Have you ever wondered what a beer made with old Pils malt, old hops, expired yeast, mashed for 15 minutes, boiled for 15 minutes, and chilled in a water bath would taste like? I did, so I figured I’d give it a shot. If you’re curious how this short and shoddy brew turned out, read on!
“I think some were relived when I informed them this blind tasting wouldn’t involve a digital survey”
I seriously choked on my coffee and some went out of my nose when I read this line ^^^(I am a NP and “digital survey” to me means a prostate check)
Nice blog post dude, mind exploding…
Pretty cool, grains didn’t happen to have been precrushed for 2 years did they? I personally think that, if stored properly, uncrushed grains can last 2 years no problem.
Cool stuff - anyone read that article the dude from Harpoon put out stating their boston brewery was the perfect spot to hide out during a zombie apocalypse? One of the selling points was enough grain and hops to make beer indefinitely… this sounds like a nice test of how these old grains and hops will fare haha.
For one thing this is a good reminder about how forgiving beer can be. We can get lost in brewing chemistry, mash temps etc. but you can put together a perfectly good beer without much planning if you have the basics down. While I have not done a 15 minute mash and boil, a lot of my brew days are similar to the one Marshall describes: I realize I have a little bit of time, I see what I have for ingredients, figure out water volumes on the back of an envelope, grind grain into a bag while a kettle of water with a teaspoon of gypsum comes up to temp and go. I don’t know if my very best beers were made this way but never any bad ones.
This is rather surprising, indeed. Thanks for posting.
This also reminds me that I have been meaning to get some heat resistant silicone gloves for my biab batches, although I am going to get longer ones.
They were not precrushed. He had a picture showing the grains in the mill while crushing.
That was a fun read, Marshall. It’s pretty satisfying to clean out some old ingredients with low expectations only to come out with a reasonably good result…
…but I wouldn’t call it a Helles :o
I can see this technique being handy for making small experimental batches to try out new ingredients and stranger recipes. I’d be inclined to do just just one gallon so it’s even quicker to heat/boil/chill and drain the bag (I note chilling still took 4 hours). Could be great fun as you’d get to brew more often without giving up too much time.
Ha! Thanks. I was in a hurry this AM and skimmed down to the conclusion.
Why is planning for brewing during the zombie apocalypse not a category on this forum.? That is an important, oft overlooked, issue. If we don’t plan ahead we will have to drink old cans of duff or this stuff…
That’s hilarious.
I made sure not to label the beer in this one…
I will start by saying I am a novice. I wonder if the 15 minute mash worked well because of the small size of the mash. As I typed that I thought that with more grain there would be more water, so the #s of grain probably don’t matter as much as I had originally thought.
I have proven that to myself many times.
This also shows how us new brewers get hooked. Even if I mess up a little, making drinkable not bad beer is pretty easy. Then we fall down the rabbit hole and making your new favorite beer is just plain magical.
Good stuff. Beer never ceases to amaze me with how resilient it can be. No matter how much us brewers try to sabotage it.
Ha! I bet that crap still tastes better than some of the beers I have been served at my local brew club meetings.
Anyway, Marshall, you never cease to amaze me with your posts. I guess the name of that beer should simply be “15”. Cool…