variety of grain.. what to order?

[sheephrdr]

hi I am going to order some grain online. I have so in the past, but would like some advice.. most of my beer contain some sort of combination of caramel malt LME and wheat... or if im doing a porter/stout black, chocolate and roasted barley.. these are what my local shop carries. I have tried smoked malts and small amounts of munich..

I want to order a variety of different malts like 2-4 lbs each. anyone have some tips of what to order so I can try some new recipes/malts out I pretty much like any style of beer.

so far I have picked:
maris otter
cara pils
cara munich
Vienna

I mainly brew extract/ partial mash
any other suggestions or alterations on my order would be appreciated thanks!

 

[Calder]

I don't know where you are ordering from, but getting a lot of malts in 2 and 4 lb sizes will run really expensive.

I don't know where you are, but you might try looking at Morebeer's site and order several different grains in 5 and 10 lbs amounts. If you order over $59, shipping is free (I assume you are in the US).

Just figure what you would like to brew for the next 3 to 5 brews, and what grains you think you will need. Grains stored dry and away from varmin will keep for years if un-crushed.

 

[douglasbarbin]

No point in buying base malts if you are extract brewing, IMO.

 

[sheephrdr]

No point in buying base malts if you are extract brewing, IMO.

I know what you mean that is why im trying to get some feedback.. however if I use extract with 4 lbs of Vienna partial mash will I not notice any diff in flavour?

im from Canada .. OBK is where ill be ordering from.. they have good deals on grain right now

 

[chickypad]

I would say Vienna, munich, and rye are all malts that could expand your recipes if you can partial mash, unless you can get munich and rye extract where you are. If generic light extract is all you have access to I actually think it could be worth experimenting with some other base malts (English like maris otter and golden promise, or German or Belgian pilsner).

 

[chickypad]

Just looking at OBK site, and depending on what your LHBS carries, you might also consider things like brown malt and amber malt. Can you get biscuit/victory and debittered black malts where you are? Again trying to think of ingredients that would be more unique and worth ordering to allow you to brew different styles that you might not otherwise be able to do properly. Honestly carapils is probably already in most extract and also doesn't bring much to the table, you can get head retention with other crystals or wheat, so not sure that is worth ordering special. Also while the caramel/crystals from different maltsters will certainly have subtle differences (for example caramunich vs. medium domestic crystal) I would probably go for some of the harder to get malts first. If you have a recipe that calls for caramunich you could easily sub in a domestic crystal of similar lovibond, but if it calls for brown malt or vienna you can brew with something else but there isn't a great direct sub for those malts.

 

[JKaranka]

Amber malt is very interesting and you are unlikely to need more than 2lb. Chocolate malt / patent malt are also useful in small sizes.

 

[sheephrdr]

2 row, caramel, wheat, chocolate, patent, and roasted barley are all I can get local .. thanks for the advice

ya basically if I don't order the malts I will take a recipe, for instance centennial blond recipe.. and make it with wheat and caramel and the hops suggested..instead of carapils and Vienna additions

 

[douglasbarbin]

Didn't realize that you weren't in the US and might not have access to Munich extract, Maris Otter extract, etc. In that case, those grains would add some character to your extract brews. I would skip the Carapils because most extracts already include a small percentage of it. I would probably also swap the Caramunich for C60 or something that fits into more recipes.

 

[douglasbarbin]

Just to give you an idea, I regularly keep the following malts on hand in increments of 10 pounds or more: 2-row, Pale ale malt (Maris Otter would fit here), Pilsner, Wheat, Munich, Vienna, C60. Everything else, I keep smaller amounts because they generally don't get used nearly as much.

 

[sheephrdr]

thanks for all the advice...yup just light lme and dark and malto dextrin in bulk.. the store has most hops but I almost never buy because he charges lik $4 bucks an ounce so I buy by the lb online.