Three Years Later… Back At It

[PurpleJeepXJ]

It’s been three years since my last brew. My kid just turned four so that probably explains the hiatus. For some reason I thought last night “hey, I want to brew beer this weekend”. My last recipe I prepared for was an American DIPA. Yes, all my ingredients are “old”. My grain (whole) was vacuum sealed in 5# bags, placed in sealed buckets, and has been in a cool, dark, dry space ever since. Hops were vacuum sealed and frozen. I broke out the stir plate and have been rejuvenating a previously refrigerated pack of dry ale yeast. It is currently bubbling away and awaiting brew day tomorrow. I am thoroughly surprised I cleaned all my kettles, pumps, chillers, and utensils before putting them away three years ago. Only trepidation I have is the grain. I know the grain is still in brewable condition but what size should I mill it for being as old as it is? I want to say I have the mill set around .025 - .030. I remember my system did not have issues with efficiency (80ish) or stuck sparges. Any and all advice would be appreciated.

 

[grampamark]

I wouldn’t worry about the grain. If it’s been kept dry and free of bugs it will be in good condition. FWIW, I’m a grain farmer. Whole grain is sometimes stored, in structures designed to promote air circulation, for extended periods without any loss of quality. You shouldn’t have any problems.

 

[Sammy86]

Congratulations on getting back to it! I took a year hiatus with my twins...its like ridding a bike...i've been non stop since the first brew...40 gallons so far!

 

[JohnSand]

I think you'll be fine. Post your results.

 

[PurpleJeepXJ]

Jesus Christ… I forgot how much of a pain in the a$$ my system is. Over shot my gravity by .02 which I guess is a good thing…? Then during the boil my brother-in-law comes over and says ‘hey where is that strainer thing you used to put your hops in?’… well good question… no idea. 10oz of pellet hops later I open the ball valve to drain my kettle… and… nothing. I scramble to find my racking cane from the extract days. While digging I find both a brand new false bottom AND a bazooka tube. I guess hop clogging was an issue I had years back and bought two solutions that I forgot about. Brew is in the carboy… I guess that is all that matters.

 

[robert.balsinger]

I just used a 14 year old victory biscuit that was stored in a full glass container. It was still yummy with no stale smell or taste. Just 7% of bill so no problem expected. Hmmmm, maybe I can get some 4000 year old grain from a pyramid in Egypt. I’ll call it Pharoah’s Pils.

 

[PurpleJeepXJ]

I just used a 14 year old victory biscuit that was stored in a full glass container. It was still yummy with no stale smell or taste. Just 7% of bill so no problem expected. Hmmmm, maybe I can get some 4000 year old grain from a pyramid in Egypt. I’ll call it Pharoah’s Pils.

You know years back I made recipes from some of our Founding Fathers and the beer was horrible. I guess our tastes have changed over the years. Also wow have the costs of false bottoms gone up in the last few years!! The sticker on the one I found says $28.95

 

[Saunassa]

so how is the rejuvenated yeast doing? Did is start fermenting and how did the wort taste?

 

[PurpleJeepXJ]

Wort tasted perfectly fine. The dry yeast I used “expired” August of 2020. I mixed up about 200ml of dark LME, 10 years old but brand new, with 1L of water. The water was new don’t worry. Mixed all of that with the yeast in my 2L flask and output put it on a stir plate two days before pitching. I did cycles of 8hrs on and 8hrs off. Don’t know where I came up with that last part from but it seemed right from my liquid starter and harvesting days. All in all the fermentation is going well. I may actually need to go put a blow off tube on in a little while.

 

[robert.balsinger]

You know years back I made recipes from some of our Founding Fathers and the beer was horrible. I guess our tastes have changed over the years. Also wow have the costs of false bottoms gone up in the last few years!! The sticker on the one I found says $28.95

I thought about doing that once. Then I found G Washington's recipe using pine needles for bittering. No Thanks.