FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
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Contents:
Re: HBD - old brewing supplies (Randall Ricchi)
Old Supplies (Glyn and Mary)
WLP 300 ("Darrell G. Leavitt")
RE: Year old grain - Will I catch ergot and fly? ("Josh Knarr")
Should I drink contaminated beer? (Tom Puskar)
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Date: Thu, 06 Nov 2008 08:01:00 -0500
From: Randall Ricchi <rricchi at houghton.k12.mi.us>
Subject: Re: HBD - old brewing supplies
Rich,
ALL of the supplies you mention are still good, including the hops
(assuming you store them in the freezer, preferably sealed from the air)
I recently brewed an 18th century style porter using 5 year old brown
and amber malts, plus some year old crystal, victory and biscuit malt.
The beer is very rich and coffee-like, nothing stale about it. I've used
hops that were several years old because I used to buy plugs that came
in 50 oz packages, so they lasted awhile.I've gone 3 to 4 years out with
no degradation of flavor. Maybe they were slightly less bitter due to
alpha loss, but I couldn't tell.
I keep mine vacuum sealed, but if you can't do that, keep them in a
heavy plastic bag and roll the air out of it before sealing and then
store them in the freezer.
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Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 05:36:46 -0800 (PST)
From: Glyn and Mary <graininfuser at yahoo.com>
Subject: Old Supplies
Old grain if un-crushed will work, just not as well as fresh. If
crushed toss it. Have the hops been kept frozen? Whole or
pellet? The alpha acids will decrease over time. I think
Pro-mash has a calculation for the decrease. But with hop
prices I would probably still use if they smelled good.
Any one in middle TN want to try a barrel aged ??? I would
be happy to add 10 gallons of whatever for the project.
Glyn
So. Middle TN
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Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 08:53:44 -0500 (EST)
From: "Darrell G. Leavitt" <leavitdg at plattsburgh.edu>
Subject: WLP 300
Any of you folks have experience with wlp 300 Hefe? I know that in
general it seems to ferment more slowly, or erratically, ie, it sometimes
seems to have stopped then a few days later it will started up again.
In addition, I wonder if fermenting at too high a temperature may be a
problem? I ask in that the smell from the airlock on the previous batch
was very nice, hefe-like. Whereas, the smell from the airlock on this 3rd
use of the yeast, is rather different. Hard to describe, perhaps estery
or phenolic? Not pleasant, at any rate, and I wonder about the effect on
the final flavor profile?
Any advice would be appreciated.
Darrell
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Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 09:22:26 -0500
From: "Josh Knarr" <josh.knarr at gmail.com>
Subject: RE: Year old grain - Will I catch ergot and fly?
I think the idea here would be "follow your nose".
The grain pre-beer would taste and smell exactly like an infected or
otherwise abused batch of beer if there's a problem. The flavors might not
be as vibrant if the grain is pre-cracked, but so long as you detect no off
flavors or smells, I would still try making a batch of beer with it. I would
humbly suggest trying to make a one gallon batch first of "coffee pot"* beer
and seeing how that goes as a test. It's a lot less effort, and it's all
grain so any weird flavors you get will be directly a result of the grain.
* http://www.allaboutbeer.com/features/235coffee.html
- --
Bill Vaughan - "The tax collector must love poor people, he's
creating so many of them."
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Date: Thu, 06 Nov 2008 20:29:23 -0500
From: Tom Puskar <tpuskar at optonline.net>
Subject: Should I drink contaminated beer?
I've been brewing for about 15 years and have probably brewed between 80-100
batches--mostly all grain. I've never had a contaminated batch--until now!
On 4 October I brewed an all grain version of a Marzen/Octoberfest (made it
as an ale instead of a lager). The batch went great and had an OG of about
1.054
I pitched one of those ready to pitch tubes of a Kolsch yeast and started
planning the label I would create for this brew. After three days, there
was no visible sign of fermentation and I got worried. temp was about 68F.
There was, however, a spider web looking growth on the surface of the brew.
I guessed it was a mold. I probably should have tossed it and started over.
I checked the gravity and it hadn't changed at all. I figured I had already
paid for the stuff and invested the time in brewing so I pitched a packet of
dry ale yeast that I keep around for spontaneous brew sessions. I had never
used these tubes before (and probably won't again) and am a devotee of the
smack packs. Within 8 hours there was signs of fermentation and in the
morning there was a vigorous fermentation. After another 3 days (had to go
on a business trip) I checked the gravity and it was down to 1.014 I
thought maybe I had salvaged it.
I racked it to a secondary and it looked a bit cloudy but not bad. After a
week or so in the secondary I bottled it (about a week ago). I checked it
today and sure as God made little green apples, there was that dreaded ring
in the neck that I had read about but was fortunate enough not to ever
experience.
After this long winded story, my question is this. Should I try it and if
it tastes reasonable just chill it and drink it? Or, will some dreaded
gastrointestinal plague befall me and anyone who drinks it?
I have another horror story with an IPA I brewed the following week and it
will be the subject of a new post once I do some investigating.
The yeasts I used for both the Marzen and the IPA had expiration dates of
Nov 2008 and I used them in Oct. I'm really gun shy about using this brand
of yeast again and will search out a supplier who still sells the smack
packs.
Any relevant information or experience with these tubes would be
appreciated. Since I don't want to bash any suppliers, I didn't mention
the names but you know who they are!
Thanks,
Tom in Howell, NJ
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End of HOMEBREW Digest #5445, 11/06/08
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