Wierd Idea..?

[motorneuron]

You should post the same basic question in the gluten-free forum. Those guys know about working with all kinds of different non-standard plant products. I bet at least one person there has malted and/or mashed lentils.

 

[CDGoin]

I searched Lentils all over the forum.. and nothing came up...

They just might never have thought about it..

 

[BorealBrewer]

I've been poking far and wide for info on lentil malt, lentil beer, etc. Not only does HBT's gluten free site not have a lentil section...the internet is pretty quiet on the subject.

It seems to pop up now and again as an idea, and the response is becoming predictable- discussions of epic beer farts, protein-shake consistency, comparisons to Indian food, etc...but no one seems to back this up with testing.

If this lentil-malt-adjuncted brew goes well, I'll malt some more lentils, and up the percentage. If that goes well...who knows? Maybe it would be time to try something gluten-free, like sorghum/lentil.

Brew day is on for tomorrow morning, kicking off at about 10 CDT. (Evening shift tomorrow, hoping to come home to a nice bubbling 1-gal fermenter!)

The water is fixed, but I took CD's advice about perhaps laying off the tap water for a bit. Haven't noticed any appreciable change in H2O quality since the break...but I want this to be about malted lentils, not municipal plumbing issues.

All systems are go for brew, with backups in place!

 

[CDGoin]

Cool.. with exception of the guy that did it and then threw brown sugar into his batch to get it to ferment.. seems both I and Boreal didn't find a single person that had done it accurately.

Definately no Brewers that had done it.

I even bought the Radical Brewing book.. that someone said they had remembered something in it.. and nothing.

The funny thing, as someone has pointed out, neither lentils or brewing are "NEW".. so if it had been done and was fruitful.. it would have already been done, documented, and be possibly a local drink in areas that Lentils are plentiful and grains are not.

I am genuinely curious now as Boreal has the AG experience.. and we should know shortly. The funny thing is if it does work.. there are many different styles of Lentils.. would could mean different styles of Beer

 

[BorealBrewer]

So, for anyone thought I was all talk (or typing, as the case may be!)

Brew X1-13 (eXperimental beer #1 of 2013) (will give it a proper name if and when it deserves one) is 30 minutes into its mash.

So far, so good. Aroma is 6-row, with a slight earthy note I'm ascribing to the lentils. Refrac reading: 1.029. Not bad for 1/3 of the way through the planned mash.

 

[BorealBrewer]

T+60 minutes - all systems nominal!

SG is up to 1.042. Hopville suggested 1.040 as gravity this batch would hit...but Hopville is really not set up for lentils!

Temp has been between 149F and 153F, pretty much of target.

I will let this go until the gravity hits 1.050 (I want this to be a session beer...not lentil malt liquor!), or for 30 minutes more, as per the recipe.

UPDATE: 87 minutes - SG has hit 1.045. I'm letting it go to 95 minutes. Sparge water is ready!

 

[CDGoin]

Sweet.. ! So what do the calcs say it would be minus the Barley..?

Is there way to tell how much the lentils are providing to the OG ?

If you get up to the 50 range, that tells me it could work well in a stout..

Can't wait to see what it does for head retention, taste, feel, etc.. Mind sending me a bottle if successful ?

 

[BorealBrewer]

Sparging complete - Brew in a Bag makes that step easy!

Pre-sparge, the wort had hit 1.047. Respectable!

Chewing on some spent grain, either the lentils absorbed sugars, or converted. The spent grains tasted a LOT better than spent grains with barley, corn, and rice...FWIW.

CD, I have a ton of ideas and question regarding your last post, like where this experiment goes from here. I'm going to PM you later, if that's cool...right now, I have a boil to watch!

 

[Nashbrewer]

I'm interested in how is going. Please keep us all informed of the process.

 

[CDGoin]

Oh he will.. I am sure once he gets a FG and its in the fermenter he will let us know..

 

[BorealBrewer]

Ok - sorry - didn't mean to be exclusionary in any way!

The boil is over, the wort is chilling - and wow, is the cold break awesome! I was worried about protein haze in this beer...not that I'm brewing it to have a nice, conventionally clear beer, but still, 6-row and lentils...lots of protein.

So far, the lentils seem to be doing everything irish moss might, and more.

Gravity as the yeast goes in - 1.042. I didn't mean to be over-posting this brew...I just knew there were others who were interested!

So, if I mashed a known quantity of malt, and then that same known quantity of malt plus some lentils - and everything else is kept equal - any difference in SG between the two should be coming from the lentils, allowing us to calculate their pts-per-gallon contribution to SG, right?

 

[CDGoin]

It would only make sense logically.. but we are talking about cooking..

But the difference would undeniably be because of the lentils, one way or the other.

What I mean by that is:

The difference may not be attributed TO THE Lentils products themselves
(What they add to the pool if you will)

But would definitely be BECAUSE OF them..
(The chemical reactions and associated byproducts produced by the lentils and the barley)

 

[CDGoin]

Gravity as the yeast goes in - 1.042.

BTW.. I don't know about you.

But my Hydrometer calls 1.042 BEER

 

[BorealBrewer]

CD - Life doesn't begin until 40...1.040!

After figuring out gravity contribution (because of the lentils, with help from barley enzymes), the next test would be their power to self-convert (the gravity contribution attributable to lentils relying on their own enzymes).

That's why I'm malting 255g, and only plan on using 100g in my initial test. I'll have some material left over to play with to figure out conversion power!

In case anyone's interested, I pitched Nottingham. I like it as a fairly neutral yeast, and I've always had good, fast ferments with it. I want to be able to taste what, if any impact the lentil malt has on the final product; and if the ferment hangs, or starts slow, or doesn't start...it's safe to assume its the lentil malt, not the yeast.

 

[CDGoin]

LOL...

Man I am so glad you jumped on this thread.. otherwise I would still be wondering.. and waiting for my current brews to finish up so I could try.

 

[BorealBrewer]

I got my wish, I came home to foam and bubbles in the fermenter!

At this point, time to focus on lentil malt, round two - batch one is in the capable hands of the yeast!

 

[CDGoin]

AWESOME !!!

VERY Curious if you could do an ALL Lentil and possibly a Gluten-Free mash (Lentil, Oatmeal, and whatever they use thats Gluten free).

We may have a seriously invented something NEW to the brewing world, and to all those Gluten Free junkies out there. Question is, is there such thing as a gluten free stout, if not maybe its time to try.. with lentils

 

[BorealBrewer]

Got home today to a nice white 2" foam on top of the fermenter. Not as crazy as I've had on some batches, but a lot more than on some others. After taking a refrac reading, and running it through a calculator to adjust for the presence of alcohol and what not, the SG is down to 1.033.

The GF aspect intrigues me - but I think I'm a ways from there yet. Once I know if lentils actually have the diastatic power to convert themselves, that avenue looks a little more interesting. If lentils convert themselves, 100% lentil is possible. Would it still be a beer? Would it be drinkable? Hard to say. Would it be cool? Yes!!!!

I can't help but feel this project is still in it's initial stages...but yeah, it's hard to to get excited about the possibilities!

At this point, though, I feel I've got a model-rocket scale brew going on, and a lentil-based stout might be a Saturn V kinda project.

Not that I'm not up for the challenge. My Dad's a chemist, and his mentor worked on the Manhattan Project and the Avro Arrow. He used to tell stories about those days, and he made lab work sound cool and cavalier...I never found that in school, but this project's got me feeling it!

 

[CDGoin]

My Uncle in law - SR-71

All I can say is WOW... !

PM me so we can email each other ... talked to a microbrew in the area.. We maybe on to something... Thats all I can say..

 

[BorealBrewer]

Whew! That was a fast ferment...the hydrometer reading is now 1.009. I'm sticking this in the cold room to clear up a bit. Because it's only a gallon, I haven't taken a hydro sample, just sanitize the heck out of the hydrometer and measure in the fermenter.

I only mention this because I haven't had a hydrometer sample to taste-test. (C'mon, we all do it!) The little bit of beer that stuck to the hydro after testing tonight tasted like light beer. No veggie taste.

But, I have a head cold, and could be WAY off!

I can also let the world know: a few millilitres of lentil beer have not cause epic beer farts.

 

[chri5]

Really cool thread.

I really want to give this a shot too. Are the regular dried lentils the ones you used for sprouting?

 

[CDGoin]

Cant wait to find out what the sample is like. Looks like its going to be a about an abv of 5%.. Nice..

 

[BorealBrewer]

Initial batch is now cold-crashing in my cold room.

Disappointment on the second batch - nothing major, just a setback...I've had a bad cold for a couple days now, and too this point, didn't realize how much I depend on my nose when malting. I think I left he lentils too long this go round, and they soured - I detect a distinct 3-bean-salad note when I munch a few.

I'm drying/kilning today as planned, the sour taste also might be attributable to not having olfactory function.

I just gotta hang out in front of the oven, 'cuz there is no way I'd smell them if they started burning. I'm all for roast and dark malts, but not so much for oven fires!

I asked my GF is she'd be willing to come over and act as my nose she told me she'd rather me try this one on my own. If there's an oven fire, she said that she'd come over - to check out the firefighters!

 

[CDGoin]

So going for pure lentil batch this time..?

Curious how "burnt" the second malting batch was..? Maybe throw it in to a batch too see if you get a "darker" beer.

Also if the all lentil batch works, see if it works with oatmeal..

Curious any sampling yet..?

 

[BorealBrewer]

Actually, this was just the lentil malt itself that seems sour, I'm drying it right now. Nothing's burned yet - I'm just watching the oven like a hawk because I wouldn't smell burning until it was WAY too late to salvage anything.

 

[CDGoin]

Hmm.. So how it go?

 

[BorealBrewer]

Well, second batch may be a write-off. As I feared, I let the lentils grow too long, under too damp of conditions - my nose is still a little plugged, and I'm thankful for it, because the odour (not aroma, not scent, not even smell, the ODOUR) of this batch in the oven was sauerkraut-meets-refried-beans. I like these two things on their own, not combined, and not as a brewing adjunct.

Back on the horse, though - I just got back from the bulk shop with another pound, and it'll be soaking soon.

-EDIT: I did keep the lentil malt, on the hope that kilning drove off the smell and presumed taste. I'm going to let it rest and air out a couple days yet...I have got off smells from barley malt that cleared in kilning and airing...but nothing like this. Time will tell.

Original brew is starting to drop clear. Needs another few days, cold, probably, but it is looking quite nice, the colour of a Marzen, maybe.

 

[jeffjm]

At worst, you've discovered the lentil equivalent of sauermalz!

 

[BorealBrewer]

Yeah...I thought that maybe, too...it might be worth seeing if it changes pH of a mash...thing is, sauermalz tastes decent. I haven't worked up the guts to nibble this yet. The oven smell was a fair bit less pleasant than saurmalz when it's drying.

Once my nose/palate are all the way back to normal, and I'm feeling crazy, I'm going to chew some and see if its worth brewing with.

 

[BorealBrewer]

So, after the bad news, some good news - the cold crash/gelatin has worked, and the beer's dropped clear! Bottling Friday or Saturday.

The colour is considerably lighter than it looked pre-crash. Tending towards true amber, with a reddish undertone.

Lentilmalz mark III starts this weekend!