/mild, porter, pale, saison. Not a complete list but some that I’ve enjoyed and would like to keep up.

Thanks for the input
Joe

 

[Pkrd]

When I bought a mill I tallied up my last two years wort of grain bills to see what I needed, then did a big purchase to save on shipping.

 

[Sadu]

Yeah good idea. But you can actually sit on a lot more than 5-10 specialty malts if you want to. I live in a small town with no LHBS so I have to get everything shipped and most places have free shipping over $XX which I take advantage every time.

For base malts I like to hold a sack of Ale malt or Maris Otter, and a sack of Pilsner malt. This covers all the English beers, lagers, and ale malt works perfectly fine in blondes, pale ales, IPAs and American beers. If I had to choose one I'd probably go with ale malt since you mention mostly English beers.
Then say 3-5kg / 6-10lb each or wheat, munich, vienna which are needed in smaller amounts for lagers, hefeweizens, saisons and stouts.

Then for specialties I keep 1kg / 2lb of a bunch of different ones. Crystal (light / med / dark) chocolate, roast barley, carafa special, caramunich, toffee, acidulated, melanoidian, rye, etc etc. Whatever you think you'll use basically. 1kg / 2lb of a specialty malt only costs a few dollars, you don't use much, and it lasts very well if you store it well. So there's no reason not to hold a reasonable variety of specialty malts if you have a mill and proper storage.

They do say that roasted malt and crystal malt should be used fresh - I've not noticed any issues, but I try not to hold too much of these.

 

[Soulshine2]

Hey folks,
My LHBS just closed. So, I’m looking for some other options as far as malt. What I’d like to do is order/acquire a sort of inventory of a limited number of malts. Like one base malt and 5-10 specialty/adjunct malts. What I’m invisioning is having an inventory from which I could build some basic beers out of. That way I wouldn’t have to think ahead as much and order the whole recipe each time. What malts would y’all suggest? What do y’all keep on hand? What makes for versatile ingredients?

As far as styles of beer that I like: bitter/mild, porter, pale, saison. Not a complete list but some that I’ve enjoyed and would like to keep up.

Thanks for the input
Joe

when im at my old LHBS I root through what I call the orphan bin, that is the small pre-bagged amounts of grain that dont make weight to make 1 lb bags ,they bag them up and write the weight ,name,description, lovibond,etc and sell them for $1 /lb. Most times I can find a few of the same kind so I can combine up to almost 3 lbs of something. Last time it was a RedX malt and a Briess 2 row Pale malt ,and a few wheats and oats. I even found a bag of melanoidin ,vienna and munich. Score

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

What I’m invisioning is having an inventory from which I could build some basic beers out of. That way I wouldn’t have to think ahead as much and order the whole recipe each time. What malts would y’all suggest? What do y’all keep on hand? What makes for versatile ingredients?

@Sadu's approach is similar to mine. If you want to read more, take a look at https://beerandbrewing.com/building-an-ingredient-library-part-1/ (check the bottom of the article for part 2, "What’s in Your Homebrew Pantry?", and "Grain Storage").

Some online home brew stores don't build "free shipping" into prices. For the online stores that I use (which don't have "free shipping"), I generally come out ahead by using them for both the semi-annual "stock up" purchases and the smaller "I ran out of that malt" purchases. These stores also take advantage of regional shippers (and the postal service) - and that often saves some money over other shippers.

 

[kh54s10]

I take a recipe that I want to brew as a start. If I am ordering from online. I order at least twice of each malt. (maybe not that much for something I am unlikely to use in a timely fashion, more than a year) After a few orders this way you will have a good stock of what you most often use.

I keep them stored in Lock and Lock type food storage containers. And 5 gallon buckets with Gamma Lids. They all have seals in the lids that keep them pretty much air tight.

I do the same with hops. I have a FoodSaver and vacuum pack and store in the freezer.

When formulating a recipe for using what I have on hand I often use substitution tables for changing the malts and hops. If it is a published recipe I get something similar but not the same.

 

[mongoose33]

They do say that roasted malt and crystal malt should be used fresh - I've not noticed any issues, but I try not to hold too much of these.

I've never seen that mentioned before--do you have any sources or references or links to that?

I haven't noticed any issues with mine, which can sometimes be a year old or more, but maybe I'm missing something to which I should be paying attention.

 

[kh54s10]

They do say that roasted malt and crystal malt should be used fresh - I've not noticed any issues, but I try not to hold too much of these.

I've never seen that mentioned before--do you have any sources or references or links to that?

I haven't noticed any issues with mine, which can sometimes be a year old or more, but maybe I'm missing something to which I should be paying attention.

I too, have never seen that before. And it is not something that I have experienced. Though I have never brewed something the same with old and new to compare.

But, all malts will degrade with time. Storage factors will increase or decrease the rate of degradation.

 

[mongoose33]

Your best bet is to lay out the recipes you brew and figure out what you're using as malt.

My recipes typically have Maris Otter, Munich, and 2-Row malt in them (not all at the same time, necessarily, but these are my main malts, for the recipes I brew).

I also use 20L, 40L, 60L, and 120L crystal/caramel malts, so I have some of those in stock. I use 5-quart ice-cream buckets to store these.

I also use some chocolate wheat and chocolate malt, and rye malt and flaked rye. I do a hazy IPA so flaked oats and some white wheat.

Those are my basic ingredients. I buy the Maris Otter, Munich, and 2-row in sacks so my per-pound cost is as low as I can get them. These go in 5-gallon buckets with gamma-seal twist-on lids.

 

[Sadu]

They do say that roasted malt and crystal malt should be used fresh - I've not noticed any issues, but I try not to hold too much of these.

I've never seen that mentioned before--do you have any sources or references or links to that?

Hmmm.

I'm 90% sure I read this on the Gladfield website, who are a big maltster in New Zealand. I thought it was on this page https://www.gladfieldmalt.co.nz/our-malts/ but I can't see any reference to it now. Now they say that rye and chocolate rye malt is best used fresh, nothing about crystal and roast.

I'm sure it used to say that a year or 2 back - but maybe they decided that it's not relevant anymore and updated the website. Certainly my experience has been that all kinds of uncrushed malts can be perfectly delicious for a year or longer if you store them properly.

 

[kh54s10]

Certainly my experience has been that all kinds of uncrushed malts can be perfectly delicious for a year or longer if you store them properly.

Not to mention that most grains are harvested only once a year. So anything you buy near or just after a harvest is already about a year old....

 

[Josephryanevan]

This is all ridiculously helpful. You folks are awesome!

I have a few questions though.
Storage? Many of you are mentioning gamma lids. What’s that about?

Thanks again!

 

[kh54s10]

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Leaktite-5-gal-Screw-Top-Lid-5GAMMA6/203205720

 

[catdaddy66]

IMO pale malt and 2-row are great base malts for any style. I also keep several (5-10#'s) of other base malts on hand, like Munich, Vienna, pilsner, etc. A couple of pounds of dark malts, crystal malts and things like aromatic, acidulated and special B are used in some recipes.