I am doing an upcoming “novelty” brew that will use ingredients from the state of Montana–I have the hops in hand, but am hoping to also find malt…I located some maltsters that malt Montana barley, but have not had success in finding a supplier that specifically sells Montana-grown malt to homebrewers. Anyone know of one? I am looking for ~10-12 pounds (enough for a 5 gallon batch).
Check with Great western. They make a series of state specific malts. Might have one from Montana.
Not a bad thought–I had looked at them early on, but only saw state-specific varietals for Washington and California.
Yeah, it might be a long shot but they’re your best bet I think.
Thanks! Will give it a try…I’m also going to get in touch with some of the Montana-based malt houses to see if I can coax a bit of malt from them.
If all else fails and you can actually go somewhere in Montana, I’m sure you could find a farmer that would fill your 5 or 10 gallon bucket right from the silo for a few bucks. Of course you’d have to malt it yourself, but that could be fun too.
My dad still grows wheat in North Texas, so at some point I’d like to do a wheat beer using his wheat that I’ve malted myself. Unfortunately no hops around there…
It’s not too hard to make malt. It’s a lot harder to make good malt.
I could say the same about beer 
Yeah, I know what you mean. The little I’ve read intimidates me enough that I haven’t done this yet. For a small percentage of wheat in a recipe that’s not “wheat focused” I might do it, but I’m not brave enough to try and make a 50+% wheat malt beer out of something I malted myself.
Could probably find some homebrewers in the area willing to give up some ounces in exchange for a few bottles.
Malteurop in Great Falls is likely your best bet. According to this article Montana is now number #1 in barley acres in the US and the article mentions farmers selling to Malteurop.
Edit: Montana is #1 in barley acres, not malted barley acres. It’s not malted until it gets to Malteurop.
it’s not that hard to make good malt. understanding the process and controlling temp, moisture, and time are really all it takes.
however it is time consuming. check out the craft malters guild http://www.craftmalting.com/author/craft_malt_site/
they might at least have some info about local (to you) malt houses. good luck! it is becoming easier to find. there are two malt houses within a couple hours of me here in VT.
BING! We have a winner. I live in Helena, and highly recommend Malteurop malt. It is a very nice 2-row malt, similar to Simpson’s Golden Promise, in my opinion.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/malteurop-american-2-row-pale-malt
Give the folks at https://www.beernut.com/ a call…they might be able to let you know someone “localy” who could help. They helped me find some Utah folks, and I have a brew-club member from Wyoming who they helped to find Wyoming grains…and Montana is in the “neighborhood”.
Looks like Malteurop malt is the ticket–many thanks for that pointer and the retail link! Based on the description, it’s exactly what I’m looking for on my project.
A lot of Rahr barley is grown in MT as well - I’ve seen the fields!