John E Miller Posted January 18, 2021 Share Posted January 18, 2021 Anyone know what this is? I went to check out the compost pile at my old house and found these dry heads of grain. Would it be barley? I used to chuck my spent grains in there, but I thought the malting and brewing process would surely kill it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classic Brewing Co Posted January 18, 2021 Share Posted January 18, 2021 Looks like Barley to me - compare it with this, I could be wrong though ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John E Miller Posted January 18, 2021 Author Share Posted January 18, 2021 I might have to malt it and brew a small batch out of it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamiek86 Posted January 18, 2021 Share Posted January 18, 2021 8 hours ago, John E Miller said: Anyone know what this is? I went to check out the compost pile at my old house and found these dry heads of grain. Would it be barley? I used to chuck my spent grains in there, but I thought the malting and brewing process would surely kill it. heaps on native grasses including kangaroo grass look like this probably be certain before starting a brew day 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classic Brewing Co Posted January 18, 2021 Share Posted January 18, 2021 You could end up making happy beer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pickles Jones Posted January 18, 2021 Share Posted January 18, 2021 9 hours ago, John E Miller said: Anyone know what this is? I went to check out the compost pile at my old house and found these dry heads of grain. Would it be barley? I used to chuck my spent grains in there, but I thought the malting and brewing process would surely kill it. Looks nearly like two row barley. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thirsty Jim Posted January 18, 2021 Share Posted January 18, 2021 Rye and barley are hard to tell apart (and they cross breed too just to make things tricky) but the surefire way of identifying them is to count the seeds in each floret. Barley has only one seed per floret, rye has two, wheat has three. Like below... Strip the florets, see how many seeds fall out. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John E Miller Posted January 18, 2021 Author Share Posted January 18, 2021 7 hours ago, jamiek86 said: heaps on native grasses including kangaroo grass look like this probably be certain before starting a brew day That's the entire crop in the photo, I was just joking about brewing with it 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamiek86 Posted January 18, 2021 Share Posted January 18, 2021 5 hours ago, John E Miller said: That's the entire crop in the photo, I was just joking about brewing with it after I said it I wasn't even sure as had already had a few and thought im not a farmer 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thirsty Jim Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 So John E, did you count the grains ? What is it ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John E Miller Posted January 21, 2021 Author Share Posted January 21, 2021 I'm not exactly sure what counts as a floret, but I'm thinking it is one seed per floret Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John E Miller Posted January 21, 2021 Author Share Posted January 21, 2021 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thirsty Jim Posted January 21, 2021 Share Posted January 21, 2021 Barley then. It was either barley or rye (both are beardy). Malting is germinating the grain but I am still mighty impressed it has managed to reproduce itself in the compost. Ain't nature grand ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pezzza Posted January 21, 2021 Share Posted January 21, 2021 10 hours ago, Thirsty Jim said: Barley then. It was either barley or rye (both are beardy). Malting is germinating the grain but I am still mighty impressed it has managed to reproduce itself in the compost. Ain't nature grand ? Absolutely Thirsty Jim. Really enjoyed your classification advice TJ - was gold - and brought back some memories. Thanks for that. A beautiful thing! Also just quickly out of interest - cross of wheat and rye = Triticale - you can get Triticale Malt from Voyager down the NSW Riverina ; ) I find it hard to believe that after malting (soak-germinate-roast/toast) and then mashing (milling/stewing at 60+) - or steeping - that anything would survive it. But maybe there were some hardy grains in there that did not imbibe water quickly and survived their torrid life to then sprout beautifully in JEM's festive compost pile!?! Have you utilised any whole grains in anything e.g. "Roasted Barley" not milled for example at all @John E Miller John? Maybe some survived a light roasting and mashing (rather than the soak-and roast in the malting process then mash) and then germinated in the compost? Cheers Brewers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John E Miller Posted January 21, 2021 Author Share Posted January 21, 2021 11 hours ago, Thirsty Jim said: Barley then. It was either barley or rye (both are beardy). Malting is germinating the grain but I am still mighty impressed it has managed to reproduce itself in the compost. Ain't nature grand ? Amazing hey! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John E Miller Posted January 21, 2021 Author Share Posted January 21, 2021 7 minutes ago, Graubart said: Absolutely Thirsty Jim. Really enjoyed your classification advice TJ - was gold - and brought back some memories. Thanks for that. A beautiful thing! Also just quickly out of interest - cross of wheat and rye = Triticale - you can get Triticale Malt from Voyager down the NSW Riverina ; ) I find it hard to believe that after malting (soak-germinate-roast/toast) and then mashing (milling/stewing at 60+) - or steeping - that anything would survive it. But maybe there were some hardy grains in there that did not imbibe water quickly and survived their torrid life to then sprout beautifully in JEM's festive compost pile!?! Have you utilised any whole grains in anything e.g. "Roasted Barley" not milled for example at all @John E Miller John? Maybe some survived a light roasting and mashing (rather than the soak-and roast in the malting process then mash) and then germinated in the compost? Cheers Brewers No, every grain I brewed with at that house had been malted and milled 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thirsty Jim Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 It probably had nothing to do with brewing. A couple of years ago I had rye popping up all over my community garden. Turns out it originated at the rabbit orphanage (I never knew there was such a thing) who were dropping straw into our compost bins. Barley straw is good stuff and very common as animal bedding. You can sprout any kind of whole grains — as long as they are whole grains, with the germ and bran intact. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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