Weyermann Barke Pilsner - I made FIRE!

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Ever brew a beer and, upon the first sip, feel like this guy:

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Oh man, just tapped a german pils. For a longggg time, the perfect german pils was my "white whale". Getting the color, flavor, hop level, everything just right. I've come close in the past, and missed by a mile. But I'm sure I've got it now. I think I'm in heaven!

It's so good, with a slightly bready flavor. This pils is simply the Weyermann Barke Pilsner and a bit of melanoiden. I suppose the flavor could be from either one.

Anyway, just emailed my lhbs to get me two more bags of the Barke Pilsner. This just became my staple base grain for german pils, which I like to keep on tap at Casa de Pawn. I made 20g of this preparing for a party, but I think I better get brewing again haha.

In case anybody wonders, the recipe (OG = 1.047)

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That's awesome Andrew! Congrats on nailing it! Might have to come over sometime and taste it! Maybe when Yooper comes back this winter we can meet up!

John
 
That's awesome Andrew! Congrats on nailing it! Might have to come over sometime and taste it! Maybe when Yooper comes back this winter we can meet up!

John

Oh man that'd be great. I'll let you know. I'm gonna have a big shindig out back, fire and all, and you two must be there. Ocfest, this pils, and some other ales on tap, german snaussages made by yours truly, and a raging fire pit.
 
Oh man that'd be great. I'll let you know. I'm gonna have a big shindig out back, fire and all, and you two must be there. Ocfest, this pils, and some other ales on tap, german snaussages made by yours truly, and a raging fire pit.

That would be great. Just let me know!

John
 
I thought Weyermann's Boho Pils was the perfect Pils, until I tried the Barke.

And yes, the Barke Munich is equally sublime
I concur on both. Barke is the bomb. Haven't had occasion to try the Vienna.
 
Thanks for posting! Now I know what to order when the black Friday/Cyber Monday sales come around in a few weeks.
:mug:
 
I haven't looked into the barke munich malt, although I noted that it exists. You've used it? What's the lovibond? Notes?

My next beer (or the one after that or the one after that... ) is gonna be a 100% barke vienna pilsner with the barke vienna malt.

The color falls right between the standard W light munich and dark munich.

It's massively bready.
 
You used 20lbs of grain for a 20 gallon batch and got 1.047? Must be crazy good efficiency! And I can attest that the Barke malts are great. I have all 3 of the Vienna, Munich, and Pils on hand.
 
Where can I buy barke pilsner?
I have my LHBS order sacks for me, as they are willing to special order anything BSG or their other suppliers carry. If you can't order locally like this, Northern Brewer carries it AFAIK.

[EDIT for typo]
 
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There's a lot of awesome stuff the main wholesalers stock that doesn't move at homebrew level, so the LHBS's don't often carry it. But the LHBS's order through most of the same channels as pros, and if you're friendly with your LHBS they can order for you. It just means you're getting a full sack of whatever malt, or a minimum 11lbs of whatever hop (sometimes a single 44lb bag).

As said, if your LHBS orders anything from BSG, they can get you the Barke line. And maybe if you're nice to em, a salted nut roll to go with it.
 
You used 20lbs of grain for a 20 gallon batch and got 1.047? Must be crazy good efficiency! And I can attest that the Barke malts are great. I have all 3 of the Vienna, Munich, and Pils on hand.

Sorry, that was probably misleading. That recipe is for an 11g batch - that's what my system can produce. I always brew back-to-back batches, and they are usually different, but this time I made the same beer for both. So I made about 22 gallons. After losses in the trub in my 4 fermentors, I get almost exactly 20g into my kegs. There you go!
 
I have a helles made with the barke pilsner and touch of the barke munich still lagering and have not tried it yet. Now I am curious to try it. I wanted to try it because it is suppose to create a pale beer than the standard pilsners malt.


I bought the weyerman barke malt from Northern Brewer, they had pilsner, munich and Vienna.
 
Does anyone know how this compares to Mecca Grade Pelton? I'm in love with the stuff but if Barke pilsner is comparable in flavor I could save a good chunk of money.
 
Sorry, that was probably misleading. That recipe is for an 11g batch - that's what my system can produce. I always brew back-to-back batches, and they are usually different, but this time I made the same beer for both. So I made about 22 gallons. After losses in the trub in my 4 fermentors, I get almost exactly 20g into my kegs. There you go!
Well, that's sweet. For lighter styles, lately I've been doing a 50/50 mix of Weyermann Pale Ale malt and Barke pils. I like the results quite a lot.
 
Well, that's sweet. For lighter styles, lately I've been doing a 50/50 mix of Weyermann Pale Ale malt and Barke pils. I like the results quite a lot.
I've used both extensively (used to use the Pale Ale as stock two row and still use Barke for all lagers), but I've never tried blended together. You're not the first I've heard this from either. I need to give it a go.
 
I've used both extensively (used to use the Pale Ale as stock two row and still use Barke for all lagers), but I've never tried blended together. You're not the first I've heard this from either. I need to give it a go.
Yeah, do it up. It makes for a nice base combo for light styles - kolsch, helles, pilsner, what have you.
 
I've blended other Pilsner malts including regular Weyermann for a little something extra, but I've found the Barke has enough going on I prefer to let it stand alone. Personal preference, YMMV.
 
Will you guys stop letting the cat out of the bag?!?!?
I don't want to have trouble getting the stuff because it's suddenly become the new malt equivalent of Galaxy hops!
Fortunately I just picked up a sack each of Barke Pils, Vienna, and Munich the other day :)
 
I'll echo the sentiment -- I got one sack by accident a while back and strangely enough was very happy with my pilsners. Then I switched back to the readily-available regular pilsner and went hmm . . . I should find it again.

So I talked my LHBS into special ordering me two sacks but it's not really known here in Denmark, so I have to be very specific about the production date.

WEY Pilsner is really good, but Barke Pilsner is REALLY good.
 
Is 4oz of melanoiden really doing anything for you in this grain bill with 20lbs of Pilsner malt? I bet you could leave it out and not notice a difference.
 
I want to make sure I got it right. Most munich malt is kind of like base malt, a mix a different types of barley to get a certain flavor profile, then malting that. But Barke is a specific breed of barley that is malted into munich malt. Kind of like Maris Otter is for pale malt?
 
I want to make sure I got it right. Most munich malt is kind of like base malt, a mix a different types of barley to get a certain flavor profile, then malting that. But Barke is a specific breed of barley that is malted into munich malt. Kind of like Maris Otter is for pale malt?
Bingo. Barke is a barley variety, and like Maris Otter, it's out of date as far as farmers and maltsters with an eye on the bottom line are concerned, but superior from a brewing perspective. Weyermann makes single variety Pilsner, Vienna and Munich from it.
 
Bingo. Barke is a barley variety, and like Maris Otter, it's out of date as far as farmers and maltsters with an eye on the bottom line are concerned, but superior from a brewing perspective. Weyermann makes single variety Pilsner, Vienna and Munich from it.

Thats great. I seem to prefer the flavor of the single variaty malts over the brands that are a blend of different ones. I am looking forward to doing a taste test between bestalz, barke and skagit valley.
 
Thats great. I seem to prefer the flavor of the single variaty malts over the brands that are a blend of different ones. I am looking forward to doing a taste test between bestalz, barke and skagit valley.
Single variety malts also have a great advantage in being consistent within the lot. That is, when you see a number on a certificate of analysis for most malts, it's an average value, and no one kernel in your sack probably meets all the specs. This is because every variety malts differently under the same schedule of time, temperature, moisture and so on. It's easier on the maltster to blend varieties to average out to a proper response to the process, but that means the malt doesn't necessarily actually perform in the brewhouse as you'd expect. But the maltster can use a standardized process and not tweak every aspect. The maltster, using a single variety, has to plan, monitor, and adapt the process to each lot of grain, a PITA. But the result is a malt that really meets the specs on the sheet and won't have some kernels under or over modified, over or under on glucan, etc., that can present problems for the brewer.
 
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But the result is a malt that really meets the specs on the sheet and won't have some kernels under or over modified, over or under on glucan, etc., that can present problems for the brewer.

This is especially true of floor malted barley because they have much less control over the conditions compared to pneumatic maltings used by the bigger maltsters. But hey, call it craft and people will pay more for it.
 
Is 4oz of melanoiden really doing anything for you in this grain bill with 20lbs of Pilsner malt? I bet you could leave it out and not notice a difference.

I don't know the flavor contribution from the base malt or the melanoiden. I am definitely picking up a breadiness I haven't noticed before in my pilsners. But 1) I've never use the barke male, and 2) I've never added melanoiden to the recipe for a pilsner before - I found that latter idea while looking at a pilsner recipe from @Gavin C (my brother from a different mother). I suppose I could make a batch without the melanoiden, but with my success here I'm reluctant to change!
 
Single variety malts also have a great advantage in being consistent within the lot. That is, when you see a number on a certificate of analysis for most malts, it's an average value, and no one kernel in your sack probably meets all the specs.

This is true of ANY type of malt, be it single variety or a multi-varietal blend. Even the kernels on a single acrospire will not all have the same weight, protein content, diastatic power and so on and that's coming from a single plant. Considering there's an average of 30.000 kernels per kilogram of malt that's really not an issue, if the samples were taken and analyzed correctly you will get results consistent with that analysis for the whole lot.
 
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