Barley Planting Time

The ultimate homebrew experiment begins today. I planted barley in my backyard. If all goes well, I'll be making homebrew beer, using only home-grown ingredients, sometime in the winter of 2011.

First of all, it's hard to get small quantities of barley seeds. When you do find them, they usually are not of a variety that is traditionally used for malting. I was able to get a small sample here; it's a 5 gram sample, about 100 seeds. So the idea is that next summer I'll harvest enough seeds to plant next fall, and the following summer I'll have enough to make a batch of beer (and enough left over to plant for the next crop).

Still on the to-do list for this project:

1. Obtain and plant some hop rhizomes.
2. Develop yeast-ranching technique.
3. Get some unmalted barley and practice malting.

I think step 2 may be the most challenging, but it helps that I have a microbiologist in the house. Then again, there are probably more homebrewers who raise yeast than there are who malt their own barley.

The barley I planted is the Klages variety. I'm growing it using biointensive techniques, so I hope a 100 square foot bed will produce enough to make a five gallon batch of beer. If the yields are not what Jeavons leads me to expect, I might need to plant 2 x 100 sq. ft. beds.

I also want to try some Maris Otter, but I think it may not grow so well in this warm climate.

Too bad I'm not playing SCA anymore. They'd eat this stuff up. Of course, someone would be bound to point out that even in the Middle Ages, specialization had progressed to the point that farmer, maltster, and brewer were distinct occupations.

Atlanta

We're in Atlanta -- ok, no, we're in Kennesaw -- preparing for Angela's weight loss surgery which will take place on Wednesday. Yesterday we visited the home brew store over in Alpharetta. I bought all the ingredients for my next batch of beer, and I also bought a temperature controller. The next batch is going to be a number of firsts for me:

1. My first true lager - hence the new temp controller.
2. My first use of specialty grains. I'm going to steep them this time, rather than attempt a true mash.
3. My first beer not made from a Mr. Beer kit.

Tonight we're going to eat at Copeland's, which is as close to real cajun food as I've been in a while.

Mmm, beer!

One of my favorite gifts this past Christmas was a Mr. Beer home brewing kit. I realize that the true homebrewing aficionados will scoff, but I'm really having fun with it. I live in a tiny apartment, and brewing this little two-gallon batches is just so easy. And it looks better in the dining room than a carboy or a five-gallon bucket.

I've just bottled my first batch and I'm looking forward to sampling it. And I've ordered the ingredients for my next batch. I'm going to brew up an Irish Red style beer and enter it in a competition.

Sshhh, don't tell the guys down at the beer club that my brew came from one of these: