Hey guys I have pounds of 5 year old unmilled grain I want to test and see what kind of efficiency I'll get. Any suggestions? I don't want to do a full brew without knowing the efficiency and I haven't done a BIAB or partial mash in a long long time. If I mill up a pound, I can just mash it on the stove right?, how much water should I use? Meh I guess I could punch it into beersmith and calculate something?
Sure you can as long as you maintain a constant mash temperature. If you place the pot in your oven and set for 150 degrees F, that would do it. Lots of folks mash at somewhere between 1-2 quarts per lb. so use something between 1 -2 quarts of water. My preference is 1.5 qts/lb. You should take steps to ensure you achieve a proper mash pH. Cheers! P.S. Is efficiency the only aspect you are concerned about? How about malt flavor?
Yeah I need to taste it and see if its stale... I'd just hate to waste it all if it is salvageable, but I'd also hate to waste a brew day and all the hops and yeast if its not good thanks
I attended a presentation at the NHC a few years ago and that was the 'test' they recommended. Unfortunately I personally do not have a lot of practice here. I suppose if the malt tasted absolutely awful I would know not to use it. Anything beyond that I doubt I would be well experienced here. Cheers!
Me either, my tasting abilities are horrendous. I want to work on that this year. My horrible nose doesn't help... I'll see if it tastes like I remember grain tasting like haha.
Maybe the below will be helpful to you? “So how do you evaluate the malts? Ideally it would be nice to brew a batch of beer with every grain type. (Check out the recipes on pages 33 and 35; each recipe is designed to highlight the flavor of one of the five base malts we’ve covered in this article.) Besides brewing with each base malt, the simplest way I know to evaluate grain is simply to chew some and taste it. The enzymes in your saliva will “mash” the grains for you, so after chewing, let the grains sit a while. The enzymes will work on the grains, and starchiness will be replaced with sweetness. Pay attention to the flavors. Then choose what you like. Sometimes it’s hard to project those flavors into the finished beer, but with practice, you will be able to do that. If you record your perceptions of the malt, then compare them to your perceptions of the finished beer, it will help you put the two together.” http://byo.com/hops/item/710-grain-on-the-brain Cheers!
What type of grain is that you have @Jaguar10301 ? Why not do a full batch? If you were re-using yeast, hops would be your only cost. Depending on the style, that shouldn't have to cost much. Even if you had to by some dry yeast for $5, that's still not bad.
Malt Grain Tea would be a good way to taste it. Grab some fresh grain (few ounces) and make a tea with your old and the fresh and you should have a good idea if the taste is off and it takes < 1 hr
I'm just getting going again in brewing, hence why my grain sat for 5 years. The only yeast I have right now is the cake my Hefeweizen is sitting on (3068) so not really what I was planning on brewing with my grains. I have a bucket or two of Golden Promise, A couple of buckets of American 2-row a couple of buckets of Pilsner. I found the jackpot in specialty grains, two buckets of assorted ones. 120, 60, roasted grains, black patent, chocolate, acidulated, more than I can remember lol... So I can brew some stuff, I think I have some white wheat too... Maybe I'll just say f it and go for it.... I was going to brew a 10 gallon batch of my Wit but it is one of my most expensive beers to brew. Then again I don't have the 11 lbs of white wheat so I'll have to buy some of that, so the base malt will mostly be fresh anyways, maybe I just do it... I really need to put my full inventory in beer smith and see what I have, time to weigh all the grains!
If they end up tasting ok, the experimentalist in me says use just the 2-row for a 2 beer brew day. For one beer: use a SMaSH recipe with your 2-row, and for the second beer make something with the 2-row and your 120 and 60 like an amber ale perhaps. This way you can compare the quality of the base malt with and with out the specialty grains. Maybe do a couple no sparge BIAB to minimize effort since it would be a double batch brew day. Maybe next week use the golden promise to make an British style SMaSH ale, and a British style stout with the golden promise and the roasted, black patent, and chocolate. Again to compare the outcomes of long term stored base malts to long term stores base malt+specialty grains. For science. I volunteer to assist in giving you data points by comparing the beers when they are finished
Thanks for all the suggestions. I need to rebuild my mash tun again before i can do any of this. I have a Coleman Xtreme 70 qt cooler that I put a valve in and use a hosebraid. Of course the braid is mangled and it looks like one of my washers may be rusted or having some soft of metallic reaction
Haven't tested it yet, I think I'm going to just brew and see how it goes.. But I did inventory my grains I have a couple buckets each of Golden Promise, Pilsner, and American 2-Row base malts (haven't weighed these out yet) Here is my google docs sheet with the specialty grains I have... https://drive.google.com/open?id=1zdkfn8k1gzueBpSLVDwulQezvwZ_tJf7vfC73s14Ejw Anyone want to give suggestions for a 5 year old grain beer?
