Growing Barley

[Dazza_devil]

G'day Brewers,
I'm thinkin it's gonna cost a fortune to ship grain to Tassie when I go AG. I've got a fair sized backyard and I reckon barley would grow alright here so I'm considering growing the stuff. What I need to know is what sort of yield am I gonna get? kgs/m2
Cheers

 

[bullsneck]

If you are serious about growing your own barley, I suggest you grab a copy of The Homebrewer's Garden from Amazon.com or eBay. You could probably pick up a copy for less than 20 if you are lucky. It details the work needed to go from seed to sip.

 

[Kleiny]

Around home on the farm we get 1-2t/acre

this equals with quick calcs 200 - 500g /m2

The cost of you doing this venture may outway the gain

Buying barley seed in a specific gene at small quantities may be hard to find.
Raking the backyard and then fertilizing and sowing.
Spraying pre- emergence herbicide plus a herbicide to get rid of unwanted plants and seeds.
Using a old fashioned harvest method and seperation from the head.
Plus the malting process with losses through out of spillage and just not being able to completely remove the kernels from the heads.

This is what would have to be done, perhaps a local farmer would sell you barley if you can find a variety you want. (you are not going to find a farmer who produces marris otter, more likely gardiner or schooner varieties).

Surely in Tas there are importers of malt or sellers from the breweryies around talk to the local micro's they may be able to help out with certain varieties.

By no means am i trying to stop you from doing this if you wish i hope you have the best of luck i just dont see it being a long term strategy. Unless you are a cereal farmer already.

Kleiny

 

[WildebeestAttack]

In a good year we get about 2 tonnes to the acre, so about 0.5kg per square meter. I'd probably leave it to the cockies to grow the stuff, unless you have a big backyard.

Then you have to malt the stuff, which requires a bit of skill, especially if you don't know what the grain quality is.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Not sure which part of Tassie you are located in - But Cascade malts their own barley, so you might be able to come to an arrangement with someone there to allow you access to either barley or malt. I'm sure they must grow some barley in Tasmania, but its not enough to register on the national production scene.

Here's some information on accredited barley varieties in case you are interested in taking it further

http://www.barleyaustralia.com.au/Accredit...76/Default.aspx

Thirsty

 

[Dazza_devil]

Thanks for the advise.
It does sound like a lot of stuffing about and less time for brewing and drinking. I'll look into it though, perhaps just grow one small batch for a brew for the fun of it.

 

[Dazza_devil]

Not sure which part of Tassie you are located in - But Cascade malts their own barley, so you might be able to come to an arrangement with someone there to allow you access to either barley or malt. I'm sure they must grow some barley in Tasmania, but its not enough to register on the national production scene.

Here's some information on accredited barley varieties in case you are interested in taking it further

http://www.barleyaustralia.com.au/Accredit...76/Default.aspx

Thirsty

Cascade only sell by the tonne I think and Joe White Maltings in Devonport only 60kms up the road, they only sell to Boags, not Boagsy unfortunately.

 

[bullsneck]

Cascade only sell by the tonne

Start a Tassie Grain Bulk Buy!

But if it interests you, give it a go! I'm sure you could make some interesting malts, unique indeed.

 

[technocat]

Cascade only sell by the tonne I think and Joe White Maltings in Devonport only 60kms up the road, they only sell to Boags, not Boagsy unfortunately.

Boagsy there are bulk buyers in Tassie who bring 25Kg bags from the mainland. I am one of them, PM me if you you want the real deal.