Reducing plastic in homebrewing

[jceg316]

Hey everyone, I buy grains in sizes from 500g - 2kg packs along with 25kg sacks of pale/lager malt. It makes sense to buy grains in these quantities considering I don't have a grain mill and there's only so much brown malt I can go through.

However, I must have close to 50 bags of malt stored in plastic bags which the HBS sends them in, which all get thrown away and end up in landfill or the ocean. I'd really like to use less plastic where I can but wondering if there is a sensible way of achieving this.

One thought I had was to buy in bulk - 25kg sacks of malt I use on a regular basis whole and get a grain mill. This will be an expensive layout (there's about 10 malts I use regularly) but will be actually be cheaper per batch. However, there are loads of different malts out there, and if I want to follow a recipe which required 50g of amber, I don't want to buy 25kg of it as it will sit there a long time. It does mean I will be using 10 or so malts for a while.

Wondering if anyone else is attempting the same thing?

 

[Pheqit]

This is something I have been trying to do since setting up a cheap mill.

I also cut down on specialist roasted malts and started trying to roast my own, nothing too serious just a fun experimental kinda thing. Still buying crystal malts as that looks too faffy for me at this stage.
Not tried Amber yet but got this from a search a while ago:
30mins @ 350°F = Amber (35°L) = Nutty,malty; lightly toasty

Only down side so far is having to plan well ahead with roasting, have to keep them in paper bags for 2weeks+ before using them.

So far I am buying more 25kg sacks but a lot less smaller bags and I keep my own roasted grains in paper bags.

 

[wfr42]

I planned out my brews for the year based on 5-6 brews from a 25kg sack of base malt and bought the required amount of speciality malts and crushed what I needed as I went along.

 

[jceg316]

This is something I have been trying to do since setting up a cheap mill.

I also cut down on specialist roasted malts and started trying to roast my own, nothing too serious just a fun experimental kinda thing. Still buying crystal malts as that looks too faffy for me at this stage.
Not tried Amber yet but got this from a search a while ago:
30mins @ 350°F = Amber (35°L) = Nutty,malty; lightly toasty

Only down side so far is having to plan well ahead with roasting, have to keep them in paper bags for 2weeks+ before using them.

So far I am buying more 25kg sacks but a lot less smaller bags and I keep my own roasted grains in paper bags.

That's a good point, as I've occasionally roasted malt before and depending on the type of malt it's not totally out the question. I use a fair amount of crystal and could justify buying it in bulk.

Another project I'm working on is to collate all my brew recipes I've made since I started into a spreadsheet. One of the reasons for this is to see the range of malts I use. It could be there are some malts I use on a regular enough basis to get 25kg sacks of them, and some speciality grains I use so rarely I can either buy them occasionally, try and recreate them with the ingredients I have or just go without.

 

[fuzzy]

Can you source your malts from somewhere that can make the recipe up for you. My local HBS sells malt in 10g portions and can bag up the whole recipe in one bag. I top up my Grain account when needed which works out at around 1.50 a kg. This kind of cuts back on plastic a little.

This is an intersting topic as I do try and think about my energy usage and waste in brewing but trying to balance that with quality can be a bit of a conflict. ie boil times on gas and chilling with water etc.

 

[IainM]

If you live near a supplier I'm sure you could go there with your own reusable containers.

 

[grmski]

As Fuzzy says some places will put it all in one bag for you, isn't it Geterbrewed who do that on line.
Alternatively you could go to your LHBS and take a fermenter with you and get them to weigh out your grains and then just put them into the FV.

I found a while back for a reasonable price a metal tight head drum that would work perfectly as a no chill cube, when my current one is finally too skanky to use then I'm gonna get that then they'll be no plastics on the hot side of my brewery.

There are also industrial drums that could work as an FV or if making a boiler could have an element fitted so you could take the plastics out of that part of your set up as well.

This page has examples of both types but doesn't mention prices. http://www.patrico.co.uk/steel

 

[MyQul]

As Fuzzy says some places will put it all in one bag for you, isn't it Geterbrewed who do that on line.

Yes GEB will make up whatever reciepe you like for you and put it all in one bag.

 

[MyQul]

That's a good point, as I've occasionally roasted malt before and depending on the type of malt it's not totally out the question. I use a fair amount of crystal and could justify buying it in bulk.

Another project I'm working on is to collate all my brew recipes I've made since I started into a spreadsheet. One of the reasons for this is to see the range of malts I use. It could be there are some malts I use on a regular enough basis to get 25kg sacks of them, and some speciality grains I use so rarely I can either buy them occasionally, try and recreate them with the ingredients I have or just go without.

I beleive brown malt is another malt that you can roast/make at home too. Probably worth while finding out what others are doable at home.

Todays HBers have an embarresment of riches when it comes to malts, hops and yeast, so it's tempting to make a completely different beer every time you brew.
So another idea may be to just have a 'core range' of beers that you only make. Say four or five (perhaps even less) then you just need to buy a few bags of 25kg malts so your not buying loads of different specialty malts that come in lots of plastic. This also has the advantage you being able to dial in your reciepe perfectly to your tastes as you'll be repeatedly making the same brews

I'm heading this way myself. It doesnt have to be as restrictive as it sounds. One of my 'core' beers is bitter. I usually keep the grain bill the same but if I vary the hops (also the IBU) and the yeast I can make a compeltely different bitter each time. I can also tweek the grains whilst keeping them the same by changing the OG and making either an ordinary bitter, best bitter or ESB

 

[Leon103]

I have ordered 10kg of grain from geterbrewed and it's come in a sack so you may not need to buy 25kg.

 

[Leon103]

I have ordered 10kg of grain from geterbrewed and it's come in a sack so you may not need to buy 25kg.

 

[TheQuokka]

I agree with the advice about ordering a grain bill in one bag (that's actually the norm here,) but apart from that I can't see why you are so worried. My feijoas are ready, so I have run out of plastic bags at home, and besides, I not only leave grain and grounds in biodegradable bags when I throw them in the compost I go out and choke a couple of penguins as part of my brewing ritual!

 

[jceg316]

I do sometimes order my brew already made up from GEB, but again it arrives in a plastic bag. Also whilst it is convenient, sometimes my favourite brew days/beers are the times when I see what ingredients I have lying around and throw some of the together in the mash tun.

BTW the brown malt mention in the OP was an example of one of a few malts I occasionally use small amounts of. There's also amber malt, special B, carahells, caragold, probably a few more which wouldn't make sense to buy suck large quantities of, but do come up in recipes.

However, I've been thinking more and more about this and I'm really liking this idea. For a start, I prefer to make my own recipe other than follow another. Also it will be really interesting making many beers from the same amount of malts, but I'm not limiting myself with hops or yeast. It's a challenge I'm quite enjoying the sound of.

 

[Simonh82]

I agree with the advice about ordering a grain bill in one bag (that's actually the norm here,) but apart from that I can't see why you are so worried. My feijoas are ready, so I have run out of plastic bags at home, and besides, I not only leave grain and grounds in biodegradable bags when I throw them in the compost I go out and choke a couple of penguins as part of my brewing ritual!

My friend and I was given two shopping bags full of feijoa when I was in NZ 15 years ago. They were amazing and we gorged ourselves on them for several days. After that I've not eaten or seen another one since. I still bang on about them to anyone who will listen. I'm supremely jealous of you and your feijoa harvest!