Grains

Homebrewing Grain and Malted Barley

The Grape and Granary offers a GREAT selection of malted barley or grains for homebrewing. No matter what kind of malted barley you are looking for,  you’ve come to the right place to find them.

The Grape and Granary stocks Base Malts (Pale Ale Malt, Pilsner malt, Two Row Brewers malt), Toasted malts (Munich malt and Vienna malt), Caramel malts (crystal or caramel malts), Roasted Malts (like chocolate or roasted barley), Adjucts (like corn and rice), Wheat and Rye malts (for wheat and rye style beers) and Smoked Malts (for smoked style beers like Rauchbier).

Base malts are where the bulk of the fermentable sugars will come from. Pilsner malt, Pale ale malt or the generic 'Two Row Brewers Malt' are the workhorse of all-grain recipies. Grape and Granary stocks a number of Pilsner and Pale Ale malts from Germany, Belgium, the United States,  Ireland, the Czech Republic and the UK (England). We at the Grape and Granary prefer to choose our base malt based on the style of beer we are brewing and the country that beer is brewed in. Thus, we recommend using Pale Ale malt from England to produce the best English syle Pale Ales or a Pilsner malt from the Czech republic to make the best Czech Pilsner beer.

Toasted malts are used as a base malt for Oktoberfest and Vienna style lager beers. They will impart the reddish color and toasted flavors that create the distictive flavors found in those beer styles. In other styles of beer, toasted malts are used in smaller quantities to add things like a 'toasty,' 'bready' or 'doughy' note.  

Roasted or Dark malts are used in even smaller quantities in beer brewing to add special flavors and aromas and to add color to the beer. A great example of this is using 12 ounces of roasted barley to make a five gallon batch of Irish stout or using 8 oz of chocolate malt to give a toasty, nutty flavor to an English Brown Ale.

Caramel or Crystal malts are added in small amounts to add the typical caramel flavor you can notice in a Pale Ale or India Pale Ale (IPA). Adding Special 'B' malt to a Belgian style Dubel will give the requisite 'raisiny' flavor. They are also used to increaase the body and head retention of a beer.

Adjucts like flaked rice or flaked corn (maize) are used to lighten the flavor and heaviness of a beer without decreasing the alcohol content. A great example of this is American Style Pilsner beers (Bud, Coors etc..). Flaked barley is used in beer to increase body and head retention of a beer (e.g. stouts).

Smoked malts are used in producing the obvious smoked character in some beer styles. Using beech smoked Rauch malt is the smoked barley malt needed to make the traditional Bamberg German Rauchbier or smoked beer. Adding a touch of peat smoked malt (1-2 oz per 5 gallons of beer) can add an interesting note to a Scottish Ale recipe. 

Wheat and Rye Malts are obviously used to make wheat and rye style beers. Malted wheat is used at the ratio of about 50% of the grist when making traditional German or American style wheat beers or Hefeweissen style beers. Rye malt in small quantities can add an interested spicy note to a Rye IPA recipe . Rye is used in greater proportions when making a German style 'Roggen' beer. 

Regardless of the style of beer your are making (or maybe you are creating your own recipe), you will find what you are looking for at the Grape and Granary.

*Note: Base malts are not needed when brewing with malt extact brewing kits. The bulk of the fermentable sugars will come from the malt extract.  When doing malt extact brewing process, the specialty grains will impart the colors and flavors of the brew when they are steeped in the brewing water (like making tea) prior to the boil.

Contact us if you have any questions regarding any of our malted barley or grains for homebrewing.