SMASH IT

[GPA]

I am looking to start exbeeramenting any pro and cons , good or bad mistakes would be helpful
One of my first questions would be , Does diastatic power need to be very high since i am only dealing with 1 type of grain? The reason I ask is mainly the ones I want for color and flavor are in the low end of the scale

 

[Nosybear]

Munich light (around 20 SRM or lower), otherwise the malt won't convert itself .

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

grains that have more flavor but are a good base malt, Vienna, Munich, red x, pale ale , anything floor malted or Belgian is good
I would stick to simple and chose Vienna

 

[jmcnamara]

Maris otter and Amarillo was my first actual smash and it was good. I had done some small batches that were technically ones, but those were more to see a particular malt or hop, so I either kept the malt or hop bill plain.
Not really smash, but I did a 50/50 vienna 2row with Nelson savings. really good

 

[Mark D Pirate]

Golden promise worked very well in my latest SmaSh
Marris worked a treat
Vienna is on the to do list
i have used a few local aussie malts for a smash but they were not as good
basically a generic 2 - row for tasteless mega swill commercial brews

 

[GFHomebrew]

That'd be barret bursons aye? I've done all golden promise once but I think I used two hops so not exactly a smash but it was a fine brew. Yep the golden promise title really grabbed me plus it was cheaper per kg than MO it was pretty golden but leading to more Amber. Don't mash high with this has been my one and only experience with this malt as it will convert sweet and my attenuation suffered at 1.020. (Maybe that's the sweet I tasted)

Your gunna have a lot of fun with these GPA.

 

[Mark D Pirate]

Joe Whites / BB are same company
i got lower conversion , less body and flavour with the JW traditional ale malt than i wanted but it was never meant to be a stand alone hero malt , it's ok when you're adding extra crystal or spec malts

 

[GPA]

Thanks everyone you guys sure are very helpful ,it'll be either Munich or MO I'll let my nose decide at the LHBS ,they have little containers they let you grab a few kernels and smell, taste ,next decision is yeast and hops . Also made a neat excell calculator that calculates grain bill quantities , uses info like grain og potential, starch conversion potential and few other things, I found a blog about how to figure it out and built a spreadsheet a little glitchey right now on my phone , gonna fix it at work when I get a minute.
There's probably something like it online lol ,but I haven't found it and I build so many spreadsheets only took a minute. I'll share it when I fix it if anyone wants it .

 

[jmcnamara]

I love taking a little sample of the grains whenever I go to the store.
Side note, there's another store a little bit further away that is really hands off for their customers. you have to mark on a sheet what you want and the employee goes to get it. supposedly this saves time because they saw people look confused and lost trying to find things. really turned me off to going back to them

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

there's another store a little bit further away that is really hands off for their customers. you have to mark on a sheet what you want and the employee goes to get it

thats what I love about mine they'll go full service in what ever you want, all in one bag, separated out, crushed or not, they do it for you while you look around and spend too much on gadgets lol

 

[jmcnamara]

But do you have the option to do it yourself?
Not a knock on online stores or ordering, but if I wanted that I would order online. and save a few bucks too
It's a little silly, I know I'm not in the field or on the malting floor, but it makes me feel a little closer to the ingredients by physically picking out my own

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

no and I like the idea that my grain is sealed in a container with no hands on it so it stays fresher for the next time

 

[Thurston Brewer]

they have little containers they let you grab a few kernels and smell, taste

Good on ya, mate. Always look at and break open the kernels, smell and taste. They all taste mostly the same at first, but you learn to pick up the subtleties as you go along.

For my first return brew I went with a German Pilsner malt even though I was making a British style Porter. The simple base malt they had just didn't look malty and the kernels were skinny and too hard. Last time I went in there they had a new batch and the kernels looked and tasted much better. I'm glad I took the time to look or I would have brewed with inferior malt without knowing it.

 

[Thurston Brewer]

But do you have the option to do it yourself?
Not a knock on online stores or ordering, but if I wanted that I would order online. and save a few bucks too
It's a little silly, I know I'm not in the field or on the malting floor, but it makes me feel a little closer to the ingredients by physically picking out my own

Any craftsman wants to select their own materials, right?

 

[GPA]

Any craftsman wants to select their own materials, right?

Absolutely!!

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

yes you should always taste that grain mostly for freshness, the lights and air will dry that grain out in a hurry making it useless for sugar conversion, never buy shiny grain, its usually hard as a rock.

Im kind of different buyer than most because i buy in bulk and store it here and stock as many as 30 different grains 5 pounds each at a time so i get it strait from the barrel and know what it taste like right before I brew

 

[Thurston Brewer]

yes you should always taste that grain mostly for freshness, the lights and air will dry that grain out in a hurry making it useless for sugar conversion, never buy shiny grain, its usually hard as a rock.

Im kind of different buyer than most because i buy in bulk and store it here and stock as many as 30 different grains 5 pounds each at a time so i get it strait from the barrel and know what it taste like right before I brew

Lucky dog! Wish I had the room for that...

BTW, I notice you've got an Irish Red coming up. Care to share the recipe you're using?

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

I have several red ale recipes and Im debating which one to brew, I is an authentic irish style and the others are a combination of pale ale and red ale,

traditional
http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/111961/irish-red-ale

http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/412289/ozarks-irish-red-ale

this is what Im thinking about
http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/413945/ozarks-hoppin-red-ale

if you look at my latest recipes, there always on the bottom of the page before the brew logs

http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/brewer/5889/ozarks-mountain-brew

 

[Mark D Pirate]

my preferred LHBS won't even let me out the back to see the grain storage area , yet to get sub par malt from them though and
mostly it gets delivered to me at work .
no problems with advice or helping me tweak a grain bill

 

[GFHomebrew]

My one up Harvey bay got me to even find the grains I was buying chew on em give advise about different malts and milled em right there in front of me I couldn't be happier people travel from over half the country to hit this home brew store so I consider myself one lucky man living soo close.