[CB-Illinois]

Hi all,

Got a question for you.  I am new to all grain brewing and an trying to approach this very scientificly.  Today I purchased 9 types of 2-row and 6-row base malted barley and made teas out of 2 oz of each to test each type of grain the way Denny described in a Zymergy article a few months back.  I made notes and will be posting them Monday.

I am also reading Greg Noonan's New Brewing Lager Beer and am also trying to teach myself to look at malted barley and judge if it is well suited for making beer.  I have 4 types of Rohr 6 row and 2 row barley and the endosperm is white and kind of hard.  Noonan says tha thard greyish white malt isnot suited for brewing, is that what I am seeing.  Anyone else taken a look at Rohr malt and decided if the malts are usually mealy or glassy?

Thanks for your help!

[tubercle]

The Tubercle just brews and enjoys life.

No time for such thoughts.

Good luck in your endevors.

[Kaiser]

Do you mean Rahr malt?

How long is the acrospire compared to the length of the kernel? You may have to steep the uncrushed malt to see the acrospire.

Kai

[hopfenundmalz]

This may or may not help. Noonan again.

http://morebeer.com/brewingtechniques/bmg/noonan.html

[nateo]

Definitely read the link Jeff posted. I don't wanna sound like I'm bashing Rahr or anything. I'm sure a lot of people (and many pros) use Rahr to make good beer.

That said, I used to buy a lot of Rahr pils malt because it's the least expensive base malt at my LHBS. I've since switched to Weyermann pils and Simpsons Golden Promise for my base malts. The friability is outstanding, they crush well without shredding husks, and I've noticed increased efficiency in my mash and improved flavor in my beer.

There are a lot of different maltsters out there, and some may be better than others, depending on the kind of beer you want to make.

[CB-Illinois]

Definitely read the link Jeff posted. I don't wanna sound like I'm bashing Rahr or anything. I'm sure a lot of people (and many pros) use Rahr to make good beer.

That said, I used to buy a lot of Rahr pils malt because it's the least expensive base malt at my LHBS. I've since switched to Weyermann pils and Simpsons Golden Promise for my base malts. The friability is outstanding, they crush well without shredding husks, and I've noticed increased efficiency in my mash and improved flavor in my beer.

There are a lot of different maltsters out there, and some may be better than others, depending on the kind of beer you want to make.

Interesting that you say that...I made a tea out of Weyermann pils malt and thought it was GREAT!  I have now made teas out of 7 malts and the Weyermann pils was the best!  I have a couple more to go tomorrow.  I will let everyone know what I think of the Belgin malts tomorrow.
Kia, you are right;  I do mean malt. Still getting used to all the correct terminology.

The acrosprears were all lengths for the Rohr malts.  Some long (as long as the kernal) and some very short (no-where near as long as the kernals).

Thanks for the link and great advice!

[ukolowiczd]

Not sure what you're getting from malt teas. Are you tasting them? How are you quantifying them? My suggestion is like someone said in this post - go make a lot of beer and figure it out from there.

[CB-Illinois]

yup, after making the tea I taste them to see what types of flavors the malt will contribute to the wort.

[denny]

Hi all,

Got a question for you.  I am new to all grain brewing and an trying to approach this very scientificly.  Today I purchased 9 types of 2-row and 6-row base malted barley and made teas out of 2 oz of each to test each type of grain the way Denny described in a Zymergy article a few months back.  I made notes and will be posting them Monday.

I am also reading Greg Noonan's New Brewing Lager Beer and am also trying to teach myself to look at malted barley and judge if it is well suited for making beer.  I have 4 types of Rohr 6 row and 2 row barley and the endosperm is white and kind of hard.  Noonan says tha thard greyish white malt isnot suited for brewing, is that what I am seeing.  Anyone else taken a look at Rohr malt and decided if the malts are usually mealy or glassy?

Thanks for your help!

I don't look at it, I brew it and assess the results.  No matter what the color of the endosperm is, I find Rahr 2 row pale malt to be my favorite out of all the domestic pale malts I've used.

[lazydog79]

I don't look at it, I brew it and assess the results.  No matter what the color of the endosperm is, I find Rahr 2 row pale malt to be my favorite out of all the domestic pale malts I've used.

I'm a big fan of Rahr too.  I just bought a bunch of Briess Pale Ale Malt from NB to see how I like it.

[denny]

I'll be curious to hear what you think.  I haven't tried that particular malt from them.

[lazydog79]

I'll be curious to hear what you think.  I haven't tried that particular malt from them.

I'll let you know.  The first batch with it was brewed yesterday.  NB's description of "a fuller and nuttier taste" intrigued me.  I'm using it in a few darker beers - amber, stout.  I brewed a Weeping Radish Black Radish clone with it yesterday.  I love the clean flavor of Rahr in my lighter brews, but was shopping for a bit more character.  I'll keep you posted.

[denny]

Thanks!  I have yet to find a Briess base malt I care for.  Maybe this will be the first!

[nateo]

The only Rahr malt I've tried has been the pils. I can't comment on their pale malt.

[AmandaK]

The only Rahr malt I've tried has been the pils. I can't comment on their pale malt.

I use Rahr 2-row as a base in most of my American Pales. It's quite clean, so I augment that with specialty malts when I want to. (I use 3 lb Munich & 9 lb Rahr 2-row in my APA to help it out a bit.)