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Looking at the prices of various grains, I see that there is a significant difference between (say) the Joe White Maltings product and that of Powells.

I figure that using Powells Traditional Ale for the base malt and paying a little bit extra for JWM or Weyerman specialty/flavour grains is a sensible spend.

What has been your experience with different grain brands? What justifies the extra spend on expensive base malts?

I've only bought 1 lot of 30kg of IMC Ale Malt from http://www.nnlbeersupplies.com.au only cost me 1.60 a kilo

I'm not sure of the distinction - but I'd imagine if trying to clone particular styles certain malts would be better suited than others hence the premium

Cheers

I have never used powells but have read that the efficiency is a little lower, you might just need to add a little extra to compensate.

AC

I've never tried Powells but like AC mentions I've heard that it's not as well modified as some other brands. Not that this is a big problem - just use more grain. It's cheap enough

My personal preference is to keep my specialty grains as low as possible & use a fuller tasing base malt. (Depending on styles of course)

I find JW Trad ale to be a little to thin for my liking & prefer to shell out a few extra $'s & go for a Bairds malt like Maris Otter or similar. I find they have a rounder, sweeter, fuller character than JW (which cannot be replicated by just chucking in more Crystal). IMO I prefer not to skimp on the base malt (as it makes up the majority of your bill).

Having said that I would love to give the Powells ale malt a try. I believe it's floor malted & would be interested to compare it to JW.

Cheers, all.

I think that I will minimise my spend for the first couple of batches while I find my AG feet and as Chris suggests, use a bit more.

I've read of others producing 'award winning' beers with Powells' malt - perhaps I will too! *cough*

I've just bought my grain stocks for 07 and got some powells,some joe white which I mostly use, and some weyermann.
I'll do identical brews and soon I'll know whether its worth spending more.
I dont mind if it taste better

In the end (for this batch) I did a complete about-face and bought some JWM. I don't want to spend too much on my first batch in case I botch it up, but neither do I want to botch it because I spent too little.

I think I have a good grain bill now. All I have to do is get the method, hop bill and fermentation right...

could i sub jw ale malt for marisotter to make a LCPA clone attempt? cheers

Dont see why not, as far as i know marris otter is better anyway isnt it, some recipes are very specific with brand names but i would think it would be fine

beerdrinker wrote:could i sub jw ale malt for marisotter to make a LCPA clone attempt? cheers

Yep, sure can...in fact some would argue that JW Pale ale malt is a better choice than MO, which is a slightly darker ale malt that typically provides a fuller richer beer - which is excellent for English bitters etc, but not a perfect choice for a clean crisp APA.

We are very lucky to have a good range of malts to choose from - it wasn't all that long ago that all grain beers, both ales and lagers, were made from one type of barley malt! There's a number of factors that determine the quality of malted barley - and price isn't necessarily one of them. If you want to check out more on the composition of barley malts, you might want to have a read of this article by Greg Noonan:
http://brewingtechniques.com/bmg/noonan.html
Cheers,
TL

I have used JW, MO, and Powells products:
Powells is indeed a floor maltings. If you're ever in Romsey pay Grant a visit.
Powells ale has more flavour than JW and a bit more colour. If you want more richness, use the vienna (Holgate does!) or Munich. Their Caramalt is biscuity but not as richly coloured or sweet as a crystal 135 say.
They also have a melanoidin which adds the nice red colour to a bitter, but isn't as sweet as trad crystal/cara's. They also do wheat malts sometimes (They are rather small so you have to purchase what you can at the door)
And the price differential is a lot! For me, even better, as I live about 10 km from the maltings, so I get 50kg for about 75-80$.
But to heck with price, and efficiency. You are going to quibble about a buck or two per 23 litre batch??? Get what you like.
So far, I vote for Powells for flavour, particularly if you use vienna malt. Bril!

I've used IMC Ale Malt and JW Pilsner and both have been good

The IMC probably more so

Cheers

Since i started AG i have pretty much used JWM for all my base malts, mostly the export pilsner and traditional ale, then i use mostly weyermann for most of my specialty malts and also some are JWM, i am really happy with the results but in saying that i cant compare to the likes of powells and marris otter cos i am yet to use them but as i said i am happy with the results so far

beernut wrote:I've just bought my grain stocks for 07 and got some powells,some joe white which I mostly use, and some weyermann.
I'll do identical brews and soon I'll know whether its worth spending more.
I dont mind if it taste better

Apologies for quoting an old post, but I thought I'd make a quick comment on buying grain. Yes, you can save a tidy sum by buying grain by the sackful, as I do - but I only buy what I'm going to use in the short term. Unless you go through sacks of the stuff, I'd suggest you buy a bag to get you through the next few weeks or months and not buy another bag until you get close to using it. Why? Well freshness is the key to making excellent all grain beer and would you prefer to make your beers for the end of this year with a bag of malt you purchased back in February or one you bought from the HBS or co-op only a week or two before brewday?
I used to go berserk and do an annual monster order of grains and hops and now I do the exact opposite - buy to suit the next couple of months of brewing to ensure that I'm using the freshest possible ingredients.

Cheers,
TL

I did my specialty grains for the year because of the rising malt price and the poorer quality coming into Canada from the imported malts due to crop failures in Europe.

My 2 row base malt is Prairie Malt malted here through Gilbertson and Page who are just up the street. As Canadian Barley had a good year last year, I am still OK from that point.

I agree with Trough Lolly though for the most part. Always try to get the best bang for your buck and fresher is often better.

I get good milage from my grains and have kept them for 6 months now, crushed

Dogger