Malts to keep stocked at home

[Kevnlis]

I am making an order from CraftBrewer because my local HBS doesn't stock any malt. I do extract brews but want to do mini mashes as well. What are good grains to keep a kilo or so about the place? I like all sorts of beer but what would you order? I have already selected 15 or so 90gm packets of hopes. Will be ordering the malt in 1 kilo lots. Don't want more than 20 or so if possible.

Cheers

[KEG]

like stouts and darks? get some black/patent malt and some choc malt..

for your everyday ales and lagers, get some light crystal malt for sure - i'd get a few kilos of that if i was ordering a big amount.

[Kevnlis]

I like all beers truely. Do have a special place for darks and stouts for sure. But of my last 4 beers I have done pale ale, pilsner, stout and dopplebock, next will be IPA. So ALOT of variety here

Had already added 1 KG of the choc chit malt, but may add a second since you suggested it.

Light Crystal is out of stock so I got 2 KG of medium.

Added a kilo of Black malt as well.

Anyone else have suggestions? I am mainly after commonly used things so when I find a recipe that sounds nice I can just make it and won't have to wait for mail order

[lethaldog]

have already selected 15 or so 90gm packets of hopes.

Where do you order hopes, i need some right now

[Kevnlis]

I haven't yet ordered any but this looks like a good site and comes highly recommended:

http://craftbrewer.com.au/index.php?pag ... &Itemid=29

Good luck and happy brewing!

[lethaldog]

[Rysa]

Ah LD, i hope i can get some too.
Good place to get them from.

[James L]

Well.. i've just started collecting the specialty malts too and i've found that alot of recipes require:

chocolate malt, Caramunich malt, Crystal malt, Carapils malt (for the lighter beers),

cara aroma, black malt, and melanoidin grain would also be good too for the darker style beers

James

[Trough Lolly]

I am making an order from CraftBrewer because my local HBS doesn't stock any malt. I do extract brews but want to do mini mashes as well. What are good grains to keep a kilo or so about the place? I like all sorts of beer but what would you order? I have already selected 15 or so 90gm packets of hopes. Will be ordering the malt in 1 kilo lots. Don't want more than 20 or so if possible.

Cheers

When I started out with partial mashes, I used no more than 2kg of grains per recipe - with the Coopers Pale Ale kit, I made a really nice APA with base malt some carapils and a bit of crystal in the mash to augment the kit.

Noting that grain isn't cheap to freight, you need to carefully choose the 20 or kilos that you buy. If you're doing mini mashes then you should buy a fair proportion of base malts, ie, grains that must be mashed and not steeped to provide their sugars. So, my list of 20kg for all round brewing would be:

5kg of Ale Malt,
5kg of Pilsener Malt,
3kg of Maris Otter,
1kg of Wheat Malt,
1kg of Dark Munich,
2kg of Light Crystal,
1kg of Roasted Barley,
1kg of Caramunich II, and
1kg of Carapils.

The ale and pils malts are the main base malts for whatever you brew, the MO is good for english ales, including brown ales and stouts. The Wheat is handy for a small addition on pale ales and wheat beers. The Dark Munich, crystal, roasted barley (essential in any stout IMHO) and caramunich are good flavour and colour additions for darker ales and lagers and the carapils is a good head formation / retention grain as well as being a dextrinous malt that adds body and mouthfeel to the beers.
There are plenty of other grains that Ross has, and using / getting to know them is part of the joy of brewing, but the above list may be useful as a starter.

15 packs of hops is a big buy! Just make sure you store them in airtight bags in the freezer - hops will spoil if they are exposed to air and heat so I'd caution against buying lots that will spend most of their time waiting to be used - I buy hops as I need them which means I'm always using fresh hops which makes a big difference to the end result.

Have fun!
Cheers,
TL

[Cortez The Killer]

This is my current stock of grains if that helps

16,250g Ale Malt
880g Crystal Medium
210g Crystal Pale
250g Crystal Dark
100g Torrified Wheat
100g Black Malt
500g Roast Barley
450g Chocolate Malt
12,540g Wheat Malt
14,760g Pilsner Malt
1,000g Munich (Light) Malt
1,650g Melandonian Malt
3,000g Carapils

Cheers