Year old crushed grain, mashed for test batch, throw away?

Hi,

Did a test of a new AG batch sparge system with a bag of crushed (11lb 2 row, 0.5 Munich, 0.5 Cystal 40). These grains were crushed in Dec of 09 but stored in dry basement in winter and AC basement in summer.

I was testing out a new PID controller for my electric kettle/mash and used these grains rather than tossing.

The wort seems pretty nice, Grav came out to 1.048 and tastes and smells AWESOME. I have plenty of hops to make this happen and have a London 1098 from last year I didnt use in the fridge. Should I go for it or toss?

Tie up a fermenter is the only downside and of course the risk of using old crap.

Any thoughts??

Go for it, you controlled the environment, and the worst thing that can happen is it will be beer. Last time I checked that would be a good thing.

Orlando

Either go for it, or put it in a sealed container for some starter wort on demand.

Fire up the kettle and brew that bad boy already.

I'd go for it. No sense in wasting it.

I'm confused, it looks like you already brewed with some, and it "looks and tastes awesome." And you evidently hit your numbers, so why the heck do you need us to tell you it's ok? You already proved it was......

About the look and taste, I was talking about 'pre boil'.

The yeast pack is not swelling much more than it was in the fridge after smack an hour ago. I may dump it into a sani container. It was swelled in fridge so much I couldnt tell if I smacked the nutrients.

Its boiling, going for first Nugget now...

Well, chilled down to 72. Anybody ever worry about condensation dripping off of the copper feed line from immersion chiller into wort?

Not confident about yeast yet...

BTW Revvy, follow you on 4 wk pri and into keg. Beer has never been easier or better.

jlag said:

BTW Revvy, follow you on 4 wk pri and into keg. Beer has never been easier or better.

Click to expand...

LOL....The lazy way to brew has never been easier.

I just brewed with grain that was crushed in April missed gravity by a little was supposed to be 1.060 was 1.052 FG was 1.011 but im sure it will turn out fine.

Awww, missed by 0.008 on a 1.060, I am weeping

I don't even care anymore about efficiency anymore much. Have tested and know my method(s). Heat, Mash, Sparge, Boil, Ferment, Keg, Drink

jlag said:

Well, chilled down to 72. Anybody ever worry about condensation dripping off of the copper feed line from immersion chiller into wort?

Not confident about yeast yet...

BTW Revvy, follow you on 4 wk pri and into keg. Beer has never been easier or better.

Click to expand...

i dont use an immersion chiller but from what i understand is that you can/should place the chiller in the boil kettle for the last 15 minutes of boil to sanitize it, that way any dripping condensation has much reduced chance of infection. i could be wrong, but i circulate through my plate chiller for the last 15 minutes and have never had any issues with infection....knock on wood.

Oh, yes, I put the chiller in on the -15 min mark for sure. Still have condensation though. I am escared of doing counterflow/plate right now, don't want to worry about cleaning the SOB's.

Yeast smelled a bit funky... It was actually 1056 American, not London as I thought. Pitched and rolled, we'll see!!

What is it, "Relax, don't worry, have a home brew" or something?

Should add, "Don't mind spouse yelling upstairs too".

i have some grains from about 6 months ago that i need to brew up as well. i suspect a dry-hop can cover up any "staling" if there is such a flavor detected.

The grains were fine, I am just worried about the yeast. I go from primary to keg, so for dry hop I use a stainless tea ball in the keg, then drink fast

I've brewed with really old grain (2 years old, not crushed) and super-old hops (like 4 years old, literally). It still makes great beer.

I think the key is to keep the grains in a cool, dark place and do your best to keep it sealed up. Hops go in the freezer (I've had good luck with long-term freezer storage, anyway).

Mold and staleness are your only real enemies. If it was dry I wouldn't worry about the former. The latter will probably get you to some degree but may work in your favor. One of the best porters I ever made used some pre-crushed chocolate malt and crystal I didn't know I had for a year. I think the edge the grain lost in flavor over time actually smoothed out the beer a little.