[In the September 2011 issue of BYO, we published a story on new malts. As part of that story (on page 39), I wrote a sidebar on barley farming and malt prices. This is an extended version of that sidebar. ]

I haven't posted a blog entry for awhile, so here's a scattershot update of what I've been doing and what will be coming up on my blog.

Earlier this year, I began a hop experiment. The hypothesis was that Southern US hop growers could produce better quality hops if they cut their vines back in early May.  This would delay development so that the hop cones would mature after the peak temperatures of summer. Unfortunately, the experiment is not going to yield any usable data this year.

Last Tuesday I became the Grim Reaper . . . of my barley. Actually, I wasn't very grim as my buddy, John "JB" Brack, came out to help. (JB is a fellow Austin ZEALOT and works at Austin Homebrew)

My barley crop has been coming along nicely. Since my last blog on the subject, the heads or tassels have emerged. This happens after the final leaf -- called the flag leaf -- develops and the stem has elongated to almost it's final height. As the barley plant gets taller, the head begins to form in the "tube" between the fourth or fifth leaf and the flag leaf. This area, called the boot, swells and eventually the head (where all the barley kernels are) erupts, as shown in this pictures: 

Well, it's no secret — barleymania is sweeping the globe. Here's what the critics are saying about my blog:

My week in South Dakota was great. I saw my family, friends and snow. I brewed some beer with the Sioux Falls club (Big Sioux Brewing Society), hosted a winter beer tasting for a few friends and generally had a good time, but . . . I missed my barley.

Before I left, a few of the plants had made it to the three-leaf stage, pictured here:

The temperature here in Texas has been bouncing around a bit, but we just had a few days where it peaked in the 60s and 70s Fahrenheit. Given the warm weather, my barley is coming along nicely.

Last year, I tried to grow barley in my garden but it died. I planted it in the early spring, but it died in the summer heat. (The temperature was over 100 °F for weeks on end.) I later found out that barley is heat sensitive, so this year I decided to plant it as a winter barley.

Well, my idea to grow and malt my own barley will have to be put off at least another growing season as all my barley has died. I planted two blocks of barley and one block of wheat in my garden this year. The wheat developed fine, but the barley never developed its heads. (If you know anything about barley development, it looks like it got to the "boot" stage and then died.) I suspect it was the Texas heat.