Sourcing grains..fair price?

[MickDundee]

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TLDR; Maris Otter is overrated imho.

Agreed. Not worth the extra cost anyway. I’ve only ever had 2 brews that refused to clear (and I’m talking after months and months) - also happened to be the only times I’ve used MO!

 

[Gunge]

Agreed. Not worth the extra cost anyway. I’ve only ever had 2 brews that refused to clear (and I’m talking after months and months) - also happened to be the only times I’ve used MO!

Something I've noticed too... all brews made with said malt have a faint, but definite haze. Never happened with the Hook Head stuff - starbright every time and a fuller flavour.

 

[strange-steve]

Something I've noticed too... all brews made with said malt have a faint, but definite haze. Never happened with the Hook Head stuff - starbright every time and a fuller flavour.

I agree MO isn't worth the extra cost. Best save your money, a quality pint aint cheap these days

 

[MyQul]

Ach, oh well never mind, I'll know for next time... Will just have to store it in an air tight bucket for now, maybe throw in a hand warmer or something between brews.

Just buy a load of zip lock bags and put it in there. Thats what I did. HBC dont use Parcel Farce they tey use DPD so you get a text on the morning of delivery telling you what hour they'll deliver it

 

[MickDundee]

Just buy a load of zip lock bags and put it in there. Thats what I did. HBC dont use Parcel Farce they tey use DPD so you get a text on the morning of delivery telling you what hour they'll deliver it

This might have just persuaded me to try HBC next time. I’ve had too many 50 mile round trips to their Perth depot because they don’t have one in Dundee. I now get GEB to write “don’t send back to Perth depot - leave in kids playhouse in garden” so that they don’t do that!

 

[MyQul]

This might have just persuaded me to try HBC next time. I’ve had too many 50 mile round trips to their Perth depot because they don’t have one in Dundee. I now get GEB to write “don’t send back to Perth depot - leave in kids playhouse in garden” so that they don’t do that!

You can track your parcel. I think there's a little online map and you can watch as the delivery driver gets closer to your house

 

[Keats]

I only use HBC now. Usually deliver in two working days and the DPD tracking works well. As said above the Hook Head malt is really good although I got a sack of their propino a couple of weeks ago to compare. Any one tried it?

 

[AdeDunn]

I've got the Your DPD app on my phone, so can track it on there, so excellent news that.

Hmmm, I'd see if I could talk my wife into vacuum sealing it into portions, but I don't think she'd be keen on the idea... lol

As to MO and haze, that explains a LOT! I was wondering why I couldn't get my beers brewed with it as clear as ones brewed with the Dingemans Pilsen. I've been struggling to try to figure out what I was doing wrong..... I wonder if it's not quite as well modified, and needs a protein rest or something to clear better? It was Crisp Maris otter I had, so not floor malted or anything. I also found that it had to pronounced a malty flavour for some beers (eg. my attempt to clone Banks's Bitter, where the nutty flavour from the MO combined with the coffee hints from the black malt horribly, and outright ruined the beer, I should have cold steeped the black malt or ignored the recipe and used crystal. Or just not darkened the colour at all, as it just didn't need it to taste right.).

 

[Oneflewover]

I only use HBC now. Usually deliver in two working days and the DPD tracking works well. As said above the Hook Head malt is really good although I got a sack of their propino a couple of weeks ago to compare. Any one tried it?

I'm using the propino extra pale from HBC at the moment. Figured it could be used for a range of styles. I like it. Just noticed it's £18 at the moment from HBC (whom I also recommend by the way)

 

[Gunge]

I agree MO isn't worth the extra cost. Best save your money, a quality pint aint cheap these days

Ha! I see what you did there, with a nod toward the £22 a pint fiasco. Just shows tho' that paying thru' the nose for something is far from a quality guarantee.

 

[Clint]

With DPD it also tells you the driver's name so when he turns up you can shout down your drive .."alright Dave",or whatever his name is. I often get the "he's a nutter" stare...

 

[TomR]

Slightly different question. I've ordered malt etc from HBC last night but couldn't find crystal malt on the website. Does it come under different names?

 

[Clint]

Look under grains,crushed, caramel malts.

 

[AdeDunn]

Ha! I see what you did there, with a nod toward the £22 a pint fiasco. Just shows tho' that paying thru' the nose for something is far from a quality guarantee.

Sad but true... I fell for all the US "Maris Otter is best" bumph last time around, this time around I was going to try the clear choice stuff and take a hit to my efficiency in the quest for clearer beer, then saw how much cheaper the malt on HBC is... lol

Slightly different question. I've ordered malt etc from HBC last night but couldn't find crystal malt on the website. Does it come under different names?

Did you look in the caramel malts section? Crystal malt is just one type of caramel malt (an English type at that). There are quite a few varieties of crystal in there.

 

[TomR]

Oh thanks for that

 

[AdeDunn]

Look under grains,crushed, caramel malts.

Apparently I took 2 minutes to answer, without noticing that you already had. Doh! lol Oh well.

 

[TomR]

This is a great forum. I've only been on a few days and already got loads of great advice

 

[Gunge]

With DPD it also tells you the driver's name so when he turns up you can shout down your drive .."alright Dave",or whatever his name is. I often get the "he's a nutter" stare...

I stalk them on the app, right up to the point where 'Daz' is about to knock on the door whilst manhandling this 30Kg package, at which point I yank the door open so he collapses in a heap in the hallway. All good fun!

 

[Hoppyland]

For the past year I've been using Crisp Clear Choice Ale malt from the Malt Miller. Not the cheapest, but I've been very pleased with the result - both for clarity and flavour.

 

[MickDundee]

For the past year I've been using Crisp Clear Choice Ale malt from the Malt Miller. Not the cheapest, but I've been very pleased with the result - both for clarity and flavour.

It is one of the cheapest on Geterbrewed - £21.58 for 25kg (https://www.geterbrewed.com/crisp-clear-choice-ale-malt-ebc-4.5-6.5/) compared to £32 on MM (https://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/product/crisp-clear-choice-ale-malt-25kg-sack-2/)