From Scratch

[Fast_Eddy]

What I really want to try is making my own beer completely from scratch.

Has anyone tried getting raw barley and malting it? If so, how'd it turn out? What process did you use to malt it at home?

Anyone ever tried growing their own hops? Any luck? What part of the country....

This might be kind of unrealistic but I would really like to know if there's any chance I would get good results.

[Dave A]

I've got cascade and nugget in the backyard (NJ), just planted 'em a month ago. Ask me again in 6-8 months and I'll tell ya how it went ;)

[Tweek]

wow, that would be a ton of work. The process of malting barley is a long one. You are definately more motivated than I am.

[BluesHarp]

hops generally don't really take off until the second year; I have cascade and hallertau growing now ( I live in SE Wisconsin). A few years ago, when I lived in MN, I grew some williamette; the second year they covered the entire side of my house (I made a trellis of fishing line for them to grow on). They were on the south side, so they got a lot of sun. The soil there was practically pure sand, which has an acidic PH, they seem to like that.
They work well for flavoring and aroma, but I haven't used mine for bittering; I've read that the alpha content is greatly affected by soil, weather, and nutrients, so it be a bit of a gamble.
There is nothing like taking a ripe hop flower and crushing it between your fingers...the aroma is nearly orgasmic...or is that too much information???:D

[Fast_Eddy]

Dude, what you do with your hops is your business ;)


We have a high PH soil here...hops might not be a good option.

But I would like to trying malting. I've read that it's fairly routinely done in Scandinavia by home brewers (village brewers).

Still more to consider....thx for the input guys

[shughes600]

If you made a lambic you wouldn't need to buy yeast.

[Fast_Eddy]

Yeah...I'm not so sure I want to test what would start spontaneously fermenting around here....it would probably taste like oak trees, mold, and cedar pollen :p

[shughes600]

I had a random thought the other day. If your brewery was contaminated with yeast to such an extent that it was the dominant organism would you minimize your chances of contamination. Or at least minimize the drastic effects of contamination. You could put a bowl of yeast in fornt of your furnace and make sure all the air circulated in the house was laden with yeast.

[Fast_Eddy]

Actually that is the exact thing that the old Belgian breweries depend on with their open fermenters. The old buildings are super infused with the yeast. One brewery, when it wanted to expand, bought the surrounding area around the its brew house and built the new brew house around(in an engulfing sense) the old one to preserve the natural yeast.

Now, I'm not so sure that I'd like to have a yeast infected house. Maybe I could keep it under control and limited to certain areas by using Monistat 7(LOL)

[BluesHarp]

Originally posted by Fast_Eddy
Dude, what you do with your hops is your business


We have a high PH soil here...hops might not be a good option.



:D ....My soil here is a little alkaline as well - one word: Muracid.

give it a try...rhizomes aren't that expensive.