Grain Identification

[arkansascontrols]

Wow, what a nightmare! I've been attempting to malt my own grain for a batch of brew. I've found numerous grain markets / grist mills in the area with wide selections of various grains to choose from. Being in Middle East has it's advantages! All of the local Grist Mill / Grain Markets have varieties of Wheat, Oats, Rye and other grains that I'm not familiar with. I've gone to 4 different markets with a translator to find barley for my home malting experiment, and they all point to the same grain when asked about Barley. The problem is I don't believe what they are selling is Barley, I'm not sure what it is, and I'm beginning to think it's a problem with Translation. Perhaps the Indians and Pakistani's have different word or term for Barley, I'm not sure, but my Indian Translator speaks excellent English and he is certain that what I'm buying is Barley, but I'm not certain.

Identifying grain based on pictures available on the net is challenging, because Wheat and Barley look very similar to me based on the photos I've been able to find.

What I've purchased here is a VERY, VERY small, nearly round, Extremely hard, seed-like grain. As compared to a single grain of wheat I would estimate that the wheat is approximately 5-6 times the size of this grain or possibly more. This grain is definitely RAW and unprocessed as it germinates quickly. Unfortunately I have no photos of the grain prior to germination, so I'm not sure posting a photo would help much. Although I am curious what I have purchased, what I'm particularly interested in is learning to identify the grain I want by looking at it in Bins / Bags at the local market. If my suspicions are correct, and the photos I've found on the Net are accurate, I may have been looking at Barley all along in these markets being sold as some variety of wheat.

One other point, none of these grains have the hulls, it's all cleaned grain ready for the grist mill, as these small markets custom grind the grains for you on the spot (if you want). Of course for my purposes I've not had it ground. The wheat that I purchased malted nicely.

Any pointers on how to identify Barley without having to actually speak to the vendor? Close up photos of barley and wheat in the same photo would be fantastic if anyone has one. And if anyone is interested in seeing photos of germinated mystery grain let me know and I'll see if I can figure out how to post it here.

Many thanks.

Eric

 

[evanvine]

Eric
I think what you have been shown is "Pearl Barley" which is used in cooking, stews, soups etc.

Pearl barley
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pearl barley (or "pearled barley") is barley processed to remove its hull and bran. Barley must have its fibrous outer hull removed before it can be eaten; pearl barley is taken a step further, polished to remove the nutritious bran layer.

You need whole fresh barley to malt with as you have to start it growing again!

 

[arkansascontrols]

Eric
I think what you have been shown is "Pearl Barley" which is used in cooking, stews, soups etc.

Pearl barley
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pearl barley (or "pearled barley") is barley processed to remove its hull and bran. Barley must have its fibrous outer hull removed before it can be eaten; pearl barley is taken a step further, polished to remove the nutritious bran layer.

You need whole fresh barley to malt with as you have to start it growing again!

Thanks for the reply, but I'm pretty sure this isn't Pearled Barley, as I WAS able to germinate this grain. It sprouted quite nicely, extremely fine shoots, much smaller than the Wheat shoots from my germinated wheat. Whatever it is, it's definitely a whole unprocessed grain.

 

[evanvine]

I think you're going to need the TLC of a tame farmer (laughing smile)

 

[damfoose]

close up of Malting Barley
close up of Wheat

Just photoshop them together of what ever package you use .

Hope this helps. tbh the two dont look much diffrent but I got them from photo search

 

[johnboy]

Hi Eric,

I doubt if it's Barley mate. Spent a lot of time inspecting fields of wheat and barley in the past and I haven't seen a barley as small as what you described. Post a pic and we'll have a look.

 

[ricardo]

Millet ???
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgu...mage_result&resnum=3&ct=image&ved=0CAsQ9QEwAg

 

[ricardo]

Barley in Spanish=cebada
Barley in Dutch=gerst
Barley in French=orge

Millet in Spanish=mijo
Millet in Dutch=gierst
Millet in French=millet

Don't do arabic soz