Ok, I know there’s no season for some of us, its year round. But just like getting all excited about back to school supplies, I’ve been making a big run in the fall to get ready for the big Fall/Winter push. I thought maybe others would enjoy bragging about their new pencils and trapper-keepers.
Today I gathered up enough to get me through February.
55 lbs of Simpson Golden Promise
55 lbs of Best Pils
25 lbs each of Best Munich light and dark and Vienna
25 lbs of Wyermann Red X
A half pound of German Hallertau Mittelfruh
Oh and some extra light DME
I still have enough specialty grains and 2014 pellets to get me through.
Looking forward to some APA, Stouts, Scottish, Helles, Dunkels, and maybe even a pils or two
Thanks for reminding me that I’m not brewing enough Jim. I am sitting on over 250# malt and over 16# hops. I ordered in bulk at the beginning of the year for everything I planned on brewing this year. Most of that got done, but I also improvised on several batches and wound up re-ordering pilsner and 2 row, and wound up with a mis pick for a sack of Rahr pale ale malt. i guess I am all set for the next 6 months except for yeast. Stopping at the LHBS for yeast regularly allows me to drool over all the gadgets I want…
edit: the malt is various amounts of Weyerman Munich I&II, Crisp Maris Otter, Rahr 2 Row, Rahr Pale Ale, Avangard Pilsner and assorted specialty malts(less than 20# likely)
Ya definitely yeast on a just-in-time basis for me. The owner/operator of my LHBS has a buddy at Wyeast. So I email my yeast order and when I pick it up its never more than a week old (not counting random stuff I see and buy, or bugs)
Marshalls hops article was timely, or I woukd have bought more. Ive got a half pound each in my freezer of Simcoe, Cascade, Centennial, Mosaic, Magnum, and EKG. So I’m set
Makes me feel like an underachiever… I’m sitting on 5 sacks, but this is the brewing season. I’m also glad to read that the hops in my freezer from 2012 and 2013 are still fine. Plus with cooler temps around the corner yeast by mail is back.
I had the wife pick up my latest order - 55 pounds of Vienna, 55 of 2 row, 55 of Maris Otter; that couples with about 40 pounds on hand of Avengard Pilsner, 10 pounds of Munich and a bunch of other crystal malts, roast malts and adjuncts (flaked maize, rye, flaked wheat, wheat malt and flaked Barley). Hops are all over the place - pound (or what’s left of a pound) of Magnum, EKG, Fuggles, Hallertauer, Tettnanger, Saaz and Willamette. Should be able to do something with that and supplement it with specialty malts and hops. Likely going to go with some of the Pure Pitch strains as they come out.
Holy crap you guys make my recent haul look like a joke. Fall/winter is my time for brewing and i just mapped out and bought enough grain for the next 5 brews. I think i came in around 70 lbs total including the specialty grains. Just curious where are you buying from in that kind of bulk LHBS? Rite brew for me is reasonable as he isn’t to far and he offers spee dee express which is a reasonable delivery service.
My LHBS loads it up in my wife’s SUV and I take it out. So my wife obliges me by driving there and back while in the vicinity…
Not that she couldn’t literally pick it up if pressed into service - she is pretty strong and moves a lot of garden materials around.
My stock up should last me quite a while for the base grains.
I won’t stock up again until spring when the club makes a bulk order for import malts. I have plenty to get me through the winter. Not sure what quantities I have left, but I have Best Vienna, Munich, Pils, Best Heidelberg, Great Western 2-row, and a little Best weizen malz.
The Pilsner is almost gone and will use Heidelberg for my base malt in lagers next. It’s a nice malt, a tad lighter in flavor and color than Pils. My favorite malt this year I think has been the Best Vienna. Such good stuff…
We always keep sacks of malt around, usually Best Pils, Best Munich, Best Dark Munich, Dingemanns Pilsner, a Maris Otter (this time it’s TF), and a wild card malt (sometimes 2-row). Hops are always around too. Yeast is the only thing I don’t stock year round.
For stock ups this winter, I’m going hard on mead and cider and leaving Myles to do the brewing outside in the cold if he wants to. Picking up 3 gallons of honey this weekend while judging the Sower’s Cup in Lincoln. I also grabbed 15 gallons of raw cider from a local mill on Saturday. That was made into a cyser, a table cider, and I’m freezing about 6 gallons of it to make an ice cider. Pretty stoked. 8)
I usually hit the black Friday/cyber Monday deals to stock up on grain. I’ve been carrying forward a surplus of specialty grains so last year I just picked up a sack of pale malt and a bucket of raw wheat. This year I have so much I’ll probably just need to get some pils malt for my lambic solera refill in December and a few saisons for next year.
I’ll also pick up some hops at the same time. Farmhouse Brewing Supply tends to mark down its four ounce packs that weekend. They stock lots of interesting European varieties that get marked down because they aren’t popular hops. I’ll pick them up and blend them into saisons and pale lagers.
I’m still working on what I grabbed in the clubs spring bulk buy. I’ve got the better part of a sack of 2row, a half sack of pilsner, a quarter sack of marris otter, a fifth sack of raw wheat and a half sack of flaked corn. Oh, and a couple of boxes of Minute Rice :o
I’m in good shape on 2 row, pils and light Munich. Need to stock back up on specialty malts soon, though. Now hops, there’s always the fine line between ‘enough’ and just too damn many. My wife tends to think the latter.
I didn’t get to brew as much as I’d like last year, so I still have half a sack of Pils malt I need to kick. I do plan on some experimentation this fall/winter so my most relevant pickups are:
3lb each:
Golden Promise
Pearl
Optic
Halcyon
10lb of Schill Kolsch malt (planning on trying in a Helles or two)
My only relevany hop purchace so far was a few ounces of HBC 438 (aka Ron Mexico). I wasn’t at NHC, but I hear good things and want to taste-test
I didn’t get a chance to brew all summer so I have my local maltster (Valley Malt) CSA that I got in June to use this fall: 50# 2 row, 5# each munich and Vienna, and 1# each of danko rye and wheat. And lots of specialties.
