Sourdough Stories 15: Spent Grain Bread

The Hubs was brewing a Red Ale this past week; since the homebrew beer bread turned out so well, I wanted to see how some of the spent grains would taste.  The grains from homebrewing always make for a lot of waste; sometimes we'll give them to our neighbors for their chickens, but when they don't need any, we have to figure out how to dispose of them.  I've used spent grains in the past to make cookies or granola (and I did make a batch of cookies as well), but after adding the malted wheat to the recipe last week, I figured some spent grains would work equally well.

I found a recipe online from another homebrewer who had done this before; I wanted to start there since I'd be dealing with an inclusion of an unknown hydration. Also, that way if someone had already tried it and it sucked, I wouldn't need to waste my time.  I decided to save an extra 125g of spent grains in the freezer so I could make this again sometime whether The Hubs was brewing or not.

Our Red Ale uses the following grain bill: 68% two row pale malt, 8% Caramel 120L, 5% Carapils, 5% Cara Red, 5% Melanoiden Malt, 5% Aromatic Malt, & 3% Roasted Barley.  He also added rice hulls during the brewing process to create a better filter bed so the water can flow through the mash more easily & extract more starches (we use a Brewzilla all in one system).  If you use Brew-In-A-Bag (BIAB) or another method, the rice hulls might not be necessary, and honestly the spent grains are a bit easier to utilize in recipes without them, but they don't do any harm--they're just kinda pokey and get to get stuck in your teeth like popcorn hulls.

Brewing in process.

The resulting spent grains is a mix of these malt grains + rice hulls, stripped of most of their starches but they retain much of their protein content and fiber.  Both of which would be a nice addition to some fresh bread, amiright?

The original recipe is for 2 loaves, but I divided and just made one. I also used my Kitchenaid dough hook to mix & knead, rather than folding on the countertop.  The original baker notes using a wet countertop for working the dough.  I feel weird about working directly on our granite countertops, and prefer to fold in a bowl to make less mess.  

When it came time to incorporate the spent grains, the original baker recommends rolling out the dough on a wet countertop, then spreading the grains out, and then rolling it up. But y'all...this dough was STICKY. Super Sticky.  I had to scrape the dough off my work surface and just decided to use the Kitchenaid to incorporate that as well.

Looking pretty before I realized it was semi-permanently attached to the cutting board.

Since it was a fairly wet dough, I learned my lesson from last week and decided to bake this in a loaf pan rather than attempt to make a boule.

Pre-bulk rise.

Post- bulk rise & overnight ferment in the fridge.  

Then into the oven she went the next morning, along with a partial pan of water.  And roughly 40 minutes later, we had...

...and oddly pale loaf.  I'm not really sure what happened here.  Texture is fine, and this is one of the few breads I've actually used a thermometer to confirm the inner temperature was good & fully baked.  Just...pale.  My best guess is it has something to do with using a glass loaf pan rather than metal, and that maybe the oven got a bit TOO steamy.  Ah well. Still tasted great, and had a nice light crust.

Sourdough Stories, Part 14: Homebrew Beer Bread!

If you've been around a while, you know The Hubs is a homebrewer.  We've been making beer since before we had Lil' Man (mostly him--I help with cleaning and any tasks that require an extra set of hands).  Which got me curious: I know there are plenty recipes for "quick" beer breads, but what about a SOURDOUGH beer bread?  The Googles sent me to King Arthur's recipe, which calls for "malted flaked wheat".  

But we're HOME BREWERS.  We don't need King Arthur's fancy-schmancy stuff, right?  I hit up the local homebrew store to talk with the owners.  At which point they informed me that they carry "flaked wheat", and "malted wheat"...but had never heard of "malted flaked wheat".  After some more Googling, we realized that this ingredient is apparently an invention of King Arthur, and at $17/bag, they're quite proud of it.

We deliberated over the benefits of going with one or the other: the flaked wheat would be closer to the texture, but the malted wheat would provide a more malty flavor. I decided flavor was more important (because the cracked wheat would add it's own, interesting texture).  Then they asked, "red wheat, or white wheat"?  Todd, one of the owners, noted white wheat would be more mild, while the red wheat would add some spicy or peppery notes.  I chose the red, which they milled for me onsite (not down to flour, but cracked to allow better access to the starches inside).  They sold me a "heaping cup's" worth for a whopping 50 cents. TAKE THAT, KING ARTHUR!!!  HUZZAH!

Also picked up some wheat & rye flour at the bulk foods store.

After learning my lesson with some previous recipes, I made sure we started this one with a VERY happy, bubbly starter, which I'd added some whole wheat & rye flour to for an extra boost of nutrition. And we transferred Mandough into a much more appropriate container. 

Since this recipe varies a bit from the original, I decided to share my version below.

INGREDIENTS:

Soaker: 120g of malted red wheat, milled + 113g boiling water (combine & set aside for later)

Dough:

• 227g active, bubbly starter
• 255g homebrew (we used a Dunkel)
• 210g AP flour
• 210g bread flour
• 21g raw honey
• 12g salt

DIRECTIONS:

Combine & set aside your soaker for later.  (Note: this smelled like Grape Nuts and I kinda wanted to try a bite.)  

Somewhere in this process, another major difference between malted wheat and flaked wheat occurred to me:  flaked wheat will soak up all of the boiling water.  BUT...the same is not true of just the cracked wheat.  So by going with the malted wheat, I was giving my dough a higher hydration percentage.  If you wanted to play around with this and make something with more internal structure to it, I would recommend actually cooking the wheat in the water, maybe in the microwave for a while, to steam off some of the extra water and soften up the grains a bit more.  

Our homebrew dunkel--and yes, I drank the rest of the bottle while prepping the dough.

Next, combine your starter, beer, and flours in a stand mixer with a dough hook and let it go for about 3 minutes on the lowest speed.  Then let it rest for 30 minutes (autolyze).   After the rest, add the soaker, honey, and salt, and mix on the lowest speed for 1 minute or until fully incorporated. 

Then turn the mixer speed up by ONE and let it go for about 3-4 minutes. It should be somewhat tacky but fairly soft and supple.  The extra hydration from the malted wheat soaker will make it a fairly loose dough.  Cover and let it rise for 1 hour.

Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and gently fold (I like the envelope fold) a few times, stretching the dough as you go. This is a high hydration dough so it won't be too difficult. Then place it back in the bowl and rest for another hour.

After the hour has passed, repeat this folding process and let rest for one more hour (should be at a total of 3 hours of rise time at this point).  Because this is such a high hydration dough, it might warrant some extra folds. Note: if  did this again, I'd use all bread flour to help add some extra gluten & structure.

After the final rest, turn out onto a floured counter & shape into a round (Note: because of the extra hydration, you could also roll this & put it into a loaf pan to add some structure.). Cover with lightly greased plastic wrap & let set for 20 minutes.  As you can see--my round kept flattening out.  So I did a few extra folds in an attempt to give it some more structure.

After that rest, I tried to shape it into a slightly tighter round, placed a floured tea towel in a bowl, and then turned the boule into the bowl, seam side up, & let rise for another 3ish hours.

Post-rise.

Then I turned it back out onto the floured counter, attempted to tighten into a boule (again), cut a few slits with scissors.  I preheated the oven with a pizza stone to 450F, and added a high sided cookie pan to the lowest rack.  When it was time to put the boule on the pizza stone, I also added a cup of boiling water to the cookie sheet for steam.

Bake for 15 min at 450F, then 25-30 minutes at 400F. Then remove from the oven and let cool on a baker's rack.

Scissor cuts kinda turned into heart shapes. 

Result: flat-ish loaf that made long, skinny slices which are too long for the toaster.  Slightly tough crust.  But very flavorful.  

Also made great garlic bread.

Adventures in Homebrewing: DIY Kegerator / Keyser!

Last week we talked about making the switch to all-grain brewing...and the kegerator wasn't far behind.  

We held off on the kegerator for a long time, because we like to have a variety of beer around the house.  Bottling allows you to store several batches for a long time and have tons of variety in the fridge.  But...cleaning, sanitizing, and capping each bottle is also a huge pain in the butt, and we, like many brewers, have dealt with the annoyance of having some of your bottles not get clean enough and ending up with some random funky off-flavors in a normally drinkable beer.  

Dunkel--the last batch we bottled before making the switch. Unfortunately, our ratio on priming sugar was off and these ended up under-carbonated, so we had to uncap them all, add more priming sugar, and then wait another several more weeks until they were ready to drink, while praying they didn't explode.

With kegging, you're just getting one big vessel super-spankin' clean--and it's a heckuva lot easier to get to all the nooks & crannies.  Also, if you want to force carbonate your beer right after you're done with fermentation, you can, rather than bottling and then waiting 2-4 more weeks for them to carbonate. So...we finally pulled the trigger.

Step 1: Find a freezer & convert.  So, technically this is a "keyser" because we made it out of a freezer rather than a fridge, but either will work.  We had a small chest freezer out in our garage, so we upgraded to a larger upright freezer for storing food, and moved the chest freezer into a storage room in our basement with some extra space (room temps in our basement stay more consistently cool, so this was preferable to having it in the garage where temps fluctuate more and would require more energy from the system). 

It has enough room for two pencil kegs (each holds 5 gallons).  We see similar models pop up frequently on Craigslist & Facebook Marketplace--you can find one for $50-75.  You'll have to turn the internal temperature of the unit up to about 40F, so that it functions as a fridge rather than a freezer.  We  installed a digital temperature controller--attached the temperature probe to the outside of one of the kegs (covered with insulation, so it's measuring keg temp, not ambient temp inside the kegerator) to check beer temp, and then the freezer plug-in connects to the controller to tell the freezer when to kick on and off to maintain temp. (Note: if you start with a fridge rather than a freezer, this step isn't needed.)

Step 1a: Buy Kegs & CO2 tank - We found ours on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist--$100 for a 20 lb filled CO2 tank is a good price.  Our unit fits two pencil/soda kegs.  You can get pin-lock kegs for about $35, or ball-lock for about $40: ball-lock is preferred, as they're more interchangeable.  When you get these home, you'll want to clean them well, and then do a pressure test to make sure they don't have any pin-holes or leaks in them.  We'd also recommend replacing the seals (they're cheap) so you know when that was done last.  You'll also need a CO2 regulator for the tank (there are multi-valve models available if you want the option to vary the amount of CO2 pressure you mix for different types of beers.)

Step 2: Make a collar:  So you don't have to drill through the unit to install the taps--then if you want to convert it back into a regular freezer later, you can with no issues.  Disconnect the hinges to remove the lid, measure dimensions, then cut boards to fit and glue + screw together, with caulk on the inner corners for a good seal.  You can vary what size boards you choose based on your preference--we went with a 2x12 to give us a little more room for taller kegs (plus we already had them on-hand from replacing deck boards earlier this year).  We also stained the wood after assembly (you could do chalk paint instead if you want to be able to write what beer's on which tap).  And on the short edges, there's an additional board along the inside of each end that extends down into the cooler to stabilize the collar and keep it from falling in.

Step 3: Install taps & manifold -  Stainless steel faucets are recommended over chrome (if your faucets don't come with a spanner wrench, you'll need to buy one to install them properly).  Drill holes (using a step drill or hole saw) into the collar at a size that matches the shank of the faucet--our faucets came with a 2-inch shank which wasn't quite long enough, so we replaced it with an extension shank.   

Then drill one small hole in the collar (ours is on the back corner) for the CO2 line to run into the kegerator (we store the CO2 outside of the kegerator).  Mount the manifold on the inside of the collar.  This is what allows you to run CO2 from one tank to multiple kegs.  These can come with multiple numbers of check valves, depending on how many taps you plan on having.

Step 4: Hooking up Tubing - We got quick disconnects--they're color coded and connect on the keg end.  We used Bev Seal Ultra Tubing.  It's heavy duty and will take some manipulation (heating with heat gun and/or hot water) to soften the tubing to slide onto the disconnects, but once it's on, you're set--they should never leak.  Then we have John Guest fittings which connect to the tap end: the tubing should just slide into the fitting and click when it's in place.

John Guest fittings on the back side of the taps.

For a 2 keg system, you'll have 5 connections:

• CO2 tank regulator to Manifold (barbed fittings, no connectors)
• (2) Manifold to Keg (barbed on manifold end, quick disconnects at Keg)
• (2) Keg to Tap (quick disconnect at keg-end, John Guest fitting at tap) - check out this article about line balancing regarding the length of tubing you should use to keep foam down.

Step 5: Insulate the collar (optional) - more for energy-savings than anything.  We got some pink insulation board from Home Depot. We also used weather strip seal on the top and bottom edges of the collar (where it touches the freezer).

Step 6: Install drip tray - ours is a magnetic "tool tray" & sticks to the freezer.  Found it at Harbor Freight.  Others opt to screw it in to the collar.

Step 7: Leak Check - Once everything is connected, spray all the connections/fittings with sanitizer (including tops of kegs) and watch for bubbles.  If no issues and you don't see your CO2 gauge drop after 1 day, you're good to go!

Step 8: Add fan (optional) - this circulates the air within the unit to help keep a consistent temp (which helps keep foaming down). Any CPU fan will work, but you'll have to adapt the wiring.

Final Product:

Interior

Adventures in HomeBrewing: Making the Switch to All Grain Brewing

As most of you know, we have been home brewing for a while now. It started about 5 years ago when I got the The Hubs a Groupon for a 5-gallon bucket system and a brewing class from our local homebrew store.  It should be noted--The Hubs does most of the brewing--I help with sanitizing, cleaning, stirring when his arm gets tired, handing him things, acquiring bottles, and bragging on him since he's his own worst critic.  

Our first batch in 2014, an American Bock (this is a really solid kit, FYI. Great beer).

We did extract-based kits for most of that time.  If there are any non-brewers reading this: one of the first steps in brewing is the mash--which is steeping crushed or cracked grains in warm water to extract the starches & convert them into fermentable sugars, forming the "wort" or beer base.  In order to simplify/expedite the home brewing process, you can buy malt extract which comes as either a dry powder or a thick syrup.  This process requires less equipment so it's a good option for those who are new to homebrewing, or who don't have time/space for the full process.

We slowly upgraded our equipment--first getting a copper coil wort chiller to speed up the cooling process (rather than doing an ice bath in the sink), and then getting a conical fermenter so we could easily remove sediment and then bottle directly from it, rather than having to transfer beer from the fermenting bucket to the bottling bucket.  

The hydrometer that came with the basic brewing kit was tough to read and we were concerned we weren't getting accurate ABV calculations, so we got a refractometer which seems to be working better.

About a year ago, The Hubs joined a local home brewers group, and we went to several Big Brew Days where the brewery store would demo different brewing methods.  

The Hubs took a class on all-grain brewing a couple years ago, but we held off for a long time because the process just takes longer--We could make a 5 gallon batch of beer using an extract kit in about 3 hours (aka, during Lil' Man's nap), whereas all-grain takes about 5-6 hours--so it's more of an all-day process.

But there's also a cost trade off--malt extract kits run about $30-50, depending on the type of beer.  But with all grain brewing, buying the raw ingredients is cheaper--a typical all-grain kit is around $20-25. If you brew enough to buy in bulk, you can save even more. 

Bulk buy of ingredients for three batches of beer.  We were having them double-mill the grains at the store, but we've also since bought a grain grinder so we can buy raw grains and mill them at home.

I think the breaking point for us was when The Hubs wanted to brew a high ABV double IPA...it required so much malt extract that the total price of the 5 gallon batch was around $80. 

So we finally made the switch to all-grain brewing: The Hubs bought a Brew In The Bag and I got him BeerSmith recipe software for Christmas. As an intermediate step, we did an Imperial pumpkin ale as a partial mash--it was the last batch we did fully on the stovetop with a 3 gallon pot. Then last year we bought an outdoor propane system on sale at Bass Pro Shops over Black Friday.

Inaugural use of the turkey fryer, making a "Miller Light" clone, while drinking delicious Rock Candy from Lost Forty in Arkansas.

We still mash on the stovetop because it's easier, and then move to the turkey fryer for the boil.

Since making the switch, we've brewed 6 beers using all-grain: a Miller Lite clone, Irish red, dunkel, rye IPA, vanilla porter, and an English mild (note: if you're interested in any of these recipes, comment below and we'd be happy to share).  The Hubs prefers to brew when it's colder outside, since the turkey fryer has to be used outside and generates a lot of heat, and our fermenter is installed in our basement, so the temperatures stay a little cooler and more steady for better consistency.

The Hubs won 3rd place for its category with his Irish Red at this year's Ozarks Open--though technically he brewed that on a friend's system.

On deck next we're going to try doing a kettle sour (I promise a whole post on that once it's ready to drink).

After making the switch, it was just a short jump to moving away from bottling to having our own kegerator.  I'll have a  post about how we built our own kegerator up next week--stay tuned!

Homebrewing: Coconut & Pecan Spent Grain Cookies

Note: this post includes a lot of links to The Home Brewery Store, which is our local brew store--like, it's literally a block from our house.  But they also sell online through their website and Amazon.  We don't receive any compensation from them, we just really like all of their products, and think they are great people.  Their kits are all fantastic and will make you a great batch of beer.

The Hubs recently made the switch to all-grain brewing instead of extract brewing. If you're not a brewer, here's the nutshell version:

You need malt to make beer.  Malt is created by pulling the starch out of grains and converting it into fermentable sugar. In extract brewing, someone has already soaked the grains to make malt, and then condensed/dehyrated it into a bag, that you can just add to water with your other ingredients.  

This method is quicker (total brew time of about 2-3 hours with sanitization and cleanup), but more expensive--because you're paying for convenience.  For example, the last extract brew we did was a replica Schlafly Pale Ale, and all the ingredients cost us about $75, for 5 gallons (roughly 50 bottles of beer, or $1.50/each, just in ingredients).  Most home brew stores sell kits that include malt extract, and the kits range from $25-$50 for 5 gallons worth of beer.

In all-grain brewing, you buy grains (cheaper), grind/crack them, and then soak them yourself to make your own malt.  This is less expensive, but your total brew time (with sanitization and cleanup) goes up to about 5-7 hours.  Since switching to all-grain, our average cost per 5 gallon batch is closer to $20, and you have a lot more freedom in customizing how you want your beer to look/taste, vs. using a kit. 

And...it also means you now have about 10-12 pounds of "spent" (used) grains to get rid of, once you've gotten all the sugars you need from them.  And you're left with this:

Note: this is a mix of barley and corn, for a light lager.

Damp, high-fiber grains with most of their natural sugars removed--but most of the protein does NOT leach out of them in the cooking process, so they do still have some nutritional value.

What do you do with it?

Well, if you have chickens, or friends who have chickens, you can put the still-damp grains into gallon freezer bags, freeze them, and thaw as you need to use as chicken feed.  You do have to keep them cold or frozen otherwise they'll go rancid.  I've been giving most of our spent grains to my coworker and she says her chickens went NUTS for it.

Or, you can spread the grains on a cookie sheet and dry them in a low-temp oven (200F) for a few hours, then put them in a blender or food processor to make spent grain flour that can be used in all kinds of recipes.  This sounds like a great idea, but because it involves multiple steps, and I'm lazy, I've not done it.

OR...you can scour the interwebs for recipes that use fresh, still-damp spent grains, no extra processing needed.  And find one.  This one.

FYI, I love these cookies SO much.  They're soft and moist and a little cakey, but with lots of flavor and texture from the coconut and pecans.  And the spent grain makes them high in natural fiber and gives them a little extra protein. (Note: recipe below has been modified slightly from the original.)

INGREDIENTS:
- 5 Tbsp butter, softened
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup molasses or Steen's Cane Syrup
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp allspice
- 1.5 cups damp spent grain
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 1 cup coconut

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350F.

Cream together the sugars and butter, then add the egg and vanilla.  Then add in the dry ingredients. Fold in the pecans and coconut last using a spatula.

Scoop onto a lined cookie sheet (I like these silicone cooking mats, but parchment paper works just as well) and bake for 20-25 minutes.  Let cool and enjoy!  (These are great warm or room temp).  Store in an airtight container for up to 7 days.

Thirsty Thursday: Strawberry Ginger Smash with Homemade Ginger Beer

In case you didn't know, the Hubs (and me, technically...I'm more of an assistant) is a home brewer.  We've been brewing for several years now.  It's a fun if periodically frustrating hobby (like most hobbies, probably), that gives you a tangible result in the end...that can also get you buzzed.  Earlier this year we decided to branch out from our usual beermaking to make some spicy ginger beer from an extract kit we found at our local homebrewing store.

The full packet makes 16 Liters, so we bottled four 2-Liters, and then put the rest in the fermenter with some yeast.  The yeast gobbles up some of the sugar and converts it to alcohol, and boom...you have hard ginger beer.

BOOM, is right...since we decided to use champagne yeast.  Which not surprisingly, makes the bottles fizz up like crazy when you open them...much like a bottle of champagne.

Anyway, aside from those incidents, it's tasty stuff...providing you like ginger. Like, REALLY like ginger.  This stuff will go up your nose and make you cough.

Much like the other super-spicy ginger beer, Q, this makes an excellent moscow mule. Or Dark & Stormy  But since we've already made those here before, I wanted to try something a little different.

INGREDIENTS: (per cocktail)
4 hulled strawberries
1 tsp honey
5-7 mint leaves (note: I think this would be equally delicious with basil)
1/2 lime juice
3-4 oz strawberry infused vodka 
8 oz homemade ginger beer 
Crushed ice

DIRECTIONS:
Place the strawberries, mint, and honey in the bottom of the glass and muddle with a wooden spoon.  Then top with crushed ice.

Add the lime juice, vodka, and ginger beer.  Garnish as desired.  Kick back and enjoy with a nice cheese plate.

Featured cheese: Mango Ginger Stilton

Slainte!