Weyermann says that once opened, Sinamar should be “used immediately and stored cool,” two seemingly inconsistent instructions. It occurs to me that when I buy it, William’s has already opened the original trade package and repackaged, it without necessarily storing it cool thereafter. I have a partial bottle in the fridge that I may not get through very quickly. I’m wondering… has anybody found an upper limit to how long the homebrew packaged stuff is good under such conditions? If it deteriorates, what are the indications and effects?
Since it is a concentrate made from Weyermann Carafa (DeHusked IIRC), I would expect you can gauge it’s freshness along the same lines you would your roasted malts, or at least the way you would evaluate the deterioration of roast flavors in a beer.
From what I understand, it is a highly acidic product and therefore does not allow for microbial growth. As far as for the longevity purpose, if you keep it cold and sealed it should last quite a long time.
Aren’t you really just using it basically for color adjustment anyway?
Exactly, I don’t want flavor or I’d use roast malt in the grist. So as long as no off flavors develop, I’m good with loss of any flavor it may have. I presume it will remain stable as a colorant.
You could get some caraffa and make a clone batch of sinamar that’s the exact amount you need.
For me, 6 years and counting and it’d still fine
I’ve tried cold steeping roast malt for color recently. Works great. But you just can’t get the concentration of Sinamar, so I still like it for some purposes.
Exactly. Sinamar is not like cold steeping.
Good to know. I had some unopened, maybe 5 years old, kept in a typically cool basement but not refrigerated. I used some for a Chimay Red clone I made in January, added almost at the end of the boil. I tasted a few drops on the tip of my finger, and it tasted ok. I actually wish that I had used more of it. The beer is conditioning, but I’ve tasted a sample of the beer left over after kegging, and carbonated via carbonator cap - and no off taste at all.
Weyermann says 18 months, unopened, on page 34 at: https://www.weyermann.de/downloads/usa/Weyermann_Product_Information_USA_09_2017.pdf
A boil after the cold steep to get a stronger concentration?
That would produce the kind of strong flavors you’re trying to avoid by using either cold steeped black malt or Sinamar. Weyermann concentrates the steeped liquid by a cold vacuum process to make Sinamar.
Did not know that.