Adventures in Malting

Monstar · Sep 28, 2011

Small update.

I took gravity readings/taste samples of ll the beers I have made from my two batches of barley. All are fermenting just fine, in the .01 to .19 range, and they all taste great!

The problem I am seeing is they are very similar in color. Only two should have been close (13 and 15 SRM) but all four seem to be in that range, where I brewed a pale (6 SRM) and a porter (30 SRM). I need to experience more in this area.

They also all taste like I am making something closer to Vienna or Munich instead of a straight pale base, which means the kiln temp might be getting a little high. To me that is a good thing (they taste great), BUT I would like to get better temperature control on my kilning... apparatus... for the future.

BBL_Brewer · Sep 28, 2011

You could wire the light bulbs through a thermostat and regulate the temperature a little more accurately. Cool process BTW, I might have to give it a try myself one of these days.

Monstar · Sep 28, 2011

Yea, I think I will do that. You definitely should, now that I'm finishing up my 4th batch of malt it is getting a lot easier, not to mention saving me lots of $$$ on grain.

Monstar · Oct 15, 2011

My first beer from home malted barley! Here is the actual recipe I used:

4 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 66.67 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 16.67 %
1 lbs Home Amber (35.0 SRM) Grain 16.67 %
0.30 oz Chinook [13.00 %] (60 min) Hops 22.0 IBU
0.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (30 min) Hops 10.8 IBU
1 Pkgs SafBrew Ale (DCL Yeast #S-33) Yeast-Ale

OG-1.05, FG-1.009

So, some notes. The color is awesome, as you can see. The head pours thick and creamy, and a small layer stays on the top all the way down. I am getting a lot of caramel, which most likely means I need to cool it on the specialties. Had I known it would be this sweet, I would have added more bittering hops. It leaves a VERY nice toasty flavor in my mouth.

All in all, its a pretty good beer! No noticeable off flavors aside from the over-the-top caramel notes. Its also pretty darn clear; especially for the first pour out of the keg. I am very proud.

I will post a side by side of all three beers later tonight. I already know I need to find a better way to estimate the colors of my home malts... all of these beers, at least in the fermenter, looked exactly the same.

Monstar · Oct 15, 2011

Beer number 2!

This was brewed with "copper" malt. Heres the recipe:

Amount Item Type % or IBU
5 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 80.00 %
12.0 oz Home Copper (100.0 SRM) Grain 12.00 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 8.00 %
0.20 oz Nugget [14.80 %] (90 min) Hops 18.7 IBU
0.10 oz Chinook [11.90 %] (75 min) Hops 7.3 IBU
0.25 oz Nugget [14.80 %] (60 min) Hops 21.9 IBU
0.20 oz Chinook [11.90 %] (45 min) Hops 12.9 IBU
1 Pkgs SafAle English Ale (DCL Yeast #S-04) Yeast-Ale

OG- 1.056. FG- 1.015

holy balls is this good. Toasty, malty, perfect hop profile. Its a little hazier than the first brew, but it definitely tastes better.

Actually, drinking this and the first one side by side really makes the Belgian characteristics from the S33 in the first batch more apparent. I had never really tasted that out of S33 before, even thought the package said that it should.

THOROUGHLY enjoying this brew. If someone had given me a pint of this and told me it was from home malted barley, I might not have believed them.

Monstar · Oct 15, 2011

Brewed again today, a pale ale. This is my 4th batch in a row where I have achieved over 90% efficiency. Add that to the fact that my beers taste great...

No way Im going back to store bought grains. Unless, of course, I get lazy =P