How home made is your homebrew?

[geek_chaser]

Im looking into growing barley and hops, and want to learn how to make yeast starters. I also need to get a grain mill and make a fermentation chamber. Right now Im doing partial mash, but I want to go deeper. Much deeper into the process. Does anyone else go THAT far? How far do you go? If you do go that far, what equipment do I need? Thank you in advance.

 

[brewshki]

I subscribed because this sounds super cool. Please keep updating with what you end up doing. This reminds me of a youtube channel called How to Make Everything. He makes things, like sandwiches and suits, from complete scratch.

In this sense, my home brew is not that home made. I have a few hop plants, but they have yet to produce usable amounts. Barley would be fun, but I don't have any land for that.

 

[geek_chaser]

We bought our house 2 years ago and im clearing a spot in the yard for the barley and hops. Im sure i wont be able to grow the barley til next year, but i will be working on the yeast and hops in the mean time.

 

[triethylborane]

My homebrew is definitely not off grid homebrew. I harvest yeast cakes and do starters, but pretty much every ingredient is from the LBHS. Would be interesting to know the area you have to plant to yield 10 lbs of 2 row, ready to go into the mill.

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

It's all doable of course. Plants grow and you already brew beer, but it is my understanding that malting barley is very nuanced. The learning curve is steep. I have heard that malting is labor intensive and while you can make malt that works, it will likely make a lack luster beer. Back in the old days estates that made their own beer took grain tgey grew to a maltser. That said, I think you should totally do it!

 

[madscientist451]

Im looking into growing barley and hops, and want to learn how to make yeast starters. I also need to get a grain mill and make a fermentation chamber.

Very few homebrewers are growing and malting their own barley because grain is pretty cheap so there's no return on your time and money spent.
I buy grain by the sack and I just bought 55 lbs of Marris Otter for $51.
I can get domestic/Canadian malts for less than $40. If you are getting grain at your LHBS for $2/lb its still pretty cheap. I also like to try recipes that use different malts and see what they bring to the beer. If I grew, harvested and malted my own, it would all be somewhat the same.
Now if you want to add raspberries, cherries or other fruit to your beer, those are way more expensive, don't require all the processing that malting does and can added to other food items or consumed as they are.
I live in an apple growing area, and can get apples for cider really cheap, but they're not the kind of apples I really want, so I grown my own.
I'm sure your kids would enjoy stepping out into your back yard and picking fresh fruit.
In addition to fresh fruit, you could be growing all the vegetables for your family and still be consuming less of your time compared to growing and processing barley for brewing.
If you have your heart set on malting at home, I would suggest buying some un-malted barley, and you see what's involved in the process. Note that most barley is grown for animal feed, but if you hunt around, you can find varieties that are used for brewing. If you can make the process work for you the next step would be actually growing the barley at home.
Good Luck with your projects!

 

[geek_chaser]

Very few homebrewers are growing and malting their own barley because grain is pretty cheap so there's no return on your time and money spent.
I buy grain by the sack and I just bought 55 lbs of Marris Otter for $51.
I can get domestic/Canadian malts for less than $40. If you are getting grain at your LHBS for $2/lb its still pretty cheap. I also like to try recipes that use different malts and see what they bring to the beer. If I grew, harvested and malted my own, it would all be somewhat the same.
Now if you want to add raspberries, cherries or other fruit to your beer, those are way more expensive, don't require all the processing that malting does and can added to other food items or consumed as they are.
I live in an apple growing area, and can get apples for cider really cheap, but they're not the kind of apples I really want, so I grown my own.
I'm sure your kids would enjoy stepping out into your back yard and picking fresh fruit.
In addition to fresh fruit, you could be growing all the vegetables for your family and still be consuming less of your time compared to growing and processing barley for brewing.
If you have your heart set on malting at home, I would suggest buying some un-malted barley, and you see what's involved in the process. Note that most barley is grown for animal feed, but if you hunt around, you can find varieties that are used for brewing. If you can make the process work for you the next step would be actually growing the barley at home.
Good Luck with your projects!

Awesome advice. Thank you. Im a stay at home mom and have been brewing for about 5 years now. The goal is to someday open a brewery, but its a passionate hobby if not. I think i will look into unmalted barley and plat with that before i grow it. Thanks.

 

[geek_chaser]

My homebrew is definitely not off grid homebrew. I harvest yeast cakes and do starters, but pretty much every ingredient is from the LBHS. Would be interesting to know the area you have to plant to yield 10 lbs of 2 row, ready to go into the mill.

My dad has 5 acres that hes willing to let me have 1 acre to work with if i want. They dont have much on their land, so i asked if i could grow my own stuff.

 

[Zuljin]

First you must invent the universe.