Home brew re supply

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GFHomebrew

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So im heading up this weekend to my local all grain home brewing supplier which is over 200ks from where I live. To save of postage/shipping and cost of grain/kilo I was thinking of picking up a 25kg bag of grain some hops and some crystal malt to tweek my future brews. If you could only pick 3 ingredients let's say you already have some yeast you've cleaned from previous brews [wlp090)(us05) what 3 ingredients would you get 1 base malt 2 hops and 3 a crystal malt.

I'm thinking Maris Otter for base malt. 25 kg
Cascade for hops. 200g
And caramel 60L. 2kg

That should cover me for a few brews.

What do ya recon what would you do any help would be appreciated to help cancel out options cheers o_O
 
if I were you, I'd get my stuff from northern brewer online. you'll spend more money on gas than shipping.
 
I live in Australia trust me I've looked around online in aus and this store has best prices by far even better if you show up at there door with fat wad a cash. I calculated for a 25kg bag of Maris otter I'll bay 70bucks Aus that's like 2.6 a kilo so smashes any other price down under in my opinion anyone know better I'm in :p.
 
If you can buy enough at once to make the trip worth it then buying in bulk is a great way to go.
As far as ingredients on hand, I'd say you can't go wrong with what you've got listed. I'm fortunate in having a good LHBS very accessible, but I still want to buy at bulk price and keep quantities on hand.

Your Maris Otter is a great base malt, but it does have a distinctive flavor and you might feel a little stuck if you didn't have anything else. If you could manage an extra bag then having Pilsner on hand for lighter beers as well as the MO would give you a lot of good brewing. For myself, I keep a bag of local 2-row (very malty and aromatic for American 2-row) and a bag of German Pilsner.

The Crystal 60 is a good call and I'd consider something like Munich for big malt flavor without as much caramel.

With the hops, the Cascade is a no-brainer and I think you should definitely consider another half pound of a good nobel variety or an American nobel cross or maybe something English to go with that MO. Wilamette would do nicely as an all-around.

If I wanted to stock up for a while, this would be my wish list:

55# 2-row (local)
55# Pilsner

5# Crystal 60
5# Munich
5# Vienna
5# Carapils
1# Pale Chocolate
1# Special Roast

1# Cascade hops
1# Simcoe
1# Tettnanger
.5# Magnum


.
 
I'll second J A on getting a few more specialty malts and/or a few more hops (depending on if you can fit everything into the car)

swapping munich for vienna in a recipe but keeping everything else the same will give you a very different beer. and it keeps you from getting bored brewing similar things :D
 
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Thanks for your suggestions. I was thinking Pilsner wayermann it's 10bucks cheaper per sack but seeing as it's coming into summer larger fermentations are gunna be more of a strain on me little wine fridge to knock down to pitching temps. Ale seems like the resonable choice of styles to aim for. But then there are less hops involved in most lagers I've noticed basically bittered to 20ish ibu with some aroma at 20-10mins.

Maybe I'll go for golden promise being a little less malty as Maris otter.
And I could knock down the amount of crystal malt by getting 120l. Stingy bastard ha ha.
Yep for sure another hop variety I could use magnum to bitter with and cascade for flavour and aroma. Maybe 200g cascade 100g magnum and 100g of Galaxy seeing as he's got whole hop cones of this veriety.

But if I were to go Pilsner malt, Munich malt would be its equivalent and or Vienna then Nobel hops like halletaur/sazz with magnum for bitterness.
 
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Get the Pilsner! I've had extremely good luck doing "steam" lagers in a water bath at 67-70 F. You might be surprised at how good those beers can turn out. I've used S-23 dry yeast for several rounds and for basic lager-style summer beer, it can't be beat. Fast turnaround, too - ready for kegging in less than 4 weeks even without a cold-crash. Get yourself a big box of Minute Rice and brew up batch after batch of adjunct lager for lawnmower beer! ;)

If you can possibly swing it, get the MO and the Pilsner, too. Not much better all-around base malts for just about any beer you want. Use them in various combinations with a little Munich and/or Crystal for Pale Ales and IPAs.

I think you're right on the money with the Magnum hops. If you want the most bang for you buck, even a few ounces of that will do for many, many brews. I don't think I've brew anything for quite a while that didn't use Magnum for bittering... usually in the quarter- to half-ounce range. And your idea of Cascade/Galaxy as go-to flavoring hops is excellent. You might consider rounding out with an ounce or two of a big-alpha pine bomb like Columbus or Chinook. That's a fully stocked hop-pothecary. :)

I'd steer clear of the Crystal 120 exclusively just to be able to use less malt, though. Color is only one consideration. Crystal 40 is nice and sweet with a touch of caramel, 60 is big caramel with a touch of molasses and fruit, 120 starts to be very heavy in flavor with lots of molasses and raisin and maybe a touch of burnt sugar. All excellent flavors to incorporate at different levels in various styles. You'll make much better use of a good quantity of 40 or 60 and maybe a pound of 120 to throw in a few ounces at a time when the style calls for it.
 
I don't think crystal works that way. 2 lbs of c60 isn't the same as 1lb of c120

Otherwise what J A said
 
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I recommend no more than 10% crystal otherwise you will get a beer thats too sweet
 
Which store you buying from ?
I get my grain bills milled and delivered to work for $6.50 AUD ....this way i brew whatever i feel like without keeping bulk grain or even owning a mill ( i'm willing to pay more for the convenience )
Beerbelly here in Adelaide are about $70-75 for the 25 kg bags of Joe White / BB .
MO is a tasty grain , did a SmaSh with it and Chinook a few weeks back but doubt i'd use it brew after brew
hops wise i like variety too much to to stick with a single type brew after brew but Amarillo does get a hiding round my place and Pride of Ringwood for my Coopers clones
 
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jmcnamara said:
I don't think crystal works that way. 2 lbs of c60 isn't the same as 1lb of c120
Click to expand...

That's what I was getting at - jmcnamara said it more succinctly. For a bulk buy get the most of the stuff you'll include in recipes most often (probably 40 or 60). :)
 
I always try to keep my money local !
My favourite pub beer is brewed 5 kms from my house
i have a small Hbs a few km away from my place , rarely visit them since i get fresher products ,better variety and cheaper at my preferred supplier .
Even supermarkets carry basic kits and adjuncts here but not used them in quite a while , handy if i run out of LDM for starters though
 
Right on! I love walking through a supermarket or whatever and thinking "yeah, I could brew with that"

I will be very useful when the zombie apocalypse hits...
 
jmcnamara said:
Right on! I love walking through a supermarket or whatever and thinking "yeah, I could brew with that"

I will be very useful when the zombie apocalypse hits...
Click to expand...
These are the Coopers kit cans mostly , think they export them to the states as well .

Brewers in general seem to be a pretty creative bunch , we'll do fine in a zombie filled world and as long as i have yeast i'll make beer !
 
Mark D Pirate said:
Which store you buying from ?
I get my grain bills milled and delivered to work for $6.50 AUD ....this way i brew whatever i feel like without keeping bulk grain or even owning a mill ( i'm willing to pay more for the convenience )
Beerbelly here in Adelaide are about $70-75 for the 25 kg bags of Joe White / BB .
MO is a tasty grain , did a SmaSh with it and Chinook a few weeks back but doubt i'd use it brew after brew
hops wise i like variety too much to to stick with a single type brew after brew but Amarillo does get a hiding round my place and Pride of Ringwood for my Coopers clones
Click to expand...

National home brew. Maris otter 25 kg bag Thomas Fawcett 70 bucks that's $2.8/kg per kilo.they sell it for about $5.10/kg milled how you like it but then I have to pay around $11 for freight so let's say you have a 5 kilo grain bill of MO you'd be paying 36.50 divide that by 5 gives you $7.3/kg that's why I'm keen to bulk up it saves money in the long run.
All local home brew stores on the coast mostly sell kit and kilo stuff and if they do sell malted barley/wheat its way over priced and only from one maltster Joe White which I'm sad to say is an inferior product when compared to German malts or British Maris Otter.

But JA you have me convinced Pilsner base malt is the way to go I'll give them "steam Lagers" a go with my 34/70 yeast I've saved from my recent Octoberfest brew. Ferment at 18c or lower if I can? I think when it comes down to it you have more for less so to speak with Pilsner compared to Maris otter base malt. I can Brue a Kolsch with all Pilsn or a Vienna larger lith some Vienna malt thrown in or change to Munich malt to mix it up again. So will probably go with a bag of Pilsner malt 25kg wayermann, 2kg Vienna, 2kg Munich 1 or 2 that's wayermann, and maybe some Belgium special B roast malt 500g. For hops 200g Magnum for Bittering and maybe Spalt or Sazz for aroma/flavour see how I feel on the day. As for that extra bag of MO I'll have to consult the CEO of my back Yard Brewery and Boss of All things financial yep the missus ha ha:D.
 
You're gonna love the "lazy lagers"! I've only used S-23 at room temp, but I'll run 34/70 next time I do it. Here are a couple of things for you to look at:
http://brulosophy.com/2016/02/08/fe...ager-yeast-saflager-3470-exbeeriment-results/
http://brulosophy.com/2016/04/18/fe...ager-yeast-saflager-3470-exbeeriment-results/
If you stay at 18C for several days, it should work like a dream. Then let it run up to 20 or 21 to finish out. The S-23 takes a little while to clear at room temp (about 23C for me), but even at 21 days it's clear enough to keg or bottle.

And Ozark's Summer Lager recipe is a good template:
http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/370405/summer-lager
I've brewed that with half the amount of rice because I wanted a little more body in it...also malt is cheaper than flaked rice per lb. :) I've brewed my version of that with 2-row and also with Pilsner...I think I like the Pilsner better. I've also used different hops - Magnum and Hallertau Mittlefrue and a batch with Magnum, Saphir and Hallertau Blanc.

And here's the latest version of my Kolsch...seems to be working well:
http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/356422/kinda-kolsch-ag-5-gallon
I'm a fan of the Tettnanger for Kolsch, but Saaz is king if you want to do a more traditional Pils.

You might consider adding a kilo or two of Carapils to your list. Especially with the adjuncts, that adds a little body and head.
Good luck, man! :)
 
Cheers yep I've pretty much covered every exbeerment brulosopher has come up with especially his quick lager methods that's what got me on to his moctoberfest. Pitch cool ferment till half attenuated then free rise to Finnish. Yet to tast the moctoberfest but when it went into the keg all Sulfur had pretty much disappeared trying to be patient with it and not jump the gun too early and start guzzling it ha ha. Was trying to find Ozarks lager last night found every other one of his recipes so cheers on that I was using key word search in recipes section. Yep my last Kolsch was very similar to yours it's the one in that picture of mine on that table I was chuffed with that one keg went too quick was my first kegged beer to btw and yep it kicks arse, Kegging that is soooo convenient one big vessel to clean and sanitatize and co2 purging lessens the infection risk straight away win win me thinks. That Kolsch was best malZ Kolsch malt, wayermann carapils 10% and 150g accidulated to get ph right in mash. fermented with German ale K97 that yeast has a unique taste I think don't think I'll use it again. To pronounced. That brew never cleared to bright is that yeast more suited to wheat beers? Anyway cheers for your valuable knowledge on the home brew re supply either way I'll be a happy man come the weekend when I'm standing in that home brew shop like a kid in a candy store with his tongue out drooling over all them malty possibilities.
 
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