I was down at the malting company of Ireland and managed to get some malt rhyzomes. We could maybe start to grow some and produce our own malted barley.
here is another picture,
That just looks like germinated barley
he dries it rolls and smokes it :)
No doubt there will be a write up by Mr Tub, but it took all my strength to stop Tube and Dempsey stripping and jumping in to the silos to do the breast stroke :)
I'm confused...
Why not just plant barley?
Doesn't it produce barley in the first season from seed anyway?
edit: a quick googling says that 20' by 20' will give you about 17lbs of barley. source (http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/growing-barley-wheat-home-115557/). not sure how reliable that is, but wouldn't it make more sense to just ask a farmer for a few sacks of barley?
Ah yeah but - wouldnt it also be great to say you GREW your own beer!!
Imagine it around the table
Guest: "Spuds are nice!"
Me: "Yeah grew them out the back there, along with the carrots the peas n the onions"
Guest: "Fair play... Jaysus that beer is nice!"
Me: "Yeay i grew that too, that yellow area is barley and that beanstalk is hops!!"
Guest: "Thats great... And the burgers, amazing!"
Me: "See the empty stables out there..."
TBH - Im still not sure whether someone is pulling my leg or not.
So what? Dempsey gives me a load of "rhizomes" (after he answers my pm of course) and i walk around dropping them and i end up with a field full of barley?
Then I have to contend with the random output i will get when attempting to malt them.
To echo previous posts - what's so special about them? Is there a hen layng golden eggs at the top?
Surely theyre just seeds that can be got anywhere - either way id be interested, but it seems like a lot of work (and space needed) for the output, id have to send them to school down the country - the main thing to take from it, for me, is just the accolade of growing your own beer.
Hmm..
I guess were not as thick as we look! :)
In all fairness, if you were to get some malt tap roots I'd be up for a few.
Edit:
Sorry Jimmy ;D
Well you have heard of jack and the beanstalk,his was magic.