Grow Your Own Barley

[apd]

For anyone interested in going further than just growing your own hops:

Article on The Tyee.


Andrew

 

[boingk]

Crud, man...that'd be taking it to the max, wouldn't it?

I remember my father and I having a discussion on this when we were just talking crud over beer. He said something along the lines of "I'll have a shot at building a shed, sure, but I reckon' I'd stop short of mining the damn ore!"

I suppose it'd really put it into perspective though...what goes into a beer.

- boingk

 

[raven19]

I think I will be more inclined to just grab a 25kg bag of malting barley from my brother in laws father for a small fee... then setup a malting shed! :lol:

 

[horner34]

good luck on growing malting grade barley

 

[stueywhytcross]

For anyone interested in going further than just growing your own hops:

Article on The Tyee.


Andrew

one thing to grow barley, however growing it to fit within malting specs (8-12% protien) on a small scale would be extremely difficult.

 

[RobB]

I took the easy way out and married a farmer's daughter. Although, approaching our ninth anniversary, perhaps it wasn't so easy after all.............

 

[white.grant]

There's a video on basic brewing that has little bit of information about growing barley linky.

cheers

grant

 

[afromaiko]

I remember my father and I having a discussion on this when we were just talking crud over beer. He said something along the lines of "I'll have a shot at building a shed, sure, but I reckon' I'd stop short of mining the damn ore!"

:icon_offtopic: Reminds me of The Toaster Project, some dude is making his own toaster from scratch.. beginning with getting some iron ore!

 

[pint of lager]

This is one thing I really like about brewing beer, it is so diverse. Some people aim for winning competitions, others build fantastic bars or their very own PIC controlled brewing sculpture, others make beer brewing into a career while the farmers and back to basics will grow their own barley, malt it and brew with it. They won't know the exact specs, but neither does a home hop grower know the specs on their cones.

 

[jayse]

good luck on growing malting grade barley

thats what even the farmers are saying these days, let alone some brewer in the country with a acre down the back to give it a go in.


Fool in the rain
Jayse

 

[boingk]

...Toaster Project...

Thats exactly what I mean, and that guy knows exactly what I'm on about; what happens if the world takes a collossal turn down the sucker? Well, by my reckoning it'd be chaos for a while and then probably stabalise somewhere around where we were in...say...the 18th to 19th centuries. Maybe a bit before seeing as we've plundered a whole lot of readily available natural rescources. Nothing fantastically advanced, just simple, acheivable material technologies coupled with some essential knowledge. I for one wouldn't have a huge regret. Sure information super-highways, fast cars, cheap mass-produced items and whacko-fantastic medical sciences are nice to have, but I reckon ol' Thomas is onto something.

I think we're losing who we are. I'm 20, and I know people who would rather talk to somone over the internet than walk into a room full of their friends not six feet away, people who are only barely aware of how to communicate in real life - as opposed to via instant messaging or over the phone. People who think the most important date on their calendar is the DVD release for the next series of some POS show made halfway 'round the world.

Frankly, I reckon they need a reality check.

Yours introspectively [and perhaps sadly?] - boingk

 

[brendanos]

Not a bad idea to grow wheat. Doesn't need malting if you're using it in a Belgian Wit, a Lambic, or to make pizza. You could prob get away with a cereal boil or a turbid mash or something to that effect to boost your fermentables.

I'm a fan, and plan to convert most of my back yard into a cereal crop for fun.

 

[Airgead]

Thats exactly what I mean, and that guy knows exactly what I'm on about; what happens if the world takes a collossal turn down the sucker? Well, by my reckoning it'd be chaos for a while and then probably stabalise somewhere around where we were in...say...the 18th to 19th centuries. Maybe a bit before seeing as we've plundered a whole lot of readily available natural rescources. Nothing fantastically advanced, just simple, acheivable material technologies coupled with some essential knowledge. I for one wouldn't have a huge regret. Sure information super-highways, fast cars, cheap mass-produced items and whacko-fantastic medical sciences are nice to have, but I reckon ol' Thomas is onto something.

I think we're losing who we are. I'm 20, and I know people who would rather talk to somone over the internet than walk into a room full of their friends not six feet away, people who are only barely aware of how to communicate in real life - as opposed to via instant messaging or over the phone. People who think the most important date on their calendar is the DVD release for the next series of some POS show made halfway 'round the world.

Frankly, I reckon they need a reality check.

Yours introspectively [and perhaps sadly?] - boingk

:icon_offtopic:

<RANT>

I'm with you boing. Although I work in IT (which lets face it will be the first thing to go when society crumbles), I think the most valuable things I do are growing veggies for my family in the back yard and building my house on weekends. I haven't gone to the full extent of growing the timber though.

As for facebook, I know people my age (37) who refuse to communicate any other way. Won't take phone calls, don't reply to email. Meet them in the street and all they say is "everything we do is on facebook you can check it out there" then walk away.

We're turning into a race of socially inadequate recluses. Just wait till they invent virtual sex. No one will ever leave their home again and the human race will perish.

</RANT>

I love the idea of growing barley. I think its too hard to do as an individual though. Maybe a brewers collective - plant a few acres. Share the cost/labour and the crop when its harvested.

Cheers
Dave

 

[jeremy]

I seriously wouldnt bother. Malting grade barley is the best grade a farmer can hope for their barley to go. If you grow your own crop you couldnt expect to get specs good enough to go Malting grade, and even if by some fluke you did you would struggle to do it proud malting it yourself. Good quality Malt comes from high quality Barley grown by professionals, malted by professional malsters to achieve the approximate required specs, and blended with other malt to correct any inadequacies in hitting the specifications initally. Growing this type of thing yourself on a micro scale would be interesting, but to produce a reasonable amount of grain to make it worth your while, and have it anywhere near the quality of a purchased malt would be nigh on impossible. You would be better served spending the time, effort and money on something more worthwhile...

If you are interested in malting your own Barley (which I personally wouldnt be bothered with either), and in the idea of acquiring some fresh barley, I think the best option would be to contact a farmer who regularly acheives a high grade barley, and buy some from them. If you were dead keen you could ask if they could grab a few bags from the header after reaping what they would deem to be the ideal section of crop from a paddock.

A farmer doesn't malt a maltster doesn't brew, why would a brewer want to do all three? Stick to what your good at!

 

[Thirsty Boy]

odd - people here obviously think that they can make beer of just a high standard as large commercial brewers. Sure, less equipment and knowledge... but no commercial pressures, no worries about having to supply a market volume, no worries about the actual cost.. that makes up for it. Its craft and you can lavish your individual attention on it to make up for any other deficits.

But ... apparently you can't grow malting quality barley?? Even on a scale where cow poo would be a viable fertiliser, you could pull the weeds by hand and flick off the caterpillars personally.

A bit of research about the appropriate variety for your climate, planting density and care. I see no reason you would have less chance of producing decent quality barley than you would of producing lovely tomatoes. Yeah, maybe not A grade #1... but I can tell you the malt going around at the moment isn't being made from A grade #1 barley anyway. And beer still gets made.

A bit of sieving to weed out the undersizes and you are ready to go malting.

It would be labour intensive, costly, you would probably get lousy yield - and at the end of it you would still have buckleys of finishing with a product close to the quality churned out by the truckload at the big maltsters...................

But maybe you have fun and get a sense of satisfaction from having gone from dirt to glass all by yourself.

I see the attraction

 

[tommygun]

It is possible but I would think to get any amount of grain useful you would need atleast a few hundred sq m of land and the amount of time put into hand picking crops, controling pests, disease ands weeds you can give up AG brewing you wouldn't have time!

Not to mention I don't think there are many grain varieties which grow well close to the coast bit too humid and you get so many diseases such as rust etc. so anyone along the east coast can forget it.

Being a keen gardener and horticulturist and grow my own vegies and stuff at home I would leaving grain growing to the farmers who have the equipment, land and years of know to do it. Growing a organic Hops at home is great idea, which reminds me I really should look into getting some rhizomes.

 

[jeremy]

odd - people here obviously think that they can make beer of just a high standard as large commercial brewers. Sure, less equipment and knowledge... but no commercial pressures, no worries about having to supply a market volume, no worries about the actual cost.. that makes up for it. Its craft and you can lavish your individual attention on it to make up for any other deficits.

But ... apparently you can't grow malting quality barley?? Even on a scale where cow poo would be a viable fertiliser, you could pull the weeds by hand and flick off the caterpillars personally.

A bit of research about the appropriate variety for your climate, planting density and care. I see no reason you would have less chance of producing decent quality barley than you would of producing lovely tomatoes. Yeah, maybe not A grade #1... but I can tell you the malt going around at the moment isn't being made from A grade #1 barley anyway. And beer still gets made.

A bit of sieving to weed out the undersizes and you are ready to go malting.

It would be labour intensive, costly, you would probably get lousy yield - and at the end of it you would still have buckleys of finishing with a product close to the quality churned out by the truckload at the big maltsters...................

But maybe you have fun and get a sense of satisfaction from having gone from dirt to glass all by yourself.

I see the attraction

I'm not saying it's impossible, merely highly improbable. It is MUCH MUCH easier to brew an AG beer with pots and pans, colanders and stuff you find around the home than it is to grow 6kg of barley to a standard approximating malting barley with your backyard and your bare hands. As tg mentioned, you are unlikely to get the quantity required out of a pot plant, you will still need a sizeable area (according to the original article you would need 10 feet by 20 feet at least to produce 6 kilo), and without the right equipment (you are hardly going to get a header in your backyard), you will have to give up your day job AND brewing entirely to "flick off the catepillars". I see the appeal, I just suggest that its not a plausible option.

And once the barley is grown we need to worry about malting it!

I prefer the idea of sourcing barley from a farm, like a craft winemaker would source their grapes. You can then get the benefit of hand selecting professionally grown malting barley.

 

[Darren]

I have been wondering along similar lines. Does anyone know if you can buy malting grade barley?. One of the wizz bang automatic malting machines ($100K) and you would be off and running.

cheers

Darren

 

[jonocarroll]

I prefer the idea of sourcing barley from a farm, like a craft winemaker would source their grapes. You can then get the benefit of hand selecting professionally grown malting barley.

And if you buy a kit you can have the benefit of selecting professionally dehydrated, hopped liquid malt extract. And if you buy a bottle of beer you have the benefit of selecting a professionally produced end product. You've missed the point. Winemakers source their grapes when the one's they've grown aren't what they want.

I agree with the sentiments that there would be a profound sense of accomplishment from growing one's own barley for a brew. The obstacles mentioned can all be overcome with patience and learning. To those who say it "can't" be done, I'm sure someone has said the same thing about growing one's own hops (done), culturing your own yeast (done) and reproducing an exact water profile (done). To those who say that the quality "won't be worth the effort" that can only be judged once the effort has been made. Who knows? Perhaps a bunch of brewers manage to obtain a large enough area, get some good know-how from a real grower, and get it done. I'll remind people that the Top Gear blokes were challenged to grow and make their own bio-diesel, and (IIRC) although they grew the wrong crop, they still managed to make something.

To say that it won't be the same as professional malt is obvious. But then, all-grain brewing isn't like professional brewing - it's better This point has nagged at me in the back of my mind - (without drawing in the comparison) kit beers are frowned upon because they take a shortcut, by introducing a product that you have purchased. The ultimate all-grain beer would of course be made from the barley you malt yourself, hops you grow yourself, and yeast you culture yourself. At the moment, all the AG brewers are comfortable to skip the first condition, for reasons that have been clearly, and rightly pointed out. To add that last one would be incredible though, wouldn't it?

Looking forward to seeing if anyone takes the challenge and gets a working group going.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

For years I watched my insane father crawl around the yard and pluck single leaved weed plants, lone insects and so help me god even individual foreign seeds off our lawn - all in an effort to grow nothing more useful than lush green grass. Edged, mowed, aerated, fertilized, watered, seeded.... hell, one time he dug the whole bloody 1/4 acre up and sieved ALL the topsoil because he thought that would get rid of all the seeds from weed plants.

Hundreds of hours, multiple hundreds of dollars - for green grass. Fair enough, he was a mad old ******* - but I bet everyone knows somebody who is that obsessive about their lawn.

So you toss $15 at some local kid to mow your lawn and lavish your attention on a 10 x 20 foot patch of a different type of grass... I suspect you could probably grow something decent.

As for needing a header..... its the size of a vege patch, you could harvest it with scissors in an afternoon. Heard of a sickle?