What base grains do YOU order?

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karbinator

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Location
East coast, Virginia
I'm nearing my completion of gathering the
essential equipment for AG. My thoughts now
are to buy some bulk grains to store back for
this summers brewing days. My extract, and partial
kits were always light to med (ales, pilsners, lagers)
With the costs of everything adjusting frequently, I figure
it's a good idea, and I have a nice basement with cans to
store it in. I WILL use this stuff in the next few months, so
no worries on freshness.
Could some of you guys give me your thoughts on what
base grains I should go after, as I don't have any software
yet that would help me make those decisions yet(pro mash coming)

I'm aware that 2 row is needed..... but are there more than
one kind of 2 row? The LHBS I would get this at lists there
2 row as :

PALE MALT (Brewers 2-Row) (Known as Klagges)

Gives a smoother, less grainy flavor. Basic malt for all beer and ale styles. This is the work horse malt for most HomeBrewers


ANy suggestions ?>
 
2-Row Pale Malt is a good base brew.

I usually oder a sack of 2-row (Marris Otter) and a sack of Pils Malt.

The Pils I use for my light kolsch's, blondes, cream ales, etc...

Bear in mind that Pilsner malt need to be boiled for 90 minutes to reduce DMS.
 
The ones I seem to always buy in bulk are:

2-row-I go cheap here, Rahr is fine for me
Wheat malt
Vienna malt
Belgian 2-row
 
Maris Otter (Crisp malting for example) is an amazing grain for most any ale, especially if you want a nice biscuit/malty flavor. German Pilsner malt can't be beat for those Euro brews. But if you are just getting started, good old Klages gets the job done nicely and few will know the difference. Look at cost and go from there. Eventually I believe you will want to get the top-end malts, like I mentioned earlier, but the domestic 2-row should get you going for now.
 
2 Row Marris
2 Row Brewers
Munich

All in 55lbs Sacks

I usually keep 10lbs each of;

Crystal 40 & 60

4lbs each;

Crystal 120
Chocolate
Sp B
Roast
Biscuit
Melanoidin

I have a fixed gap mill so I buy my wheat and rye premilled. Otherwise I'd prolly keep 10lbs of those on hand too.
 
Domestic 2-row Pale Ale
Marris Otter
Pilsner

That will cover the bases for most beer styles.

I also keep Wheat both malted and flaked around for various things as well as lots of various amounts of specialty grains.
 
I just keep Maris Otter personally. I used to keep standard Canadian 2-row (which is excellent stuff) but I mostly do english style beers where I want that great biscuity flavour.

I'm about to get into doing some malty lagers so I plan to start stocking Munich and Vienna as well. Specialty grains I like to keep 5KG or so of Carastan (crystal 60) and lots of roasted barley (stout-aholic here).
 

Brewpastor wrote:
Maris Otter (Crisp malting for example) is an amazing grain for most any ale.....
Not to hi-jack the thread, but the OP may be interested too. Is their significant difference in Maris Otter. I have bought the Crisp from Midwest in smaller quantities, but have a Barley Crusher on the way and now want to buy in bulk. My LHBS has the Munton & Fison Maris Otter and I could save on shipping. How does it compare or are they all about the same?
 
AnOldUR said:

Not to hi-jack the thread, but the OP may be interested too. Is their significant difference in Maris Otter. I have bought the Crisp from Midwest in smaller quantities, but have a Barley Crusher on the way and now want to buy in bulk. My LHBS has the Munton & Fison Maris Otter and I could save on shipping. How does it compare or are they all about the same?
I can't answer to the comparison between different malts of Maris Otter but I can say that the Muntons english pale malt made with Maris Otter is excellent!
 
I've only purchased in bulk once so far -- a 55lb sack of Marris Otter so I'd have a handy supply for all of the English ales I'd been brewing. Then I promptly took a 4 month hiatus from brewing. And what's the first beer I make starting up again? A Vienna Lager :rolleyes:

Actually, I love my Marris Otter, but now I'm thinking I need a sack of German Pilsner malt, too, so I can brew whatever I feel like brewing. The idea is to keep enough base grain on hand and a couple of pounds of various crystal malts, Vienna/Munich malts and the like so that I don't have to plan a run to the LHBS every time I feel like brewing.

Here's what I have on hand:
35lbs Marris Otter
2lbs Vienna
2lbs Munich
1lb Biscuit
1lb Crystal 40
1lb Crystal 60
1lb Crystal 120
1lb flaked maize (Yooper's cream ale is in my near future)
.5lb Chocolate (450°)
.5lb flaked wheat
.5lb CaraPils

Just as an aside, I'm combining the two competing styles for the next beer. I'll use Marris Otter and Challenger Hops but throw the wort on the yeast cake of the lager I'm brewing and ferment it as a lager. Should be interesting. I'm thinking it will be a cross between a Premium Bitter and an American Premium Lager. I'll call it Challenger Lager or Bitter Failure depending on how it turns out :p

Chad
 
AnOldUR said:

Not to hi-jack the thread, but the OP may be interested too. Is their significant difference in Maris Otter. I have bought the Crisp from Midwest in smaller quantities, but have a Barley Crusher on the way and now want to buy in bulk. My LHBS has the Munton & Fison Maris Otter and I could save on shipping. How does it compare or are they all about the same?

IIRC, the Crisp malts are floor malted which provides some subtle nuances.
 
This was my first year to get bulk.
2-row Pale
Pils
Wheat.

I think next year..
Pale
Wheat.

I primarily do Pale and Hefe - IPA when hops get cheaper.
 
bradsul said:
I can't answer to the comparison between different malts of Maris Otter but I can say that the Muntons english pale malt made with Maris Otter is excellent!
+1
Muntons is the only one I can get at a reasonable price, except for when it is out of stock, then I get a couple of months of substandard beers (but still better than most commercially available beers).

-a.
 
I like using base malts to get flavor in my beers. That's why like to have and had on hand at some point:

Pilsner (base for ligher German beers)
2-row (base for any ale)
light munich (base for my Alt)
dark munich (base for Doppelbock and Dunkel)
wheat (base for wheat beers)

Unfortunately I don't have all of them at hand at the same time, though I'm working on that.

Kai
 
I think the posts should include what the malts are used for. These are the most used base malts.


50 and 55 LB sacks:

2 row - base malt - ales.

Pilsner - base malt - pilsners, lagers

Wheat malt - ales and lagers, hefewizen - lighten up body a bit but keep the alcohol and add wheat flavor.

Maris Otter - base malt for english beers and ales.


I also keep Caramel Malts on hand 5 to 35 lbs:

15L
40L
60L


Specialty Malts (flavoring) - 5 to 15 Lbs:

Munich
Carapils
Chocolate
Light chocolate
Carafa II Dehusked
Vienna
Flaked Corn


Other sugar:

Corn sugar
Rice sugar
Flaked rice
Brown sugar

-------------------------------
I would get the ones that I know I am going to brew with first and get other malts over a period of time as it gets expensive.
 
I buy 55# sacks of Crisp Maris Otter for my English style beers and Weyermann Continental Pilsner malt for my Lagers. I'll probably also start getting Munich and Vienna in 55# sacks as I go through alot of those as well when brewing amber lagers.

GT
 
For American 2-row I prefer Briess, never had much luck with Great Western which seems to have a lot of sticks and stems. I do use it occasionally if it's cheaper though.
For pilsner malt I prefer Dingeman's (Belgian) which seems to give more of a golden color than the german pilsners I've used. It is usually more expensive but worth it to me.
For porters, old ales and english style ales in general both Munton's and Hugh Baird maris otter are great.
 
when you guys buy bulk, do you have the LHBS order it, or do you order it online? and what do you guys store it in? i'm trying to figure out if i can justify a mill and a scale.
 
I always have the lhbs order mine, it's too expensive with shipping otherwise.
I just keep a 55lb sack around of American 2-row and then buy 10 or 1lb bags of the other things I need.
 
I keep mine in the sacks in a dry area inside the house and when I bring it out to the brewing area I put it into 2 brew buckets and seal it ip with lids. I have never had a problem with bugs of any kind. Put labels on them. It is easy to get confused.
 
Thanks guys. You've been helpful, and quick to respond.
Little over 600 clams gone on grain. Did the hour and 20 min
drive to Chester, Va. The owners were very helpful.
I got bulk 2 row, munich, marris, wheat, and pilsen.
I bought several 10# bags of various caramel, and
3 smaller bags of roast, cara.

Got the pro mash software, so I need to do some reading......and
some AG !!!!
 
Well, its a bit late, but here is my 2 cents:

55 lbs Dingman's Pils
55 lbs Simpson's Golden Promise

Sometimes I find myself wishing for a sack of 6-row US lager malt or a sack of German munich
 
We make a lot of Kolsch, Hellas, and Hefe's here so we order what we need for that. Most anything else we get at the local store or on line in small batches.

M.
 
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