This was also my first beer using temp control. It was a good experiment on all fronts. Hopefully the carbed beer is worth it. I think it will be after all the samples I've tried.
8$ wheat bush beer
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This was also my first beer using temp control. It was a good experiment on all fronts. Hopefully the carbed beer is worth it. I think it will be after all the samples I've tried.
Wow did that clear out! Just the motivation I needed. Glad to hear the bread flavor dropped out, I can't even imagine what the finished product will taste like with carbonation.
Did you prime as normal or did you activate more yeast?
Did you prime as normal or did you activate more yeast?
Bottled yesterday. This one will stay in the dark due to the skunk warning.
The sample I tasted was dry, with the lingering taste and aromas of the tea. It was not bready at all. I'll try again in 3 weeks.
Looks like beer to me.
The only thing I can't wrap my head around is the tea. I'd have to use something else as a bittering agent. 1oz of Willamette hops is like $1.50, that's gotta be cheaper than the tea, right?
Beer-Baron
Well-Known Member
It actually looks like beer. I may have to try it. But I'd use an actual ale yeast. Just because.
Then maybe you should put some barley in there as well, because that is one of the required constituents of beer.
Clann
Well-Known Member
It has malted milk......
Beer-Baron
Well-Known Member
Malted milk is a powdered food product made from a mixture of malted barley, wheat flour, and whole milk, which is evaporated until it forms a powder.
Ok, you guys got me there. I had no idea. Carry on with your noble experiment, I'll do my best to keep my trap shut (no guarantees, mind you).
Beer-Baron
Well-Known Member
That's all we ask.
That pic above looks like urine. Ok, that's it, not another peep out of me till tomorrow.
bottlebomber
Well-Known Member
passedpawn said:
Lol... chardonnay looks like urine too, but its not too bad...
rycov
Well-Known Member
neither is urine.. i mean, wait...
Germelli1
Well-Known Member
nevermind
bottlebomber
Well-Known Member
BBKing said:
Next time you brew, you could take a pint of wort or so, and massively overpitch bread yeast into it. Then you'd probably know. I have a feeling that like ale yeast, not all bread yeast will attenuate the same
Beer-Baron
Well-Known Member
I went to the store today and the only Malted Milk I could find was Ovaltine.
I didn't buy it because it had cocoa in it (no, it wasn't the Chocolate version, the "original" also has cocoa), as well as a bunch of other ingredients besides the Malted Barley and Dry Malt, and Dry Milk. Is that what you guys have used? What brands can I look for?
I didn't buy it because it had cocoa in it (no, it wasn't the Chocolate version, the "original" also has cocoa), as well as a bunch of other ingredients besides the Malted Barley and Dry Malt, and Dry Milk. Is that what you guys have used? What brands can I look for?
I used the Carnation brand.
As far as the expirement goes, I my OG was around 1.038 if I remember correctly and as of today, 6 days later, it is at 1.006. I doubt it is going to go lower but am going to give it a few more days, likely until Sunday. I tried the reading sample and I was suprised. I still cannot place the taste, but it isn't bad. I have been trying to figure out what it tastes like for the last 3 hours, but I cannot. I think after carbing and getting it really cold it might actually be pretty decent. The one thing I noticed is that it is LIGHT in color, my wife thinks it looks like lemonade. I will post a pic when I transfer to the bottling bucket.
Quick question, I had not planned on the gelatin as I don't really care if my beer is a little cloudy, but if I was to try it how much of the knoxx gelatin would I use??
Thanks guys.
As far as the expirement goes, I my OG was around 1.038 if I remember correctly and as of today, 6 days later, it is at 1.006. I doubt it is going to go lower but am going to give it a few more days, likely until Sunday. I tried the reading sample and I was suprised. I still cannot place the taste, but it isn't bad. I have been trying to figure out what it tastes like for the last 3 hours, but I cannot. I think after carbing and getting it really cold it might actually be pretty decent. The one thing I noticed is that it is LIGHT in color, my wife thinks it looks like lemonade. I will post a pic when I transfer to the bottling bucket.
Quick question, I had not planned on the gelatin as I don't really care if my beer is a little cloudy, but if I was to try it how much of the knoxx gelatin would I use??
Thanks guys.
bottlebomber
Well-Known Member
I'm going to do a 1 gallon batch of this and bring a bottle in for the homebrew group meeting. People will get a kick out of it, and its a good discussion piece.
mine is in bottles now. It did clear up nicely to my surprise! It looks like cheap beer,smells like cheap beer,,,,but so far it tastes like someone left an opened bud in the basement with a tea bag in it for 3 days ! lol! maybe it will age and be better? This little trial run does have me convinced that one could do more tinkering and make something truly drinkable with cheap supermarket products.
bottlebomber
Well-Known Member
spam said:
My supermarket carries roasted barley probably 250 lovibond I'm guessing in the mexican aisle, maybe some molasses, grape nuts, try to head it in the direction of a dark ale. I would really try to find something to bitter it with other than the herbal tea though. Maybe a little black tea
Bradinator
Well-Known Member
Subscribed. Very interested in seeing if anyone can actually make an enjoyable drink from this. I love experimenting with fermentation and cannot wait to see how these turn out.
Have you thought about using the "bulk hops" you can buy from the natural food stores? No idea what breed they may be as they are labeled as "hops" and are in a dried whole leaf form. They are dirt cheap and I imagine they would have more bittering power then the minute amount of hop in the tea used.
Have you thought about using the "bulk hops" you can buy from the natural food stores? No idea what breed they may be as they are labeled as "hops" and are in a dried whole leaf form. They are dirt cheap and I imagine they would have more bittering power then the minute amount of hop in the tea used.
bottlebomber
Well-Known Member
Bradinator said:
They have those at my local hippy store, but I would hesitate to shop there for those. Its kind of cheating in my mind. I was thinking more along the lines of Safeway or Nob Hill. An average grocer. Plus, the "organic sweet hops" at my local health food store are $45 a pound. Definitely not dirt cheap...
Beer-Baron
Well-Known Member
I think I'll have to use ovaltine. I can't find anything else up here in Canada. Who wants to see me brew this on my YouTube channel?
EdGrog
Member
Subscribe this is actually encouraging to us novices teaches skills & cheaply if your worried about foul ups would think you could build up confidance with this & move on nobody claims this to be an award winning brew. Very interesting!! 
I could not find the Carnation MM in my store either, but Amazon has it, in 3-pks.
Free shipping if your order totals $25.00 too. Not bad. I have 4 Gallons in Deer Park
bottle now, and plan on posting pics of my NEXT batch because I want to brown the
bran in the oven and will try to boil the malted milk in a much lower volume of water to
caramelize it if possible. I am not fond of the extreme paleness of this brew. Looking
forward to tasting it though, will bottle this light batch on the 19th.
Free shipping if your order totals $25.00 too. Not bad. I have 4 Gallons in Deer Park
bottle now, and plan on posting pics of my NEXT batch because I want to brown the
bran in the oven and will try to boil the malted milk in a much lower volume of water to
caramelize it if possible. I am not fond of the extreme paleness of this brew. Looking
forward to tasting it though, will bottle this light batch on the 19th.
Going out on a limb here but for those not able to find the malted milk, or just for all of us and another possibility, what are the chances of mashing an organic all wheat grain cereal and nothing but prior to the boil - maybe with added rice and some flaked corn (ALL available at a standard super market). Could we get a sugar conversion out of it? I'm just really iffy on using ovaltine - chocolate cheap beer, can't knock it - haven't tried it, however if we're not talking a stout the flavor doesn't really sell me.
Also, I made a post a couple pages back regarding bittering agents (bay leaves, crushed coffee beans, cocoa beans) - I've moved on this idea and decided that next go I'm going to drop the tea in cheesecloth with a healthy amount of bay leaves, then place that into the boil however at the 10 minute mark, I'm pulling the tea and leave out and replacing them with orange zest and coriander. This beverage contains wheat, why not go after a wit style??
EDIT - I'm with Spam, the hops haven't presented a hop flavor from the tea, another herb may suit this better though picking will be a delicate process, I can imagine particular herbs making this drink turn out like an Italian nightmare.. haha
Also, I made a post a couple pages back regarding bittering agents (bay leaves, crushed coffee beans, cocoa beans) - I've moved on this idea and decided that next go I'm going to drop the tea in cheesecloth with a healthy amount of bay leaves, then place that into the boil however at the 10 minute mark, I'm pulling the tea and leave out and replacing them with orange zest and coriander. This beverage contains wheat, why not go after a wit style??
EDIT - I'm with Spam, the hops haven't presented a hop flavor from the tea, another herb may suit this better though picking will be a delicate process, I can imagine particular herbs making this drink turn out like an Italian nightmare.. haha
rycov
Well-Known Member
look up gruit ale. its beer made with spices and herbs other than hops. you could probably find some info on what to use and maybe some amounts. good luck guys! pretty neat project. keep posting you're results
Brewed this today. The longest part was finding the ingredients. The only store that had the tea was Wal-Mart. Then to find the Malted Milk it was next to the chocolate syrup not next to the milk or the baking goods. The only variation is I am going to use lager yeast and ferment at lager temp. Will give updates.
So my first and only introduction to brewing with bread yeast was the JAOM I did kind of simultaneously with my first extract beer. Instead of two teaspoons or whatever the directions call for, I massively overpitched with Fleischmann's bread yeast, one whole packet. It took it bone dry. .998 or so. I didn't take an OG, but I'm pretty sure I was over the stated alcohol tolerance.
I wonder if this could be turned into a better hard iced tea with some modification? might be something to try if the beer thing don't work out. My friends and I drink a ton of hard ice ted on 90 degree summer days!
OP
OP
2brew1cup
Well-Known Member
Do you accept the challange??!
underground and under the influence
underground and under the influence
MeinStein
Member
OK I wanted to try this. I like the idea of a super cheap recipe with all of the ingredients directly off the supermarket shelves. I have a store close to my house that quite a bit of Spanish products. I have a problem with using malted milk in a beer recipe. Its just a personal thing (powdered milk in a wheat beer?) Not willing to try it on the first go around. However, in place of it I decided to try malta, unfermented Spanish malt beverage that contains hops. This stuff is really wort without yeast. I tested the SG of the malta right out of the bottle 1.061. I used 2 Lbs of cracked Bulgar Wheat and 2 bottles of the malta. I pretty much stayed with the rest of the recipe but still sort of winging it. Added water and sugar till I got to 1.041 OG. Its bubbling away in my 1 gal carboy. Smells like beer. Looks more like a Dunkel
I'm making a second go at (something like) this Friday, I think I may have found a great organic product that can replace the malted milk. Here's the recipe I've put together over this week - completely experimental however it should be interesting...
Grocery List (2 gallon batch):
20oz jar of Malted Barley Syrup (available at Whole Foods stores, 6 bucks!)
1 large box wheat grain cereal
__oz flaked corn / grits (No measurement yet, depends on the cereal box size. Aiming for 20% corn, 80% cereal)
__lbs dextrose (waiting for gravity sample before adding sugar)
.5oz fresh Ginger Root
2 tarocco oranges (for zest)
.5oz coriander seeds
Baker's yeast
Again, sticking to the plan - only what is available at the grocer
I'm going to grind the corn down, add water at a 2qt per pound ratio, the rest it in the low 150s for around 15 minutes, then bring it to a light boil for 15-20 minutes. Afterward I will add the cereal with more water to bring up the ratio to again, 2qts per pound of additives, mash in the mid 150s for 60.
The schedule above was formed from an article I read on cereal mashes, using the corn to help get conversion. It was an interesting read however I still felt a little bit on the head scratching side.. Regardless, learn by doing.
Mash complete, sparge (168F - measurement depending total amount used for mash, waiting to see the oz's of cereal in a large box). My goal is to end up with around 1.5 gallons to boil give or take.
30 minute boil:
20oz Malted Barley Syrup @ 30
.5oz grated Ginger Root @ 30
.5oz crushed coriander @ 5
zest from 2 oranges @ 5
Cool it down, pour in the bucket, add water to take it up to 2 gallons, take a gravity sample - add sugars to adjust the gravity as needed, then pitch. My goal would be a low ABV, 4 maybe.. Again though, doing it on the fly.
Dark Ginger Wit?..
Meh..
I'm just having too much fun with this topic. Did you know that older dry ginger root can be used as a natural preservative (just read on that earlier)? Much like hops in beer which is one of the reasons I chose it for my hop sub - may help hold off the skunk, that and its flavor characteristics - spicy, aromatic.. It makes me think of Saaz.
I'll post back pictures.
Grocery List (2 gallon batch):
20oz jar of Malted Barley Syrup (available at Whole Foods stores, 6 bucks!)
1 large box wheat grain cereal
__oz flaked corn / grits (No measurement yet, depends on the cereal box size. Aiming for 20% corn, 80% cereal)
__lbs dextrose (waiting for gravity sample before adding sugar)
.5oz fresh Ginger Root
2 tarocco oranges (for zest)
.5oz coriander seeds
Baker's yeast
Again, sticking to the plan - only what is available at the grocer
I'm going to grind the corn down, add water at a 2qt per pound ratio, the rest it in the low 150s for around 15 minutes, then bring it to a light boil for 15-20 minutes. Afterward I will add the cereal with more water to bring up the ratio to again, 2qts per pound of additives, mash in the mid 150s for 60.
The schedule above was formed from an article I read on cereal mashes, using the corn to help get conversion. It was an interesting read however I still felt a little bit on the head scratching side.. Regardless, learn by doing.
Mash complete, sparge (168F - measurement depending total amount used for mash, waiting to see the oz's of cereal in a large box). My goal is to end up with around 1.5 gallons to boil give or take.
30 minute boil:
20oz Malted Barley Syrup @ 30
.5oz grated Ginger Root @ 30
.5oz crushed coriander @ 5
zest from 2 oranges @ 5
Cool it down, pour in the bucket, add water to take it up to 2 gallons, take a gravity sample - add sugars to adjust the gravity as needed, then pitch. My goal would be a low ABV, 4 maybe.. Again though, doing it on the fly.
Dark Ginger Wit?..
Meh..I'm just having too much fun with this topic. Did you know that older dry ginger root can be used as a natural preservative (just read on that earlier)? Much like hops in beer which is one of the reasons I chose it for my hop sub - may help hold off the skunk, that and its flavor characteristics - spicy, aromatic.. It makes me think of Saaz.
I'll post back pictures.
MeinStein
Member
might be a lot of coriander for only 2 gallons, I'm very curious to see how your recipe works out keep us posted
I used 1oz crushed in 5 gallons of bitter wheat a couple months back and it died out almost immediately, about 3 weeks after bottling it was so subtle it was hardly noticeable.
It was however an amount in my recipe above that I was questioning, I keep flipping between 1/2oz and 1/4oz, I think half because there are no hops and the mask of the beverage will 1/3 come from this however, I think a fourth because too much coriander is just.. gross.
It was however an amount in my recipe above that I was questioning, I keep flipping between 1/2oz and 1/4oz, I think half because there are no hops and the mask of the beverage will 1/3 come from this however, I think a fourth because too much coriander is just.. gross.
Wow, look at Jsmith getting all creative I was wondering about clearing this a little. I read earlier in this thread about using Knoxx gelatin. Did you use that on your first batch? Either way, how much would you use in a full batch (4 gallons) of this stuff. When I did my gravity sample the other day it was still cloudy, but VERY light, I am talking lemonade light, which is what my wife commented that it looked like. I tasted it and it was alright, just not what I am used to. Going to bottle on Sunday which will be 11 days as I just want to get it carbed and cold.
I was wondering about clearing this a little. I read earlier in this thread about using Knoxx gelatin. Did you use that on your first batch? Either way, how much would you use in a full batch (4 gallons) of this stuff. When I did my gravity sample the other day it was still cloudy, but VERY light, I am talking lemonade light, which is what my wife commented that it looked like. I tasted it and it was alright, just not what I am used to. Going to bottle on Sunday which will be 11 days as I just want to get it carbed and cold.
Just fyi, malted milk vs malted grain are not the same thing. This does however sound like an interesting and cheap experiment.
I get US 2 row from my LHBS for $1.09/lb, so could make a cheap session beer with 7lbs of grain and an oz of cheap hops for under $10 too. I usually go the extra mile and add a little CaraPils and some sort of darker sweet or roasty malt and end up with a decent 5 gal brew for $15-20 worth of grain hops and yeast.
I get US 2 row from my LHBS for $1.09/lb, so could make a cheap session beer with 7lbs of grain and an oz of cheap hops for under $10 too. I usually go the extra mile and add a little CaraPils and some sort of darker sweet or roasty malt and end up with a decent 5 gal brew for $15-20 worth of grain hops and yeast.
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