The little ones mostly hold 10 pounds. 55 in the larger ones.
Buy a grain mill, they say. Think of the money you’ll save, they say.
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The little ones mostly hold 10 pounds. 55 in the larger ones.
Now I am gonna be that guy and ask if you really need that many types of malt at hand?
Big containers: who can get by without 6 or 7 base malts?
The little containers are for malts I have to try, but can't get in smaller quantities than 10 pounds. Like lavender-smoked barley. Or crystal rye. Or pale roasted barley. I could probably do without half of them.
There's a separate shelf for specialty malts, ~2-pound containers.
The little containers are for malts I have to try, but can't get in smaller quantities than 10 pounds. Like lavender-smoked barley. Or crystal rye. Or pale roasted barley. I could probably do without half of them.
There's a separate shelf for specialty malts, ~2-pound containers.
A grain mill isn't to save money. It's to have direct control over your crush.
That's a bonkers amount of malt to keep on hand unless you're brewing every week. Even then, most commercial breweries stick to 2-3 base malts.
I keep Maris otter, pilsner, and Vienna on hand and order anything else I need for batch specific purposes. I have an extra container for misc leftover speciality malts, and one for Munich at the moment.
That's a bonkers amount of malt to keep on hand unless you're brewing every week. Even then, most commercial breweries stick to 2-3 base malts.
I keep Maris otter, pilsner, and Vienna on hand and order anything else I need for batch specific purposes. I have an extra container for misc leftover speciality malts, and one for Munich at the moment.
I fully admit to having gone bonkers. This is the first time I've gotten all the grain containers into the garage and lined them up, and I was all "whoa!" and the first thing to do was post that picture here.
I brew ~5 gallons every week, split between 2-4 small batches.
In all seriousness, I couldn't get by without the following on hand:
Base: Pale, English Pale, Pilsner, Munich, Vienna, Wheat
Specialty: rye, oats, crystal (light, medium, and dark), chocolate, chocolate rye, roast barley, smoked wheat (oak) and rauch (beechwood).
which means I could probably get rid of one large and about half the small containers and not miss them too much.
On the plus side, I can start a totally unplanned brewday and have most or everything I need at hand. And, as you say, control the crush.
The hop collection has also gotten out of control.
I brew ~5 gallons every week, split between 2-4 small batches.
In all seriousness, I couldn't get by without the following on hand:
Base: Pale, English Pale, Pilsner, Munich, Vienna, Wheat
Specialty: rye, oats, crystal (light, medium, and dark), chocolate, chocolate rye, roast barley, smoked wheat (oak) and rauch (beechwood).
which means I could probably get rid of one large and about half the small containers and not miss them too much.
On the plus side, I can start a totally unplanned brewday and have most or everything I need at hand. And, as you say, control the crush.
The hop collection has also gotten out of control.
I have Simpson Golden Promise and Simpson Vienna in large quantities as base malts, specialty malts I buy 2kg at a time.
Chocolate and Black for roast, Brown and Amber for light roast/toasted malt, Crystal Light/Medium/DRC and some T.wheat.
All from Simpson except Brown wich is Crisp.
I basically only brew British style ales though, if I'd brew something requiring pilsner malt or something I'll order it in the amount needed.
Chocolate and Black for roast, Brown and Amber for light roast/toasted malt, Crystal Light/Medium/DRC and some T.wheat.
All from Simpson except Brown wich is Crisp.
I basically only brew British style ales though, if I'd brew something requiring pilsner malt or something I'll order it in the amount needed.
You will probably be astounded but I have 2 vehicles in my 2 car garage.
We have 2 cars and no garage
I guess that ship has sailed but if you want to save a ton of money on storage, there’s airtight, screw-on lids for regular homer buckets. Much cheaper.
every week?! How do you get rid of that much beer... If I drank that much, I'd be in the hospital. I'm already fighting with the negative health affects of brewing once a month or so (weight and blood pressure) and I exercise routinely, eat (mostly) healthy, and give away half my beer.
I would argue that anything you use that pale malt for, you could sub the english pale and end up with a better beer.
Lets not talk about hops... Hops are smaller and it's ok to have a dedicated drawer and 50+ bags in your freezer.. right..? right?!?!
We have a 2 car garage and no cars in it, but it does keep a sweet brewery on one side and all my lawn equipment and camping gear on the other.
Cars stored in a garage? Really?? Either a larger garage or more outbuildings.
I believe this is actually illegal in my jurisdiction.
The Barking Dog
Member
I would like being your neighbor since you basically have a homebrew store, as far as grains go, in your garage. I can see having multiple big containers for the spontaneous brew day when the homebrew store is closed. Like having a 50lb container for 2Row but then sometimes you want Marris Otter as a base....I guess that's how you started this debacle - with the "what if's".
Brewskey
Well-Known Member
All of these are full?? What's that about 500-550lbs of grain?
My liver and I have a "don't ask, don't tell" policy, and I've gotten fat.
I give away as much as I can, send some to competitions, drink some, and am ruthless about dumping anything not up to par. There's still too much.
I'm getting there on the English pale. I'm using it in my schwarzbier instead of Pilsner, and my adjunct lager instead of plain old 2-row. But I still make IPAs with pale.
My wife is a saint and has not gotten upset that the freezer is completely full, contents being a pint of ice cream, two frozen mac-and-cheeses, and the rest hops.
I'm buying a separate chest freezer for hops soon. That will be freezer #6 for the garage. Man, this hobby...
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Let's say half full at any given point in time. So 250-300 pounds. Which, when you think of it, is only enough to keep me brewing for about half a year...
Just ordered another 55-lb sack of grain. Can't help myself, I swear.
Holy ****! This guy is either starting a homebrew shop or starting a YouTube channel called The Homebrew Challenge part Deux.
"Impressive, very impressive...."
-Vader
"Impressive, very impressive...."
-Vader
My head is spinning over that amount of grain. I can keep 50 lbs total and not even think once, much less twice. If I had 300 lbs. I'd start my own lhbs...
What are his shipping rates like?
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You need some racks man. You can't get to your power tools!
I only do 10 lbs on the Vienna, Munich, and wheat. I do have 6 big buckets of Maris Otter, pilsner, and 2-row Brewers malt. The rest are 2-5 pounds.
I'm a bottle hoarder though. I just cleared out about 5 cases of bottles from behind the grain, going to give them to a friend who is a new brewer. That still leaves me about 5 cases of 12's and 5 cases of flip-tops. I need the space since I am now collecting kegs.
I only do 10 lbs on the Vienna, Munich, and wheat. I do have 6 big buckets of Maris Otter, pilsner, and 2-row Brewers malt. The rest are 2-5 pounds.
I'm a bottle hoarder though. I just cleared out about 5 cases of bottles from behind the grain, going to give them to a friend who is a new brewer. That still leaves me about 5 cases of 12's and 5 cases of flip-tops. I need the space since I am now collecting kegs.
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You should build a tilt-rack so you can get most of those up off the floor. The kibble bins are NOT rat/mouse resistant!
The Barking Dog
Member
I’ve heard mice like the containers more than the malts!
6531Brewing
Member
Whoa! When we started brewing we had shelves of grain and a freezer full of hops and we did see a decrease in the freshness of ingredients….now we plan for the brewing order the grain up from the store. We will order hops online for a couple of recipes at a time and keep them in the freezer! And we brew 20 gallons a batch!
I have a mill.... I got it so I could crush right before mashing and hopefully have fresher grain, and a longer shelf life on what I have.
I used to over-buy ingredients to "save money" on shipping, etc, but having to chuck a bunch of stuff has cured me of that.
I'm still trying to use up some older ingredients I have that are "on the edge". Moving forward I'm only going to be heavily stocking stuff that I really use in pretty much every brew (2-row) and and planning 2-3 batches ahead and ordering only what I need to cover that.
I'll have better beer, and less storage space required, and won't be throwing stuff out hopefully... ymclearlyvaries
I used to over-buy ingredients to "save money" on shipping, etc, but having to chuck a bunch of stuff has cured me of that.
I'm still trying to use up some older ingredients I have that are "on the edge". Moving forward I'm only going to be heavily stocking stuff that I really use in pretty much every brew (2-row) and and planning 2-3 batches ahead and ordering only what I need to cover that.
I'll have better beer, and less storage space required, and won't be throwing stuff out hopefully... ymclearlyvaries
I kind thought everyone kept 150-200lbs of grain on hand? Granted mine are in their original sacks and bags.
I was gonna ask though, why do you need so many little bites?
Not shown are all the little 1-2 pounds containers of specialty grains.
The little containers shown hold 10-15 pounds or so, and half of them are filled with smoked malts. My maltster (Sugar Creek in Indiana) sells to homebrewers, but with a 10-pound minimum.
Ah. Kids. And pandemic stockpiling that's turned the garage into a storeroom.I meant the muffins in the background
Brew on my friend!
I did similar, but I kept it in the house. I turned a closet into the brewery warehouse. It was really cool being able to brew any beer with the malts I had. Then weevils. The little critters infested everything, got into the kitchen. SWMBO discovered it. Was an issue.
I now let the homebrew store carry my inventory. I keep several vittle vaults in my garage, just like yours, for base malts. I've got a homebrew shop just a few miles away, so no problem.
You're doing it wrong.I meant the muffins in the background
I am surprised you like smoked malts that much though. I think 1 pound could last me 5-10 years.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/cherry-beech-smokebeer-many-awards.157818/
I have been refining my rauchbier recipe (currently on iteration 10 or something) and now use a combination of beechwood and alder.
And then there’s Grodziskie. And smoked porters and stouts and braggots. I go through a lot of smoked malt.
ITV
Well-Known Member
I was thinking that the muffins were sacrificial to keep the mice away from the grains.
Very impressive. Stored dry the malts should last a long time. I don't use vittle vaults but some surplus naproxen sodium barrels that have gasket and metal snap ring. I think some get up tight about aging malts. I have used stuff two years old with same efficiency and didn't notice a difference. And who knows how old they were when bought. I have even used home grown hops that were vac sealed frozen over two years old. Granted wasn't for an APA or IPA but they worked great. Maybe my pallette isn't as subtle as others
You're probably right, although the thought of drinking a batch of it is making me queasy.
Looks like a good recipe though.
Pro tip: a CD tower holds small plastic containers of specialty grains, quite well:
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Confession: I have two cars, the riding mower, the snowblower and the bikes in my 2.4 car garage, where I brew (removing a car first, temporarily).
<we shall not address the hops debacle that is my basement fridge>
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