Cedar Rapids Brewing Society

Last year for the grain order we got 100+ pounds of 2-row and started dabling in all-grain. This year we want to ramp it up a little with about 300 pounds and will probably do mostly 2-row but wonder if there is a guide out there that points us from grain to type because we would like to try different beers. Any suggestions or can someone give us a lay down on the most popular grains for various types of beer? I have read through pretty much all the grain descriptions from the Backpocket grain order website but they only go into detail for types on some of them. We just don't want to end up ordering a 50 pound bag of dark chocolate malt and the most a recipe would usually call for is 5 pounds (we do 15 gallons at a time). Although I would probably like that, not everyone else in the group would.

I like Maris Otter for any UK style beer. I love using it in Stout's especially.

Otherwise, I use mostly 2-row for quite a bit. All of my Blonde Ale's, APA's, IPA's, etc.

I haven't done much Belgium style beers so can't talk about that.

If you are looking at a pilsner, pilsen malt is always good.

Best Malz German Pilsner Malt is a good base grain for Belgian styles and others.

I think this is what we are looking at which should give us a nice variety:
2 - Great Western Pale Ale
3 - Great Western Premium 2-Row
1 - Best Malz Dark Munich
1 - Best Malz Pale Wheat
1 - Thomas Fawcett Marris Otter

Thanks for the input - we basically altered Franklins order and added one more to the Ale and 2-row in place of the Pilsner. This way it will force us to try something different and actually research recipes outside of the basic ones we have tried.

Please place your order in the official post for this when you're ready. It's located in the members only forum. Thanks!