Old Sorghum Extract

So, I was in the basement looking for some stuff, and I stumbled upon a box. Inside this box, I found 2 3 lb jars of sorghum malt extract, some yeast, hops, rice syrup extract, orange peel...basically all the fixins for my GF Witless. It took a great deal of study, but at bought the sorghum in June 2010 at the absolute latest. No idea how 'fresh' it was when I bought it from ye olde LHBS.

I decided it would be a waste to throw these things away, so instead I made beer. I figured the extract might be a little darker than originally intended, so I decided to try a late-addition. I put the rice in right away, but didn't add the sorghum for another half-hour. When I was done, the wort looked like wort, and it tasted like wort. The yeast said it was good until Jan 2011. I pitched 2 packets (T-58), just in case. Also, I ended up sticking my hand in the wort, and some of the yeast stuck to my hand. I did this purely as an experiment, not because I dropped one of the yeast packages in the wort.

I don't know if anyone has used ~ 1 year old sorghum extract in a brew, but I'll let you know the results when it is done.

Oh, and the yeast is going nuts by the way. I brewed Wednesday night, and already yesterday morning the airlock was bubbling and I had to turn down the little heater in the 'Fermentation Room' in my basement. Last night, the airlock sounded like a fish tank bubbler, and I turned down the heat some more. :rockin:

dorklord said:

Oh, and the yeast is going nuts by the way. I brewed Wednesday night, and already yesterday morning the airlock was bubbling and I had to turn down the little heater in the 'Fermentation Room' in my basement. Last night, the airlock sounded like a fish tank bubbler, and I turned down the heat some more. :rockin:

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This is because you massively overpitched, not a good thing to do if you actually want it to taste like a wit, but also certainly won't ruin the beer either. Dry yeast does not need to be refrigerated and lasts a very long time.

why did you stick your hand in? experiment for what?

DKershner said:

This is because you massively overpitched, not a good thing to do if you actually want it to taste like a wit, but also certainly won't ruin the beer either. Dry yeast does not need to be refrigerated and lasts a very long time.

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I figured that that yeast, from being older, wouldn't have quite the viability of fresh. Also, I lost a lot of the first packet of yeast. Quite a bit of it stuck to the spoon and my hand/arm.

rycov said:

why did you stick your hand in? experiment for what?

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That was an attempt at humor. While dumping in the yeast, I dropped the whole packet into the wort. Since those packets have a paper label that is glued on, I didn't want to leave it in there...

I tried to scoop it out with my sanitized spoon, but had no luck, so I stuck my arm in the sanitizer, then reached in and grabbed it. It was actually floating just below the surface, out of sight of course, but I got it the first try and didn't have to stick my arm in much past my wrist.

Sarcasm works really well over the internet. <-- sarcasm

DKershner said:

Sarcasm works really well over the internet. <-- sarcasm

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I'm still having trouble with concepts like 'humor' and 'sarcasm'.

In the past I've tried using tags, like this:

[humor]
How many programmer does it take to change a lightbulb?


None, that's a hardware problem.
[/humor]

I've been using some pretty old Sorghum that I know has been at the LHBS for over a year. In fact, until recently, that's *all* I've been using. Then they ran out (except for a few pounds of 60DE which I'll pick up anyways for experimentation). It's worked, at least halfway decently since I haven't had too much to compare to other than beer (bards, redbridge, new grist and Jolly Pumpkin Bellipago).

kevinm said:

i've been using some pretty old sorghum that i know has been at the lhbs for over a year. In fact, until recently, that's *all* i've been using. Then they ran out (except for a few pounds of 60de which i'll pick up anyways for experimentation). It's worked, at least halfway decently since i haven't had too much to compare to other than beer (bards, redbridge, new grist and jolly pumpkin bellipago).

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60 de?

Yeah. Go figure. http://www.briess.com/food/Products/nswss.php I asked about it in my "no real topic/introduction thread" before, and I think it was said that it was less fermentable? I still can't get that right. All I know is that it's making a far darker beer with a lager yeast than one I did a few months ago, which I think I used 45HM on. It fermented pretty quickly and settled out, while the 100% BRS comparision took well over a month to finish fermenting, unless the 60DE merely stalled. Problem I have with the 1 gallon tests is trying to get enough liquid to do a hydro test, so I'll check it out probably in another week.

That reminds me that once I have money, I need to go buy up whatever's left so I can see what it actually does (kinda). The containers are caked in dust and they pretty much told me that it was pretty old.

KevinM said:

Yeah. Go figure. http://www.briess.com/food/Products/nswss.php I asked about it in my "no real topic/introduction thread" before, and I think it was said that it was less fermentable? I still can't get that right. All I know is that it's making a far darker beer with a lager yeast than one I did a few months ago, which I think I used 45HM on. It fermented pretty quickly and settled out, while the 100% BRS comparision took well over a month to finish fermenting, unless the 60DE merely stalled. Problem I have with the 1 gallon tests is trying to get enough liquid to do a hydro test, so I'll check it out probably in another week.

That reminds me that once I have money, I need to go buy up whatever's left so I can see what it actually does (kinda). The containers are caked in dust and they pretty much told me that it was pretty old.

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Was this like 3 or 6 lb containers?

I've gotten my 6 lb jugs from Northern Brewer, and then I got 2 lb 'jars' from my LHBS, I take it they were both the 'lighter' stuff. I would certainly like to try the darker stuff if I could get my hands on it...

Dunkelweizen...:cross:

I think someone bought a bucket long ago and poured it into separate containers (kind scary to think about). They varied, most were roughly 1.4 pounds. There's probably ways to get a large bucket of it. I looked it up when looking up tapioca syrup suppliers.

KevinM said:

I think someone bought a bucket long ago and poured it into separate containers (kind scary to think about). They varied, most were roughly 1.4 pounds. There's probably ways to get a large bucket of it. I looked it up when looking up tapioca syrup suppliers.

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Did you find/use tapioca syrup? Maybe I missed a thread about that...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f164/brewed-few-weeks-ago-225351/ was using 7 pounds. I didn't ask about his source in the thread. We should.
Jolly Pumpkin brewery over by me uses tapioca syrup in their gluten free beer.

Brewcraft sells the 7 pound tapioca jar, but I don't know of any stores that carry it yet.
LDcarlson supplies the 60DE but again, the retail source is elusive.

KevinM said:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f164/brewed-few-weeks-ago-225351/ was using 7 pounds. I didn't ask about his source in the thread. We should.
Jolly Pumpkin brewery over by me uses tapioca syrup in their gluten free beer.

Brewcraft sells the 7 pound tapioca jar, but I don't know of any stores that carry it yet.
LDcarlson supplies the 60DE but again, the retail source is elusive.

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I see...when I used to have a LHBS, he told me he could get basically anything LDCarlson carried...He was certainly able to get me the sorghum extract...