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shanek17

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Hello I am a fellow fermentationist and I am having a brewing dilemma. The other day I was in my cupboards and noticed that I had a box of granola bars and they expire this month, I looked at the ingredients and noticed Barley malt extract, also it contains whole grain rolled oats and other ingredients that made me think BEER! ( the granola bars are preservative and color free)

So heres my idea, I am going to make three 1 gallon batches and make each one slightly different and compare the results. I went to the LHBS and picked up some cascade sterling hop pellets (28g) and some Morgans ale yeast. I then went grocery shopping and found some Pure Fancy Molasses on sale. I don't know if this will be as good as DME or liquid malt but its worth a try.

Anyways my point here is that Iv only ever made beer the easiest way which is with those pre hopped extract kits therefore I have no idea how to use the hops! I mean iv seen the videos and heard the beer podcasts and understand you gotta toss the hop pellets in the boil, but how the heck will I do it? Im thinking boiling it in water or dry hopping? Also how much of the 28g should I be using per 1 gallon batch? Iv tried the crazy intense IPA's and I'm not a huge fan lol I am young and have a sensitive pallet still. so easy on the hop addition suggestions :)
 
I've never malted my own grains. I dont know what they've been subjected to turning them into granola bars.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/beer-made-granola-334498/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/advice-granola-bar-ale-310805/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/heres-thought-anyone-tried-stout-106156/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/frankenstein-brew-thoughts-229090/

If you title your threads correctly, you get related topics showing up at the bottom of the page.

Good luck, I like to hear of people trying to not waste stuff.
 
You are going to make beer from granola bars? I am a little intrigued, but how are you going to get enough malt?

What does a granola bar weigh? An ounce? If so, you would need 3.2 bars in a one gallon batch to be equivalent to only one pound of malt extract in a 5 gal batch. And that would be a pretty low gravity beer. And that is assuming the granola bar (specifically made for eating) has equivalent efficacy to malt extract (specifically made for brewing).

While I am all for experimentation, I think this is a fool's errand. At the same time, you aren't wasting any of my time, money, or food, so have at it. Maybe this will be the next big breakthrough in beer making. Make sure to report back if you actually do this.
 
You are going to make beer from granola bars? I am a little intrigued, but how are you going to get enough malt?

What does a granola bar weigh? An ounce? If so, you would need 3.2 bars in a one gallon batch to be equivalent to only one pound of malt extract in a 5 gal batch. And that would be a pretty low gravity beer. And that is assuming the granola bar (specifically made for eating) has equivalent efficacy to malt extract (specifically made for brewing).

While I am all for experimentation, I think this is a fool's errand. At the same time, you aren't wasting any of my time, money, or food, so have at it. Maybe this will be the next big breakthrough in beer making. Make sure to report back if you actually do this.

Well i have like 30 granola bars to work with. Each bar contains 10 g of sugar and the rest of the sygar i was going to try the pure mollases and i also have dextrose and muscovado sugar (brown sugar) to play around with.

And to the dude who thinks im 17 lol. Im 24 i just use 17 as its a favorite number.

Also is anybody going to help me with the hops? I dont understand how to get the goodness out of them. do i just boil them for 10 or 15 min? Like i dont plan on doing a full boil as i dont have anything to boil but the hops.
 
You are going to make beer from granola bars? I am a little intrigued, but how are you going to get enough malt?

What does a granola bar weigh? An ounce? If so, you would need 3.2 bars in a one gallon batch to be equivalent to only one pound of malt extract in a 5 gal batch. And that would be a pretty low gravity beer. And that is assuming the granola bar (specifically made for eating) has equivalent efficacy to malt extract (specifically made for brewing).

While I am all for experimentation, I think this is a fool's errand. At the same time, you aren't wasting any of my time, money, or food, so have at it. Maybe this will be the next big breakthrough in beer making. Make sure to report back if you actually do this.

Well i have like 30 granola bars to work with. Each bar contains 10 g of sugar and the rest of the sygar i was going to try the pure mollases and i also have dextrose and muscovado sugar (brown sugar) to play around with.

And to the dude who thinks im 17 lol. Im 24 i just use 17 as its a favorite number.

Also is anybody going to help me with the hops? I dont understand how to get the goodness out of them. do i just boil them for 10 or 15 min? Like i dont plan on doing a full boil as i dont have anything to boil but the hops. i was going to just mix my ingridients together at room temperature and drop in the yeast. but i dont know if dropping the hop pellets in there will be enough flavor?
 
Boiling for 30 to 90 minutes (very commonly 60 minutes) is for bittering. 10-20 minutes gives flavor. Five and under (including dry hopping) yields aroma.

Amounts totally depend on style. I brew an IPA that uses an ounce each at 60, 20, 0, and a dry hop (4 ounces total) but that is a 5 gal batch. That ends up with plenty of hops (it IS an IPA) but many brews use considerably more.
 
Boiling for 30 to 90 minutes (very commonly 60 minutes) is for bittering. 10-20 minutes gives flavor. Five and under (including dry hopping) yields aroma.

Amounts totally depend on style. I brew an IPA that uses an ounce each at 60, 20, 0, and a dry hop (4 ounces total) but that is a 5 gal batch. That ends up with plenty of hops (it IS an IPA) but many brews use considerably more.

Okay. iv been doin more reading and heard that you cant just boil the hops in water like i intended to do. apparently you have to have sugars present for the isomerization of the hops to occur. is this true? if so ill have to add some malt or mollases to the boil. and yea i decided you ppl were rite to mention malt as the best sugar for beer. ill be pickin some up tmmrw and ill be comparing it to the mollases and other sugars i try.

When should i add the malt into the boil? im worried that ill destroy its flavor if its in a boil for 60 min. or is that perfectly normal?
 
Go easy on molasses. Tastes great on its own but ferments out so a lot of the good flavor is gone.
 
I'd crush up the granola bars & steep them 30-45 minutes at 165F. They'll need time to soak the added sugars & flavors out of the grains added. Then add some extract & do your hop additions. Add remaining extract & some molassus near the end of the boil in this case.
 
I'd crush up the granola bars & steep them 30-45 minutes at 165F. They'll need time to soak the added sugars & flavors out of the grains added. Then add some extract & do your hop additions. Add remaining extract & some molassus near the end of the boil in this case.

okay your saying steep the grains 40-45 min , then add malt and hops and then I was going to boil them for another 60min, that way I get the bitterness out of the hops, does that sound about right? When people talk about boiling the hops should I really give a good 212F boil? I just ask because you mentioned steeping the grains at a lower 167F temperature, I wouldnt want to over cook my malt and hops and destroy the flavors of them.
 
okay your saying steep the grains 40-45 min , then add malt and hops and then I was going to boil them for another 60min, that way I get the bitterness out of the hops, does that sound about right? When people talk about boiling the hops should I really give a good 212F boil? I just ask because you mentioned steeping the grains at a lower 167F temperature, I wouldnt want to over cook my malt and hops and destroy the flavors of them.

Steep the grains for 30-45 minutes in a gran bag at 160F. Then remove/drain the bag. Then add some of the malt,like 1.5-2lbs in a 2.5-3 gallon partial boil for hop additions. Then add remaining extract & molasses near the end of the boil in this case. Just to make sure the molasses gets sanitized a little. Hops need to be boiled to get the bittering,flavor,& aroma out of them at different times in the boil. You won't over cook them. The late extract/molasses additions will help keep the colors lighter. Keep the wort stirred & it won't scortch. If you're going to use LME,then stir it in off the heat since it'll go straight to the bottom when poured in. DME can be added on the heat. Just stir it in while adding to break up the resulting clumps.
 
Okay. iv been doin more reading and heard that you cant just boil the hops in water like i intended to do. apparently you have to have sugars present for the isomerization of the hops to occur. is this true?

Nope, not at all. I've done plenty of batches where the boil consists of water and hops, or steeping grain tea and hops, with all of the extract going in at flameout. If anything, you'll get better utilization in the thinner boil, though that's pretty debatable.

I like your idea, but I would definitely use some malt extract (DME or LME) in your recipe along with the granola and molasses. Plan on a sweet beer with a bigger mouthfeel, so hop accordingly. :mug:
 
Nope, not at all. I've done plenty of batches where the boil consists of water and hops, or steeping grain tea and hops, with all of the extract going in at flameout. If anything, you'll get better utilization in the thinner boil, though that's pretty debatable.

I like your idea, but I would definitely use some malt extract (DME or LME) in your recipe along with the granola and molasses. Plan on a sweet beer with a bigger mouthfeel, so hop accordingly. :mug:

Interesting, your the first person to say good things about water and hop method. I looked else where and found people not having any luck with it, one guy had this to say

"Grassy /hay flavors come from myrcene and other hop oils will boil off after a while. Boiling hops in wort will extract tannins and other polyphenols but this is limited because of the low PH. During the boil proteins from the malt adsorb onto the polyphenols and then precipitate out. Boiling hops in water will extract more polyphenols because of the higher PH and they wont precipitate out because of the lack of proteins. You will get astringency like you do in tea. How much I can't say and it's hard to tell what the effects in beer will be. It might come across as a rough maltiness or barely be noticed. You can limit the amount of polyphenols by using a smaller amount of HIgh alpha hops."


I just dont want a astringent flavor so I was going to just boil hops in with the wort, but maybe I will try water...
 
I'd also like to stretch my hops out as much as possible because I only got 1 oz of cascade sterling hops to work with , thats it. I went to the lhbs twice now in the past 24 hrs and im not goin back again anytime soon. lol Its not really that local of a store to where i live.

Is there a good way to stretch this 1 oz between three 1 gallon batches and achieve good bitterness and flavor? i was thinking like 5grams hops for 60 minutes and 4g at last 20 min for flavor.
 
Interesting, your the first person to say good things about water and hop method. I looked else where and found people not having any luck with it, one guy had this to say

"Grassy /hay flavors come from myrcene and other hop oils will boil off after a while. Boiling hops in wort will extract tannins and other polyphenols but this is limited because of the low PH. During the boil proteins from the malt adsorb onto the polyphenols and then precipitate out. Boiling hops in water will extract more polyphenols because of the higher PH and they wont precipitate out because of the lack of proteins. You will get astringency like you do in tea. How much I can't say and it's hard to tell what the effects in beer will be. It might come across as a rough maltiness or barely be noticed. You can limit the amount of polyphenols by using a smaller amount of HIgh alpha hops."


I just dont want a astringent flavor so I was going to just boil hops in with the wort, but maybe I will try water...

Many times things are different in theory than in practice. I read that same thing too, but the bolded statement stood out to me. I tried it for myself, first with a low hop style, and liked the results. I've done it since with more balanced styles like pale ale, etc. Still liked the results. YMMV

If you're concerned, as a portion of the extract for the duration of the boil, then the rest at knockout.
 
I have used hop teas with the first couple brews,but I think having used a little wort(read extract) since,I think the utilization is a bit better.
 
So iv been patiently waiting for this beer to ferment in its 1 gallon carboy...its been 25 days! The slowest beer ferment iv ever seen! It is at 65F So i understand the yeast are takin there time but maybe its because its an all malt recipe? Because iv had beer kits ferment with dextrose and malt at 65F in 2 weeks no problem. But this batch is takin its sweet ass time...its not even a high gravity beer. its specific Gravity is 1.045.

On another note i took a sample and tasted it. Its pretty damn good. cant wait to bottle!
 
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