brewing with old malt

crush · Joined: 28 Dec 2010 Posts: 706 Location: Telemark, Norway

After building and brewing the electric brewery, I wasn't all that happy with the beer that came out. Out of 5 batches in August 2011, all came out cloudy and 3 were contaminated, and I'd never had an "infected" batch before in 4 years of brewing AG.

I was pretty sure it couldn't be the brewery. I was using the same plate chiller as with the old brewery, and everything before that is sanitized by the boil. Turned out it was old grain and old dry yeast. The grain was bought in 2008, and the dry yeast around the same time.

That old grain and yeast really caused trouble. The old grain caused a permanent haze. The mash never cleared, the wort in the boil kettle never cleared despite 90min boil and kettle finings, and the beer clarify only improved a touch after several months ageing - filtering didn't help either. The infections were probably down to poor yeast. I didn't get more than 1/2" krausen and ended up with some strange biofilm and bubbles on top. (I did rack from under - some batches were ok, but a couple were undrinkable.)

Of course, I didn't intend to use old ingredients - in my mind they were all bought not all that long ago - astonishing how 3 years can slip by so quickly!

I put the old yeast in the boil as nutrient and I've used the old grain to make canned starter wort (50kg/110lbs grain makes a lot of starters!) Very Happy

I brewed twice last week with fresh grain, fresh hops and fresh yeast pitched to a starter. The difference compared to the earlier brews was very apparent. The mash cleared, the wort after boiling was really clear, and I got a 3" krausen after 24h. I used wyeast yeast nutrient blend. Wonderful stuff! And the aroma...wow! It's a low gravity beer so it'll be ready for the holidays. And with 90-92% extraction it feels like I'm using the same amount of grain in a 10 gal batch as I'd use previously in a 5 gal batch. Now brewing is fun again!

I'll be sure to brew often to avoid a repeat the old grain problem!

Stuttgarter · Joined: 20 Dec 2010 Posts: 53 Location: Stuttgart, Germany

Something similar happened to me, except I had just bought the grain on clearance. No one at the homebrew shop knew why it was on sale, only that it was a good deal. When I brewed it I thought I bought Rye or some other grain instead. Nasty stuff.

crush · Joined: 28 Dec 2010 Posts: 706 Location: Telemark, Norway

Yes, nasty stuff. After that disappointment, I store the grain in air-tight buckets, and have the use-by date written on the label.

The grain was just stored in the grain bag, and that's the killer. I have some Golden Promise grain in a vacuum sealed bag that I also bought in 2008. I checked this yesterday and it still tastes great, so I'll use that to make a Scottish Ale at the weekend. It still has that wonderful lightly toasted sweetness and a wonderful aroma. The stale stuff of course had none of these qualities.

What surprised me the most was how cloudy the old grain made the wort, the 5% reduction in efficiency and the "meh" taste. All that just from ageing in a dried product.

**kal** · Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2011 2:06 pm Post subject:

Just an FYI: If you had infections it's not the old grain (since you boil it all). It has to be something else.

Kal

crush · Joined: 28 Dec 2010 Posts: 706 Location: Telemark, Norway