Questions about Pre-Milled Storage

[beerguy101]

Hey guys,

I'm new to home brewing and bought a home brew kit and am just awaiting my stainless steel pot to arrive to start my first batch.

My question is the company that sent me the kit also made a shipping error and sent me this as well.

What I believe is two, 11lb vaccum sealed bags of what's labelled "Premium". Since I'm very new to home brewing I'm assuming they are pre-milled Malt.

From what came in my recipe kit for an Oktoberfest Clone the amount of Malt they gave me is very small compared to these big bags.

My Questions are,

1. How long do you think I can store the bags for?

2. Is that amount for something like 30 Gallons of beer?

3. They also shipped me about 6 1oz Hops packages with different names on them. Would I just need the other ingredients similar to what came in my Oktoberfest kit to make more beer with the pre-milled malt and hops?

Thanks in advance and I am very excited to start brewing!

 

[rodwha]

Are the grains intact or crushed open with bits of dust at the bottom?

I'm guessing you understand the mashing process?

11 lbs is about enough to make a typical batch of beer. You'll want to use some specialty malts to give it some character.

You'll need some more yeast too, though you could also schedule your brew days so that you can pour your new wort in to the old fermentor with the yeast cake or even "wash" the yeast to reuse it unless you wanted (which is what I usually do) to create a larger yeast starter so that you have clean yeast to keep around.

What kind of hops did you get?

Have you looked at a brew calculator?

 

[rodwha]

If the grains aren't milled they will last quite a long time. I'm not sure how long they actually last once milled, but I don't like to keep them longer than 2 months as eventually they become a bit stale. I also store mine in my fermentation chamber (64*).

 

[Joseph503]

If the company sent you those grains and hops in error, have you contacted the company to let them know of their mistake? It's not a big cost to them, but they may want them back, being as they probably mixed up someone elses order and sent it to you.

After you've done that, you could then consider using them in a later brew and by the picture the grains appear to be un-milled and will last quite a long time, given that they are stored properly in a cool area with low humidity.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/how-do-you-store-your-grain-135554/

22lbs of base malt would be enough for 10-15 gallons of beer, depending on the OG you're looking for, and whether you use other base malts and specialty malts in conjunction with it.

 

[beerguy101]

Are the grains intact or crushed open with bits of dust at the bottom?

I'm guessing you understand the mashing process?

11 lbs is about enough to make a typical batch of beer. You'll want to use some specialty malts to give it some character.

You'll need some more yeast too, though you could also schedule your brew days so that you can pour your new wort in to the old fermentor with the yeast cake or even "wash" the yeast to reuse it unless you wanted (which is what I usually do) to create a larger yeast starter so that you have clean yeast to keep around.

What kind of hops did you get?

Have you looked at a brew calculator?

They look intact from what I understand.

Since I am new to home brew I bought this kit from Amazon, and also an Oktoberfest Recipe kit as shown in the pic as well.

I was also just going to follow this video http://youtu.be/qCW-SVPCw4Y exactly as it seems to cover everything with what I have. Thoughts?

 

[Hello]

Looking at what you have there and why 11 pounds of uncrushed grain seemed like a lot, you are starting with extract, which is great. That is what is in that can and also whatever is called DME, dried malt extract.

11 pounds of uncrushed grain will work in a 5-gallon batch, echoing what someone said. Supposedly, you can store grain for up to a year but basically you'd want to taste it and see if it tastes stale. If it is base malt then it could take you a long while to use that. However, there is no reason why you cannot try brew in a bag (BIAB) one day in the near future. It would be helpful to know what base grain that is though. They may not be the same, so again tasting it may help. I would forego opening them until you're really ready to use them.

Get some batches under your belt and address those bags later. That is, if the company has not asked for them back. At least let them know you have them. They most likely don't want them back because shipping back to them at their cost will pretty much cause them to lose more money than necessary.

 

[unionrdr]

Those are whole, uncrushed grains & cannot be returned. They are a food item & can't be returned by law. Went through that twice myself. Bonus! They'll keep a long time in a cool, dry place.

 

[rodwha]

Having watched the video he does a fairly good job of going through what's necessary. I must admit I'm a bit more detailed with straining my grains and hops, and pulling as much extract from the container. I'm also more careful when opening my hops and yeast.

I don't fear the Star-San foam, but prefer to allow more of the sanitizer to come off of my equipment. But that's just me. I set my sanitized stuff in the dishwasher to reduce the chances of airborne stuff getting on it.

The general rule of thumb you'll notice here for fermenting, conditioning, and chilling your bottled beer is the 3/3/3 rule, which is 3 weeks/3 weeks/3 days. It's a fairly safe bet as time is generally your friend to a point. I'd much rather allow my beer to sit an extra week than to take a week from a process.

I cut a small section of hose to fit on to my bottling bucket spigot for attaching the bottle filler (wand).

 

[rodwha]

Did you beer kit come with an ale yeast?

Do you have a means of controlling your fermentation temperatures?

 

[unionrdr]

3 weeks in primary is usually plenty for fermenting cleaning up & settling out. Unless you're oaking, adding fruit or the like, you can skip secondary & let the bottles sit at 70F or more for 3 weeks. A week in the fridge gives more time for any chill haze to form & settle out. It'll also get more carbonation into solution that'll give longer lasting carbonation in the glass later.

 

[ThunderpantsBrewing]

They look intact from what I understand.

Since I am new to home brew I bought this kit from Amazon, and also an Oktoberfest Recipe kit as shown in the pic as well.

I was also just going to follow this video http://youtu.be/qCW-SVPCw4Y exactly as it seems to cover everything with what I have. Thoughts?

I think your biggest problem is that you're brewing upside-down. Gravity has always been cruel to upside-down brewers.

 

[unionrdr]

Well, after watching the video, I have a few comments. I like to fill the plastic LME containers to about half full of hot wort, then cap & sake them to get all the extract out. Gets more of it out that way. And I prefer pellet hops to whole leaf added loosely to the boil. The hop flavors & aromas seem to have a bit more edge to them that way. Plus, whole leaf hops greater volume per the same weight make a bigger mess later. It all gets strained out through a fine mesh strainer when I pour the chilled wort into the fermenter. This also helps aerate the wort for initial fermentation. It's also a good idea to at least dunk the caps in the sanitizer (Starsan is the best no-rinse sanitizer imo) before placing it on the filled bottle. Also, the use of the bottling wand, filling the bottle to the top, then removing creates the right amount of headspace in any size bottle by way of volume displacement.