Need advice for stocking up on grain, please.

[unfairbeef]

I am fairly new to homebrew and super new to AG brewing. I have done several kits and I want to try some BIAB AG goodness. My main inquiry in regards to this is - If I were looking to stock up on some common base grains and ingredients, what would you recommend? I am not looking to venture too far away from common IPA's just yet. I'm not looking to make huge beers just yet but I still want something tasty. I'm thinking I could get a huge bag of 2 row and some smaller bags of crystal so I just have to buy the special grains to brew a batch but I am very new to AG and not really sure what I should start with. I don't want a huge variety yet, just want to get pretty good at a particular brew at this point. I am thinking about stocking up on the ingredients below and just brew the crap out of it for a little while. Any insight or tips you guys might have to offer? Thanks!

12.5# 2-row Pale malt (I used Opticp)
0.75# Cara-Pils
1# Crystal, 60L

Mash in at 156F rest 00 minutes, dropping to 146F, raise to 170F for mashout.
60 min boil

0.5 oz Columbus (12.2% AA) for 60 min
2.5 oz Columbus for 30 min
2.5 oz Columbus for 20 min
1.66 oz Columbus for 15 min

The beer is "burst hopped." That is, most hops are added at 30 or less min left to the boil. It takes a lot more hops, but gives a big, juicy hop flavor with the bitterness, similar to what you find in Bell's Hopslam.

I figure this to have 99 IBUs. The hop flavor is fantastic, and it has gotten rave reviews, even from some professional brewers.

(Credit for this recipe goes to BeerKing at realbeer.com)

 

[watersr]

First question, do you have the ability to mill your own grain? Large bags come unmilled and premilled grain doesn't store long term very well.

 

[unfairbeef]

I do not. I didn't think of that. My LHBS is owned by a really awesome dude that sometimes 'rents' his equipment out for a very small fee (usually beer ) and I am pretty sure I could just use that the night before brew day. What are you considering long term storage? I would be fine with it if it would last a few months. I am brewing nearly a batch a week at this point and think I could go through the grain pretty quickly. I am thinking about getting something like this and just putting together a hopper for it.

 

[theveganbrewer]

I wouldn't recommend that crusher thing you linked to. It's not designed for brewing and I don't think it'll give you what you need.

I'd suggest a grain crusher. There are a couple of brand names of pretty much the same product. Cereal crusher, grain crusher, etc. All have adjustable rollers so you can control how much of a crush you get. They have hand cranks, but work easiest with a drill powering the rollers. They usually come is 7 pound, or 15 pound varieties, the 7 being most popular and easily rigged to crush more than 7 pounds at one time.

This one here is on sale for $89.00 with free shipping. It's a great deal.


Also every other brew shop sells them, though a lot more expensive.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/barley-crusher-w-7-hopper.html



Check into pet storage containers for your grain storage. These two are used commonly by homebrew shops.

This will hold one sack of grain:



This one holds about 45lbs of grain. It's good if you do one brew in a new sack and then have to store the remainder.



You want to keep your grain dry and cool (like in a cool closet). It can last uncrushed for a lot longer than you will need it to.

Sorry for all the images, I was making a blog post about this for my site and saw the thread and basically copied and pasted all my stuff here.

 

[a6ladd]

+1 on the mill! They aren't too expensive and it REALLY gives you the freedom to have some serious grain on hand. I'm to the point where I brew every weekend and I have 50# sacks of pale malt, maris otter, pilsner, white wheat and munich stashed in my home brewery. Not to mention various crystal malts laying around. The mill is an absolute must!

 

[kh54s10]

I wouldn't recommend that crusher thing you linked to. It's not designed for brewing and I don't think it'll give you what you need.

If you don't want to or can't afford the roller mills, the type you linked to is used successfully by hundreds if not thousands to tens of thousands of homebrewers.

I use one and get efficiency in the mid 70%'s.

I will eventually upgrade to a roller mill, but there are other things my $$ will go to first.

For storage I use 5 gallon buckets ans Gamma Lids. They seal well and are easy to open

 

[gr8shandini]

Some folks have gotten decent results from those cheapo corona mills, but I'd go for a roller mill. I bought a Barley Crusher with a 7 lb hopper and base that fits over as standard bucket for roughly $125. If you're brewing a batch a week, you'll make that back in bulk savings in no time.

As for what to stockpile, it kind of depends on what you like to brew. Personally, I keep a sack of Marris Otter and a sack of 2-row on hand as base malt (50 lb pet food storage cubes work great for this). I also normally have between 2 and 5 lbs of the following: Crystal 60L and 90L, biscuit malt, brown malt/special roast, roasted barley, and black patent malt. That covers about 80% of what I brew. Anything else and I make a special trip / order.

 

[unfairbeef]

This above and beyond what I was looking for, thank you everyone!