Grain ordering mishap. Solutions?

[Mikeyr]

I may not be thinking this through well enough, but could you take through to wort stage, hot or carefully cold pack into 4,5 containers and blend it back in into future brews. You'd at least then get one out of the pack rather than chuck the whole lot away???

 

[headfreak]

Like a fresh wort pack? Could work, though I'm not sure that that would store any better than the cracked grain.

 

[Mikeyr]

I just did my first "no chill" (which is effectively the same thing) and if you do a search some guys reckon they can last up to a year or more. http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/66327-no-chill/

Ross at Craftbrewer stated the shelf life on fresh wort kits at 2 years http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/52720-craftbrewer-fresh-wort-kits-free-postage/?p=746460

Cracked grain unless you can Nitro flush won't last that long, a few weeks at most depending on your conditions i guess.

 

[headfreak]

Ah, of course, it is basically the same as no chill. I was thinking of taking it to post-mash, not post-boil.

The only other issue I can think of there is that with such a low % of base malt there would be a deficiency of diastatic enzymes so could end up with a lot of unfermentables. Would a longer mash help with that? Or just have to use the resulting wort sparingly when blending.

 

[antiphile]

The real PITA is that it probably won't be evenly mixed, so vac sealing in 1 kg lots will probably need you to hand mix it thoroughly before subdividing. And I like the idea of nitro flushing, but would CO2 drenching prior to sealing individual lots be sufficient? I'm only guessing here, of course. And then storing it in a freezer might prolong the shelf life a bit more, maybe.

 

[headfreak]

I ended up salvaging two brews out of this by adding small amounts of this grain to the the appropriate amounts of base malt.
Hopped them slightly differently and fermented with different yeasts. Both were tasting okay going into the bottle.

I tried one of the first batch last night... I think it fair to say that it is definitely not the Black IPA the recipe was going for. Tends more to the brown than black, and at 7.9% it tastes rather vinous. I also neglected to dry hop as intended so the hop character is more subdued than it otherwise might be.
I was a little taken aback on first sip, but it had started to win me over by the end of the glass (the high abv may be to blame there).Thinking I might just re-brand it as a Scotch Ale.

Certainly not the best of my efforts, but still firmly drinkable I'd say - though it's possible that I'm just suffering from palate fatigue after Good Beer Week and GABS.

Be interesting to see how the other batch is. That ended up closer to 10%...

 

[yankinoz]

Ross at Craftbrewer says milled mal/t is good for 6 months, but they vacuum pack theirs, so the advice about a friend with a sealer is good. Other sources say the darker the grain the faster it deteriorates, and my experience backs that. Even without sealing the Munich should be alright for 2-3 months, but the Chocolate may deteriorate fast.

Store dry and cool. Whaever goes on chemically within the grain, there's a good chance the oxidation reactions obey the general rule that the rate doubles with every 10 C increase in temperature. That's one reason why hops go in the freezer.

 

[beercus]

find someone with chickens and swap for a dozen eggs!