Free Spec Malts For New England Brewers

[tcraig20]

I got a little carried away last craftbrewer order and went nuts on spec malts. Im realising now that Ive got no hope of using them all before they go stale. All are cracked, but have been stored vacuum sealed in the freezer for the last couple of months - still taste OK for now.

Rather than let them go to waste I thought Id see if any Armidale/New England HB'ers would be interested in them.

I have about 2kg carahell
2.5 kg BB caramalt
500g Bairds Chocolate
1kg Carafa II
1kg Bairds med crystal.

I still want to keep some of these for a few brews I have planned, but if you are after the odd kilo or so of spec malt, send me a PM.

 

[T.D.]

If vacuum packed they will last for a fair while. Before I had a mill I used to use cracked base malt over a 6 month period, and more for specialties, and it never resulted in any negative effects in the beer. Don't go giving away most of it and then find yourself having to go and buy more!

I'm a little surprised you weren't advised not to buy so much in cracked form.

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

If vacuum packed they will last for a fair while. Before I had a mill I used to use cracked base malt over a 6 month period, and more for specialties, and it never resulted in any negative effects in the beer. Don't go giving away most of it and then find yourself having to go and buy more!

I'm a little surprised you weren't advised not to buy so much in cracked form.

I have one customer who buys his malt milled and in large quantities, I advise him against it yet he still buys it like that.See him every six months and hes happy so :icon_cheers:
GB

 

[Fourstar]

As T.D pointed out, it will keep for quite some time sealed. Taste it before offloading it. if it all tastes as good as it was when fresh then use it. if its stale, limp and chewy like an unsealed pack of biscuits, ditch it.

I'm a little surprised you weren't advised not to buy so much in cracked form.

:icon_offtopic:
Why is it Ross fault and or business why someone would want to purchase X amount of malt and have it cracked? Sure Ross is always wanting and willing to help us brewers out but duty of care for excessive purchases doesn't rest with craftbrewer (or any business for that matter) but with the customer. If the OP wants to impulse buy and waste grain, that's up to him. it would be like the cashier at Myer/DJ's telling you not to purchase those 10 pairs of socks when all you really need to get you through the week is 5?


Note: Im not having a go at you T.D. just having a rant on how no one ever seems to want to take ownership for their own actions anymore these days.

 

[warrenlw63]

it would be like the cashier at Myer/DJ's telling you not to purchase those 10 pairs of socks when all you really need to get you through the week is 5?

Not sure about you fourstar but I really don't like getting around with bare feet on the weekends. Think I'd buy 7 pair.

Warren -

 

[T.D.]

:icon_offtopic:
Why is it Ross fault and or business why someone would want to purchase X amount of malt and have it cracked? Sure Ross is always wanting and willing to help us brewers out but duty of care for excessive purchases doesn't rest with craftbrewer (or any business for that matter) but with the customer. If the OP wants to impulse buy and waste grain, that's up to him. it would be like the cashier at Myer/DJ's telling you not to purchase those 10 pairs of socks when all you really need to get you through the week is 5?


Note: Im not having a go at you T.D. just having a rant on how no one ever seems to want to take ownership for their own actions anymore these days.

That's a fair point Fourstar. It may be a facet of the online world more than anything else. One of the great benefits of the LHBS is that it includes advice. Handy stuff for new brewers who may not really know what a "normal" quantity of specialties is in a given order. But quite often while choosing stuff in your LHBS you tend to chew the fat a bit with the store owner, and in the process they might say "geez 2kgs of crystal is a lot, that will last you 12 months+" and you might reconsider the purchase (especially if the grain is cracked). I guess you don't get that hands on approach when clicking buttons online. But you are right, its not the HBS owner's obligation to provide advice, but its often a welcomed part of the LHBS experience.

 

[brendo]

That's a fair point Fourstar. It may be a facet of the online world more than anything else. One of the great benefits of the LHBS is that it includes advice. Handy stuff for new brewers who may not really know what a "normal" quantity of specialties is in a given order. But quite often while choosing stuff in your LHBS you tend to chew the fat a bit with the store owner, and in the process they might say "geez 2kgs of crystal is a lot, that will last you 12 months+" and you might reconsider the purchase (especially if the grain is cracked). I guess you don't get that hands on approach when clicking buttons online. But you are right, its not the HBS owner's obligation to provide advice, but its often a welcomed part of the LHBS experience.

Just to throw my 2c into this one... I can remember stuffing up my first CB order and asking for it all to be milled and mixed. Ross's offsider (can't remember his name - sorry mate!!) was straight onto that, rang me up on the mobile and double checked my order - certainly saved me some headaches right there. Certainly not a case of "all care, no responsibility"...

That said TD I completely agree with you about the value of a good LHBS, where you can get some hands on advice to get you going. If you have a good one locally then you should definitely support it.

Brendo

 

[tcraig20]

OK, just a couple of things to clarify - perhaps I misrepresented a couple of things.

These malts were vacuum packed when I recieved them. However, Ive opened most of them now, and some of the others have had their seal fail (it seems to be a problem with Ross' vacuum sealer - I hope he has it figured out now). After opening, Ive squeezed the air out of the bags and resealed them as best I can. Looking at the invoice I got the grains at the start of Feb 2009.

They are still fresh as far as I can taste, but they are far above what I will need - I average about one brew a month, averaging 200-300g spec malt. That's enough to keep me going for more than 2 years at current rates. I had planned to be brewing a lot more, but havent for a number of reasons. Its not Ross' fault at all, I chose to buy stuff, Ross provided me a great product at a great price. There is little merit blaming a retailer for providing a customer with what he wants.

Im planning on keeping about half the grain for my own use, so its not all up for grabs. However, there is no way that I can use all this grain in the next year, and perhaps not in the next two years. Rather than waiting for a year and finding the stuff is useless, Ive decided to reduce my stocks now and let someone else get some benefit out of it. Its not a huge cost - spec grain is usually less than $5 a kilo, but I hate to see waste.

So Im giving away some grain. I want to see it used, not just sitting around in someone else's house going bad - it can do that here. If anyone is interested, I'll probably limit freebies to about a kilo per person.

 

[Fourstar]

Not sure about you fourstar but I really don't like getting around with bare feet on the weekends. Think I'd buy 7 pair.
Warren -

Not if you do the washing twice a week! :lol:

Hey brendo, i had the same thing with my 1st purchase, Ross called me 30 mins after placing my order for kegs and kegging bits to advise i would probabaly be better off with a cobra tap and cobra line over one with just standard beer line. Oh and to upsell a check valve too!

Yes, i quite agree T.D. howewver 2kg of crystals would probably only last me 5 batches with the amount of APA's, Browns, Ambers and IPA's i brew!

 

[Bribie G]

Don't worry, I'm using Carafa 3 that's four months old and it's fine. If you have any concerns just freeze the excess.

 

[T.D.]

There is little merit blaming a retailer for providing a customer with what he wants.

I don't think anybody is doing that. My point was simply that its sometimes handy to have somebody to bounce ideas off at the time of purchase. And yeah, I agree with brendo - support your LHBS!

 

[mwd]

Good on you JC for offering it up for free to somebody. :icon_cheers:

Most people would say nothing and just chuck the remaining when it went stale.

Not like the odd kilo of grain costs a fortune or anything.

He He and I thought I was the old skinflint as I buy lots of 500g ready milled from Ross but I do not brew very much that often.

P.S. only buy socks and underwear when they are on special at K-Mart because they don't last five minutes anyway especially those 'Chinese' Bonds. :icon_offtopic:

 

[tcraig20]

I don't think anybody is doing that. My point was simply that its sometimes handy to have somebody to bounce ideas off at the time of purchase. And yeah, I agree with brendo - support your LHBS!

Yeah, I hear what you are saying, and I agree. Our LHBS is half HB, half pine furniture, open half the week.

The bloke who runs its is a decent enough fellow, but he can only stock what he can sell. This is largely kits and spirit essences. I buy dry malt and yeasts from him, but he has little else that I need.

If you are looking for a kilo of spec malt here, you are likely to pay more in postage than the cost of the grain.

 

[tcraig20]

Ive set aside some grains for myself and a couple of people who have expressed an interest so far. The following is still available:

500g carahell
GONE BB caramalt
200g Bairds Chocolate
500g Carafa II
500g Bairds med crystal.

 

[Cracka]

PM sent