Frank Herbert

Roasted barley by mistake

In the year Ten Thousand One Ninety One, I fucked up my grain bill...

Actually that was March/16/07. That's one of the things that I love about Frank Herbert's Dune, it's timeless. There is high technology, but people still fight with swords, and make wine, and beer. Maybe It's not exactly timeless. It's more like the 70s forever.

Anyway, lets recap the grain bill:

11 Pounds 2-row
8 Ounces crystal
1 Ounce chocolate malt
1 Ounce black malt
1 Ounce roasted barley

For a while now I've just been going with 0.5 Pounds of crystal rather than 6 Ounces. In this instance I boosted the black to a full oz, but in that process I also got distracted by something and ended up dumping an oz of roasted barely in by accident.

Whatever, no big deal.

THE MASH (profile)

Strike with 12 Litres @ 71° Celsius for 62° Celsius
Rest for 60 Minutes
Decoct and add back for 68° Celsius
Rest for 40 Minutes

THE MASH REALITY

Striking in is no problem, it's that second temperature that's hard to achieve. Sometimes it works like a charm, sometimes it's a total disaster. Obviously I'm doing something wrong, and the worst part of this is that I'm doing something wrong inconsistently.

I ended up having to decoct twice, but that turned out to be the least of my troubles. I have a special talent for hooking the wort chiller up to it's self by accident, and letting the tap run cold water into the sink until I discover my error. This time it was a good 15 Minutes before I discovered that the kettle was still burning hot.

Nothing out of the ordinary with the hops. Three additions of Goldings, 1 oz each.

OG: 1.050

TG: 1.009

This beer ended up getting hit by Lactobacillus. It had that faintly sower taste. It wasn't so bad that it was totally undrinkable, but it was depressing.