I have finally sourced a farmer in NI that farms his own barley. He is going to work with me in getting a locally produced grain to market for home brewers.
He is hoping to collect a new machine for malting this month and I hope to provide the grains for sale from the website as soon as its available.
Can I have some feedback for what you would like to see, the farmer is wanting guidance on what you want from him
1. Types of malted barley?
2. Preference of whole/ crushed or both?
2. Quantity of bags? was thinking 1,5,25kg?
It would be my preference to support this local farmer rather than buy grains in from abroad, are you guys generally of the same opinion? All feed back greatly appreciated
1. Any
2. Whole, there are enough mills in this country, its an extra expense not required as a start-up.
3. 10 and 25Kg
get them to have a listen to this
http://beersmith.com/blog/2013/05/09/malting-barley-for-beer-with-andrea-stanley-beersmith-podcast-59/
Thanks for the feedback guys, podcast is v good i'll forward him the link
Don't have anything to add in addition to Shane and John's comments but have to say that this sounds great! Hope it goes well.
Malting of the Barley needs a hell of a lot more than "a machine"
I'm afraid its an art form
I know I have tried it myself!
Best bet is to have a word with MCI or any other local maltster they can find to have it contract malted (initially)
Then they can experiment with there own maltings
One of my favourite filum quotes:
[Kell's Heroes]
" There you go Moriarty with those negative waves "
Some where there MAY be a small maltster who could work with them!!
@Il Tubo: El Moriatoro couyld be your next handle :D
http://www.independent.ie/business/farming/concern-as-up-to-half-of-malting-barley-fails-test-29511649.html
spotted this in the farming section of the indo
1) Business/Demand wise probably Marris Otter type stuff is his best bet, it's the base of most ales.
2) Depends on the price that that would be provided at. If the saving is enough to encourage me to buy my own mill then there's no problem!
3) 25kg is the one that kills people most on postage
Really hope this all works out for you guys
I remember from a couple of years ago, a group of Seaforde Growers, who were barley growers and looking to develop the malting process due to huge growth/interest in brewing/distilling, but never heard what became of it. Maybe it has progressed? It would be good to send out some positive signals and encourage this further. I regularly buy from England and am fed up paying excessive freight charges!
Lets hope it's up to standard and we are seen to support this micro malt producer as we are to the micro breweries. If they get it right maybe they could produce some unique malt that could help us all make that extra special beer.
1. A good base malt may be talk to some of the breweries to see what they are looking for as im sure he will need at one to make it worth his while
2. Uncrushed with a plan for crushed should enough interest arise down the road
3. for base malts at least 5kg to start with if they develop other grades lower weights for them would be required and it should be applied to the base malt
Lets hope he dose his homework, takes his time and produces some very special malt
Hmmm beer
It's great to hear news of people actually getting interested in the traditional malting business in Ireland.
It is an art form though. Surely if this person is willing to go into it there's not much sense in producing base malt which is so quantity focused considering their operation would be on a relatively small scale.
I'd say taking some time to visit some Scottish distilleries who still practice floor malting would be beneficial.
Then look into a possible niche that could be filled in the market like only producing Victorian style Brown Malt or something like that.
They'd have to come at this like an artisan though. Not just 'local malt for the locals'.
Quality speaks. It could be in demand elsewhere too if it catches on.
Judging by Geterbrewed's recent venture into Wagyu style Beef I'm encouraged that the folks involved will want it done right.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/business-news/farmer-steaks-future-on-cows-fed-with-beer-29527129.html (http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/business-news/farmer-steaks-future-on-cows-fed-with-beer-29527129.html)
Thanks for the feedback guys, currently we are trying to work through a lot of issues. Many have said that the nitrogen content of barley grown in the north isn't going to work, but we won't know until the tests have been done.
We want an artisan product as some have mentioned and we want it to have a unique selling point as well as supporting the local farming community.
When speaking with another barley farmer today about the idea, he stated he had considered sending a large batch of his barley to be malted and returned to him for distribution.
I'll keep you updated as we go, if you have any info that might help don't hesitate to drop us a comment.