Seed barley supplier

[scass]

Hi all

It's been a while since I've posted here. AG brewing has been going swimmingly here in Portugal wine country – and since I started brewing a couple of years ago a boom seems to have started. We even have a couple of local microbreweries now! I'm typing this while mashing a wheat beer (half of which is destined to become a loganberry wheat) in my new electric brewing setup.

I've been searching the forum and have found little mention of growing grains for malting. Members here seem to treat cereal farming and malting as mostly beyond the scope of the home brewer. Quite understandable... But...

I'm just wondering if anyone knows of a supplier who will sell small quantities of malting barley seed? I'm keen to have a go at growing and malting.

(We live on a smallholding. We produce a lot of what we eat, and most of the rest comes from within a few km of here. Our wine too is either made from our own grapes or bought locally. We are really working to reduce our food and drink miles – just to see what is possible. I now have the opportunity to work with people experienced in growing cereals, but my needs a not that great. I'd probably start by aiming for a harvest of 50-100kg. I imagine a few kg of seed malt would be enough.)

Anyone?

Thanks,

Steve

 

[Tony1951]

A couple of years ago I had an allotment and wanted bean seed to make a fertiliser crop to dig in on a quarter of an acre plot. I could only find really expensive daft little packets, and when I approached an agricultural supplier he was only geared up for several hundred kilos of seed. I then found a feed merchant who sold bean seed for racing pigeons and it was about £5 for 25 kilos - dirt cheap in other words. It germinated above 95%. The same guy sells all kinds of feed at pretty cheap prices. Several kinds of wheat and I think he had barley too. The wheat cost around £13 for 25kg. I know that because I bought a sack and made bread and pancakes out of it. Maybe a local feed merchant might be a way forward for you to get your seed. People probably feed chickens on barley.

Malting would be fun.... It would be good to know how you get on. Mind you - the cost of properly malted grain is so small that it would certainly not be cost effective to grow and malt your own - except as a special interest / hobby.

 

[scass]

Hi Tony

I can indeed purchase barley at my local agricultural coop – both as animal feed (I think?) and for seed. The problem is that it's not malting barley – or if it is that would only be coincidental.

If I'm going to the trouble of growing my own, I really want to make sure I start off with a known variety; one that is purpose bred for malting.

Thanks for the ideas, though. I might go down to the coop and check if they know what variety of barley they have. That's perhaps a bit unlikely here in Portugal, though. If I ask the sellers at our local market what variety of potato they are selling, they'll answer either "red" or "white" – which of course I can see anyway!!

Steve

A couple of years ago I had an allotment and wanted bean seed to make a fertiliser crop to dig in on a quarter of an acre plot. I could only find really expensive daft little packets, and when I approached an agricultural supplier he was only geared up for several hundred kilos of seed. I then found a feed merchant who sold bean seed for racing pigeons and it was about £5 for 25 kilos - dirt cheap in other words. It germinated above 95%. The same guy sells all kinds of feed at pretty cheap prices. Several kinds of wheat and I think he had barley too. The wheat cost around £13 for 25kg. I know that because I bought a sack and made bread and pancakes out of it. Maybe a local feed merchant might be a way forward for you to get your seed. People probably feed chickens on barley.

Malting would be fun.... It would be good to know how you get on. Mind you - the cost of properly malted grain is so small that it would certainly not be cost effective to grow and malt your own - except as a special interest / hobby.

 

[Tony1951]

Hi Tony

I can indeed purchase barley at my local agricultural coop – both as animal feed (I think?) and for seed. The problem is that it's not malting barley – or if it is that would only be coincidental.

Maybe if they can't tell you the variety, you could buy a small amount of the barley, do the malting process, and make batch or two of beer. That way at least you would know if the variety will produce a decent beer.

I'm guessing that just about any barley variety can be sprouted, stopped in an oven to malt it and then ground and mashed. I might even buy some myself at the feed merchants and have a try. Perfect experiment for these hot sunny days when a damp seed will start to sprout pretty quickly.

EDIT:

Just found this link. I bet you could do this with any barley. It is the malting process that is critical I think rather than the particular variety.

Check this out:

http://byo.com/hops/item/1092-make-your-own-malt

You could grow your own hops as well and claim the whole beer and its ingredients as home made.

 

[Tony1951]

Even better links here:

http://byo.com/hops/item/1108-malting-your-own-techniques

http://beersmith.com/blog/2009/12/05/malting-barley-grain-at-home/

Food dehydrator here for drying - under £25

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00XN6XBVI/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20


Great podcast on how to grow and malt your own barley:

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkQP2CUWDFs#t=272[/ame]

 

[scass]

Tony, thanks for all the information. But I am looking for a supplier of SEED barley, not barley for malting. I want to sow the seed, harvest it, and then malt it.