Grain

[Tom]

Hi I am new to brewing and have only done two wines and one mr beer kit.

The mr beer kit was a gift and was not very good. It tasted like a weak labatts blue.

I want to make a stronger tasting beer with a hoppy flavour. I found a large bag of pot barley in my wife's cooking supplies.

Can I use pot barley from the bulk barn to make beer? Do I just steep it or malt it?

Another thing what stores carry beer making ingredients an supplies in southern Ontario?

Thanks for any info!

[oro]

your best to use beer grains that are available at allot of dealers especially in the south, there is some equipment and knowledge for all grain brewing but we can help with some advice, there is also other options like Festa Brews to start out with minimal equipment and produce some great beers.

[Tom]

So the pot barley wont work?

[Mr_Tastyfish]

Pot barley will not work the same way as barley malt. It does not have the necessary enzymes required to convert the starches into fermentable sugars. If you're interested in all-grain brewing, I'd highly recommend reading John Palmer's "How to Brew". You can pick it up at your local bookstore, or read the online version at http://www.howtobrew.com/
Of course, there are lots of folks around here who are willing to help you out as well.

[tekknofobia2]

if you wanna buy grain,hops and other beer related goodies at half price join the Toronto brewing club. When I say Toronto I mean anywhere in Ontario. We have bulk buys for grain twice a year and hops once a year, beer glasses and other merchandise once in a while. We had a grain bulk buy last week and 81 members participated. That gives us a lot of buying power and it drives the price down. For example I payed $1.09 per pound on the floor malted maris otter from crisp. If I was to buy it in the store it would cost me $2.99 lb. Even if you live far it is still worth the drive to get the grain on the pick up day. Sometimes you get lucky and somebody else lives in your area and you can pitch in for gas or alternate for the pick days and you do it once and he does next pick up and on top of that you meet other brewers in your area. It's a win win situation for everyone. Anyways here's the link if you want in. You can see the previous bulk buys records and see the pricing.

https://www.gtabrews.ca/

Cheers