BrewSavage
Well-Known Member
I tallied it up and I had 15 different grains in my basement.
It took a while to build up that kind of stockpile but I'm lucky enough to be part of the Washington,DC group grain buys and we have enough buyers willing to split sacks that one can easily build up wide range of grains relatively cheaply.
My friends (aka victims) like drinking something more than BMC and of course they enjoy drinking my home brew (even if I make weasel piss) but they are not snobby tasters and when I suggested a grain tasting I was kind of surprised they were up for it.
So at the local brew pub I presented my victims with 15 ziplocs of grain and we ate them like they were bar snacks.
I was hesitant, because the only feedback (polite and gentle feedback of course from friends) I had ever received from this crew before was bland evaluation of wanting more of "style X" but not interested in "style Y." I was worried that the kinds of nuances in grain would be lost on them but the grain tasting was a hit!
I started with the base grains explaining the malting process. Then we forked into the caramel grains and then went "back" and forked into the toasted grains. And as it happens this was first time I had tasted all the grains at one sitting myself so it was quite informative to me. My friends were very forthcoming on the pros and cons of each grain. I think they felt free to give honest opinions as they were giving opinions on ingredients and not critiquing me or my beer.
Now my feedback from my victims is along the lines of "you need to up the chocolate malt in this stout." or "...I'm not fond of the the 'biscuit' notes ing this ESB..." and best of all "...those raisin/plum notes from the Special B we tasted are NOT present in the trappist!!!"
It was good fun and now my feedback is a lot more interesting.
It took a while to build up that kind of stockpile but I'm lucky enough to be part of the Washington,DC group grain buys and we have enough buyers willing to split sacks that one can easily build up wide range of grains relatively cheaply.
My friends (aka victims) like drinking something more than BMC and of course they enjoy drinking my home brew (even if I make weasel piss) but they are not snobby tasters and when I suggested a grain tasting I was kind of surprised they were up for it.
So at the local brew pub I presented my victims with 15 ziplocs of grain and we ate them like they were bar snacks.
I was hesitant, because the only feedback (polite and gentle feedback of course from friends) I had ever received from this crew before was bland evaluation of wanting more of "style X" but not interested in "style Y." I was worried that the kinds of nuances in grain would be lost on them but the grain tasting was a hit!
I started with the base grains explaining the malting process. Then we forked into the caramel grains and then went "back" and forked into the toasted grains. And as it happens this was first time I had tasted all the grains at one sitting myself so it was quite informative to me. My friends were very forthcoming on the pros and cons of each grain. I think they felt free to give honest opinions as they were giving opinions on ingredients and not critiquing me or my beer.
Now my feedback from my victims is along the lines of "you need to up the chocolate malt in this stout." or "...I'm not fond of the the 'biscuit' notes ing this ESB..." and best of all "...those raisin/plum notes from the Special B we tasted are NOT present in the trappist!!!"
It was good fun and now my feedback is a lot more interesting.
