Base malts for new AG BIABer

[BrockHops]

G'day,
Just slowly gearing myself up to BIAB.
I've been kit/extract brewing using spec grains and hops for a few years and ready for a slide down the slippery slope..
My question is what are the staple grains to keep in stock?
Mainly brewing Pales, stouts, keen to knock up some Germans, Helles/ Dunkels.
I'm also based in Mildura (Northwest Victoria) so freight is a killer

Cheers,
Brock

 

[manticle]

Sounds like you need a good quality pale ale malt (something like gladfields, simpsons maris or golden promise, or perle) and a good lager or pilsner malt (again gladfields, weyermann, best or dingemans).
Get in on a bulk buy or make friends with a local like mayor of mildura (member on this forum).

 

[MHB]

Another option being to buy some predesigned recipes, that way you get to try lots of different styles of beer made with different types of grain.
Do that for a while, when you have worked out what you like and enjoy making, you could decide what to to stock at home based on your own experience.
A good home brew shop should have a way better range of Malt, Hops and Yeast than most of us can afford to stock, they should also have a better mill and probably better scales... they should also be turning the stock over faster so its fresher.
In my experience you should get better consistency and yield, yes you would pay a little more per recipe but don't have to invest in scales or a mill. You would have to make a hell of a lot of beer to make up the difference.
Mark

 

[captain crumpet]

Depends how deep your pockets go

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Love Bairds Perle but haven't been able to get it. Their Pale is great and flexible. I even mimicked a lighter malt with it in a saison by having 20% of the base grist as rice.

Maris otter is the other.

 

[BrockHops]

My pockets are dictated by the budget set my the minister of fun and finance, so a little bit per fortnight.
I had seen the pre packaged recipe kits, I have a mill and some ok kitchen scales.
I'd be keen on a Melbourne Bulk Buy at some stage as I have a mate who travels back n forth every fortnight.
Thanks chaps

 

[Jack of all biers]

My pockets are dictated by the budget set my the minister of fun and finance, so a little bit per fortnight.
I had seen the pre packaged recipe kits, I have a mill and some ok kitchen scales.
I'd be keen on a Melbourne Bulk Buy at some stage as I have a mate who travels back n forth every fortnight.
Thanks chaps

If that's your go, then you're dictated by how much you brew, how much you can buy and how much you can store. Get a good quality ale malt for your English styles (as per manticle's advise) and a pils for helles and Munich II for the dunkels.

The 25kg bags will be circa $80-85 retail and circa $60 bulk buy. Storage and brew volume capacity are to taken into account in addition to budget. You'll need a dry place safe from vermin and preferably out of sight of 'the minister of finance' so as not to be reminded of how it's taking a long time to use/move the bags. A free fridge that's no longer working is able to do all those things. If you can prepare all of those prior to, then smoother sailing will be found. I didn't, but my wife is tolerant and loves my beer.

At $2.40 per kg it is a saving, but just make sure you don't end up losing half a bag to moisture or rats etc.. Bulk hops are easier to store and are an easier way to save initially. Good luck and here's to your new grain store.

 

[captain crumpet]

Or you can go Joe White for the cheaper option, and get 3 sacks for the price of 2 imports.

 

[Jack of all biers]

Or you can go Joe White for the cheaper option, and get 3 sacks for the price of 2 imports.

This is a good option for the budget concious, that I forgot about. However, only buy what you can properly store or you waste your coin when the grain goes slack.

 

[Bribie G]

My three go to base malts are Barrett Burston pale, Weyermann regular pilsener and any Pom that's avaiable, Maris Otter, Pearl, or Golden Promise.
Nothing wrong with BB - great value and clean. I just did a blonde ale with BB and about a kilo of Weyermann Vienna and it's turned out so Euro it's almost wearing lederhosen.

By the way troops, it's Pearl not Perle (that's a German Hop). The perle comes from a long standing typo on the CraftBrewer site, dunno if they've fixed it yet.
cf: Rice "Gulls".

 

[manticle]

Purll

 

[Rocker1986]

I think the above advice is good, not really anything to add to it. I only keep two base malts at a time and for a few years they've been Fawcett's Maris Otter for all my ales and Wey Bohemian Pilsner for my lagers. I mainly brew Bo Pils, but I also use it in other lager styles when I brew them with excellent results.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

BB Pale is actually quite good. Not mad in British beers but deals with American, Aussie and even Belgian pales go okay with it.

Saw truck loads of bags of it outside newstead brewing one day, so obviously they have no problems with it.

 

[BrockHops]

Nice advice guys, just what I was after, a couple of bags in stock, plus a kilo of this n that.
Now to find the first recipe to get me started too many to choose from.
Got some Dr Rudi and Idaho from brewman the other day, so I'm thinking a pale ale to kick things off

 

[BrockHops]

Or you can go Joe White for the cheaper option, and get 3 sacks for the price of 2 imports.

Thanks for the tip

 

[captain crumpet]

Id make a smash with the Idaho hop. Which number is it btw?

 

[MHB]

Nice advice guys, just what I was after, a couple of bags in stock, plus a kilo of this n that.
Now to find the first recipe to get me started too many to choose from.
Got some Dr Rudi and Idaho from brewman the other day, so I'm thinking a pale ale to kick things off

Well if you have registered with Brewman, open BrewBuilder, there are a couple of hundred good well tested recipes in there.
If you ordered your specialty malts hops and yeast, you could get all the ingredients other than the base malts landed pretty cheap.
If you ordered 4-5 packs (- base malt) freight wouldn't be too bad, I think its something like $15 for 5kg and $20 for 10kg to your door, so only a couple of dollars per recipe in delivery.
Just remember to click on the "Got It" button for base malts and any hops you already have.
Mark

 

[BrockHops]

Id make a smash with the Idaho hop. Which number is it btw?

A smash is a single hop brew right?
Which number? As in AA?

 

[BrockHops]

Well if you have registered with Brewman, open BrewBuilder, there are a couple of hundred good well tested recipes in there.
If you ordered your specialty malts hops and yeast, you could get all the ingredients other than the base malts landed pretty cheap.

Mark

Thanks mate, I'll try brew builder
Also got a few kilos of Crystal and choc from brewman dealz, just need some base malts.
Got a mate ,(welding freak) coming over to Tig some S/S sockets into my keggle tomorrow.
All coming together!

 

[captain crumpet]

A smash is a single hop brew right?
Which number? As in AA?

Single malt and single hop. I though i remember there being an idaho 6 and idaho 7 as in different varieties.

SMaSH brews are great for learning and developing your taste for ingredients.