You may find this useful. 230gr Ways to use wheat
We have several thousand pounds of wheat (and other grains too) and have many ways to use it planned. There are hundreds of venations and recopies that you can google for yourself include cookies, brownies, quick breads, biscuits, bread, noodles so I will list a few simple ones that can be made with storage foods.
SPROUTING
Rinse amount 1/3 the volume of whole kernel wheat and place in a jar. Cover with about 1 inch of water and soak at least 8-12 hours or overnight so seeds swell. After soaking, cover bottle with a piece of nylon stocking, net or fiberglass window screening. Hold in place with an elastic band or a bottle ring so air and water can pass through freely. Pour water in jar and gently shake. Pour off water and lay jar on its side in a dark place. Repeat this two or three times a day until the sprouts are as long as the wheat kernel. Store sprouts in refrigerator until ready to use. Mix sprouts into casseroles, soups, stews, stir fries for a huge vitamin boost.
Breakfast Cereal
Use wheat either whole, flaked or cracked, one cup of wheat makes 4 to 6 servings cooked.
1 cup whole wheat
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups boiling water
Place in quart size thermos or other retained heat cooker, screw top lightly. Leave to slow cook overnight and have hot cereal for breakfast. Sweeten with fruit, sugar or eat plain.
POPPED WHEAT
Snack recipe that uses whole wheat kernels.
Soak 4 cups whole wheat in cold water for 24-30 hours with water 1 inch above wheat. Drain and rinse well and dry for about 4 hours, stirring once every hour.
Heat 3" of oil in a deep, heavy pan to 375oF.
Pour 2/3 cup of wheat into a strainer and lower into hot oil.
After oil quits bubbling and settles down, cook for 30 to 45 seconds.
Remove strainer from hot oil and spread wheat onto paper towels.
The wheat will not pop like popcorn, in fact some kernels may not pop at all but will be very crispy and golden. Season to taste with salt, onion salt, garlic salt, or dust with powdered cheese. Cool completely and store in a glass jar.
Whole Wheat Pancakes
1 1/2 cups fine whole wheat flour
1/4 cup coarse whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3 Tbls. sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
3 Tbls. vegetable oil
Mix all ingredients then fold mixture into beaten eggs. Bake on hot griddle. Yield: 16 pancakes
Whole Wheat Tortillas
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 T lard or oil
1/2 cup warm tap water
Combine flour, Baking powder and salt. Add lard or oil and stir until well combined. Put in warm tap water 1 T at a time until dough can be gathered into a ball. Add more water if needed 1 T at a time. Knead on floured surface 15-20 times. Let dough rest for 15 minutes then divide dough into 10-12 equal portions and shape into balls. On floured surface roll out ball from center into a circle. Cook on ungreased skillet over medium-high heat on each side about 30 seconds or until puffy. You can cook them longer until they are crisp like a big chip.
Wheat Pilaf
Breakfast Cereal
Use wheat either whole, flaked or cracked, one cup of wheat makes 4 to 6 servings cooked.
1 cup whole wheat
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups boiling water
Melt butter in heavy skillet, add onion and sauté until opaque. Add remaining ingredients, to a quart size thermos or other retained heat cooker with wheat. Leave to slow cook overnight and have hot pilaf for lunch.
2 tbsp butter or margarine
3 tbsp chopped onion
1 tsp. bouillon chicken or beef
2 tsp chicken or beef flavored TVP
1/8 tsp pepper
INDIAN FRY BREAD
Mix together:
4 c flour
1/2 c non instant powdered milk
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp sugar
ADD: 1 1/2 c very hot water
Quickly work ingredients together and knead for a few minutes. Take pieces from ball of dough, pull and stretch with hands into a circle of about 6 to 8 inches. (Or roll out on oiled counter and cut into desired shapes.) Fry in hot oil.
PITA BREAD
Mix together:
2 c flour
1 tbsp active dry yeast
ADD and mix well:
1 1/4 c water (120 degrees F)
1/2 tsp salt
Gradually add another 2 cups flour until dough cleans sides of bowl. Dough should be moderately stiff. Knead 4 - 5 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic-like. Do not over knead. Form dough into 10 balls. On a floured counter top, roll each ball from the center out, into a 1/4-inch thick and 5 - 6 inches round shape. Make sure both sides are covered with flour. Place on a lightweight, nonstick baking sheet. Let rise 30 minutes or until slightly raised. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F. Gently turn the rounds upside down just before placing in the oven. Bake on the bottom rack of oven. The instant hot heat makes the breads puff up. NOTE: The Pita Pockets will be hard when removed from the oven and soften as they cool
FRIED MUSH or Pan Haas Scrapple
2 1/2c. water
1 tsp. salt
1 c. cornmeal
1/2 c. coarse flour
1 egg
Combine cornmeal and flour. Bring water, salt to a boil. Stir in cornmeal and flour mixture. Will get very thick. Cook 1-2 minutes. Beat in egg. Can be fried right away or mold in loaf pan and slice after cool. In small amount of butter or oil fry until crisp and brown. Meat can be added to make a Pan Haas mush, ground ham, beef, pork is best but small pieces like pork are sometimes used. Good place to use your squirrel and small birds. We plan to use meat flavored TVP and bullion when necessary.
BISCUITS
4 c whole wheat flour
1 1/3 c nonfat dry milk
1/4 c baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 c vegetable shortening
1 c water
Add water to baking mix and stir about 20 times. Turn dough onto lightly floured board. Knead 10 - 15 times. Roll or pat to 3/4 inch thickness and cut with biscuit cutter. Bake on ungreased pan or cookie sheet in a 400 degrees F preheated oven for 12 - 15 minutes. To freeze, place in freezer bag. Reheat in microwave.
YIELD: 20 two-inch biscuits.
DUMPLINGS
2 c whole wheat flour
2/3 c nonfat dry milk
1/8 c baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 c vegetable shortening
2/3 c water
Stir together baking mix and water. Drop batter by heaping tablespoons onto boiling soup or stew. Cook covered for 10 minutes, then remove lid and cook uncovered for an additional 10 minutes.
Whole Wheat Pasta
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp salt
Water, as needed
2 eggs (actually optional but bind the noodles together and greatly enhance the flavor.
Blend together flour, eggs and salt. Add water, one tablespoon at a time, until dough comes together, but is not sticky. Check after each tablespoon to see if dough has firmed. Roll dough as thin as you can, forming a rectangle. If dough starts to spring back when rolled, let the dough rest for ten minutes and resume rolling.
Trim the edges of the dough and roll the flat sheet of dough into a jelly roll. Using a very sharp knife, slice the roll into small rounds. Unroll the rounds into long noodles, and toss them with flour on a baking sheet to dry, or serve immediately.
Fresh noodles will only take about 4 minutes to cook — they are done when they float to the top of the water.
WHOLE WHEAT BREAD RECIPE
1 package active dry yeast (or 1 Tbl bulk active yeast)
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 cup water 100 F
6 cups water, 100 F
1 Tbl molasses
1 tsp salt (more or less, depending on taste)
9-12 cups whole wheat flour,
vegetable oil
1) Start the yeast: Warm 1/4 cup water to 100 F, dissolve 1/2 tsp sugar, stir in Tbl active yeast to suspend. Set a side for 10-15 minutes. It should foam up in that time.
2) Warm 6 cups of water to 100 F, add to bowl, whisk in the molasses and the salt. Add the foamy yeast, whisk in.
3) Whisk in flour, 2 cups at a time until it is too stiff to easily mix with the whisk. Clean dough off of whisk. Add another cup or two of flour on top of dough, work down along the sides with your fingers so the dough does not stick. Continue adding flour until dough begins to together slightly firm.
4) Sprinkle a cup or two of flour on a clean kneading surface and turn out dough onto the flour. Loosen stuck spots in the bowl by rubbing with flour. Sprinkle flour on top of dough, and lightly bring in edges with your fingertips, folding over on top. Every time you see a wet spot, hit it with a little flour, keep folding over and turning on itself.
5) Knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic: Fold the dough in half, press down and roll with the heel of your hand, turn the dough a quart of a turn. Repeat these steps over and over, adding small amounts of flour to prevent sticking either to the board or to your hands. Do not add so much flour that the dough gets tough or hard
Let sit in warm place (not above105 F) until double in size, about an hour or so, depending on how warm the spot is.
7) Punch the dough down, knead briefly to bring back together, and form 8 pieces about 1 lbs each.
8) Knead each of the four loaves until they are smooth and elastic. Let rest for a few minutes, then shape each into a loaf. Cover the loaves with the damp towel, and place the rack in a warm place until doubled in size. Do not let the loaves over-rise, or they will fall, and you will have "flat top" bread. This is especially a problem with coarsely ground flour
9) Pre heat the oven to 360 F before the loaves have doubled in size. With the oven preheated and the loaves doubled in size, place the loaves on a rack
12) After 30-35 minutes, remove the most done looking loaf. Thump the bottom of the loaf with a sharp rap of the finger. If it sounds hollow, it is done. If it sounds muffled or sodden, bake it 5 minutes more and test it again. As loaves sound hollow, remove from the oven, and place on a cooling rack which allows air circulation so the steam can escape.
Making Maltodextrin from sprouted grain.
Maltodextrin is low-molecular-weight carbohydrates produced by the enzymes hydrolysis of starch such as in wheat. It is moderately sweet and, in the bread making or sweetening tea, you can replace about one teaspoon of sugar with half a teaspoon of malt.
1. Malting
Malting is a process which both preserves sprouted grain for longer-term storage and activates enzymes in the grain that help turn starches into sugars. After the grain is moistened and allowed to sprout for a few days, then dried in an oven at low to moderate temperatures, and stored. Historically, kilning was done in a large wood oven or smoker. The malt would be spread out on a cloth or straw matting on top of a rack in order to allow the hot air or smoke from the kiln's oven to evenly penetrate the grain and the malt dried for several hours.
2. Crushing the dry, sprouted grain
In order to allow hot water to get at the starches in the grains, the grain must be crushed but not powdered into a flour which make a big sticky mess that one cannot get any liquid back out of. Ideally then, each grain should be crushed into two or three pieces. A hand-mill using a knurled steel roller to crush grain against a flat plate can, by adjusted the grinding plates further apart than usual, produce crushed grain.
3. About mashing and infusion
Mashing is the process of converting the starches in the grains into fermentable sugars, using the enzymes that are in the malted grain. After being crushed, the grain is mixed with hot water so that the mixture ends up in the 145oF – 158oF range and it is held at this temperature range for one to three hours. During this time, the enzymes will convert almost all of the starches into simple sugars that the yeast can digest. Both Alpha- and Beta-amylase cuts starch into simple sugars suitable to yeast digestion but Beta-amylase is most active at somewhat higher temperatures than Alpha, and that the higher the temperature mash, the sweeter the results. Finally, the liquid would be drained away from the grain solids.
Weak Ale (similar to Sybille’s brew house, ale merchant, 1368)
For 2 1/2 gallons of ale:
Ingredients:
4 2/3 lbs., Pale (not roasted) wheat malt
1 1/2 lbs., oats malt (you can just use more wheat)
13 qts., water
2 pkt, yeast
Sanitize the lauter tun (a 10 gallon bucket with small holes or slots), insulating tur (like a small picnic cooler), and a fermentation vessel (a 4-gal. food-grade plastic bucket with lid). Also sanitize a strainer if needed to separate liquid from grain.
1. Boil water. Crush the malts, then dry wheat mix it well with the oats.
2. Open up the insulated tun and place it on the floor pour 2 quarts of water into the tun from a reasonable height, moderately slowly, to let the water release some heat in the pouring.
3. Pour all the dry grain into the lauter tun. Slowly pour 3 more quarts of boiling water over the grain. Don't stir. Put the cover on the tun and let it stand for 10 mins.
4. Then add 1 more quart of boiling water. At this point, there should be a very small amount of visible liquid. Put the lid back on, wait 20 more minutes then stir it all up. It should be about the consistency of fairly thick porridge.
5. Replace the lid and let stand at least an hour and a half. Then open up the tun and stir in 3 more quarts of boiling water, and stir. Close up again and wait 25 more mins.
6. Finally, add remaining boiling water (4 quarts -- don't worry about pouring it in from a height). Stir well.
7. Open the tun valve or otherwise start straining out the liquid part of the wort from the grain into sanitized fermenter. Close the fermenter and let the wort cool overnight.
8. Rehydrate both packages of yeast according to the package instructions (being careful to use water that has been boiled and cooled, and a glass that has been sanitized in some way). Pitch the yeast into the wort, and shake, stir, and otherwise agitate the wort in order to aerate it.
9. Let the ale ferment for a day and the yeast should have started and activity. Let the ale ferment for a couple more days. Draw off and serve.
10. Because of its short, as little as 4 day, shelf life, ale was first served when still young (not yet done fermenting) and very slightly sweet. It taste is often described as like "liquid bread" (not too surprising since it was full of sprouted grain nutrients) yet is considered quite refreshing even with a fairly low alcohol content.
11. No Post-mash Boil
This is the important difference between medieval English ale brewing technique and that for beer brewing: medieval English ale was not boiled after the wort was strained from the grains. Getting the ale to market before it spoiled was a very great and continuing concern. The longevity of beer, especially in comparison to that of ale, is due to the addition of hops as the alpha acids in hops (that give beer its bitterness) also have a preservative effect. One particular aspect of adding the hops significantly increases the keeping time of beer or ale: the post-mash boil. The heat of the boil is necessary to dissolve the hop alpha acids into solution effectively. But the other thing that happens early in the boil is that many of the proteins are cooked (and later fall out of solution). If the post-mash boil is not done, then these proteins will stay in solution in the ale, and give extra body and nourishment not only to the drinker, but also to some types of bacteria that might like to contaminate the drink. After the ale was fermented 3 days, it was cloudy and tasted very much like liquid bread, never the less, it was quite drinkable and refreshing. It started to sour as early as the fourth day, and was fully sour before it started to really clear. Even the sour ale was drinkable and found acceptable to many tastes.
We have several thousand pounds of wheat (and other grains too) and have many ways to use it planned. There are hundreds of venations and recopies that you can google for yourself include cookies, brownies, quick breads, biscuits, bread, noodles so I will list a few simple ones that can be made with storage foods.
SPROUTING
Rinse amount 1/3 the volume of whole kernel wheat and place in a jar. Cover with about 1 inch of water and soak at least 8-12 hours or overnight so seeds swell. After soaking, cover bottle with a piece of nylon stocking, net or fiberglass window screening. Hold in place with an elastic band or a bottle ring so air and water can pass through freely. Pour water in jar and gently shake. Pour off water and lay jar on its side in a dark place. Repeat this two or three times a day until the sprouts are as long as the wheat kernel. Store sprouts in refrigerator until ready to use. Mix sprouts into casseroles, soups, stews, stir fries for a huge vitamin boost.
Breakfast Cereal
Use wheat either whole, flaked or cracked, one cup of wheat makes 4 to 6 servings cooked.
1 cup whole wheat
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups boiling water
Place in quart size thermos or other retained heat cooker, screw top lightly. Leave to slow cook overnight and have hot cereal for breakfast. Sweeten with fruit, sugar or eat plain.
POPPED WHEAT
Snack recipe that uses whole wheat kernels.
Soak 4 cups whole wheat in cold water for 24-30 hours with water 1 inch above wheat. Drain and rinse well and dry for about 4 hours, stirring once every hour.
Heat 3" of oil in a deep, heavy pan to 375oF.
Pour 2/3 cup of wheat into a strainer and lower into hot oil.
After oil quits bubbling and settles down, cook for 30 to 45 seconds.
Remove strainer from hot oil and spread wheat onto paper towels.
The wheat will not pop like popcorn, in fact some kernels may not pop at all but will be very crispy and golden. Season to taste with salt, onion salt, garlic salt, or dust with powdered cheese. Cool completely and store in a glass jar.
Whole Wheat Pancakes
1 1/2 cups fine whole wheat flour
1/4 cup coarse whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3 Tbls. sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
3 Tbls. vegetable oil
Mix all ingredients then fold mixture into beaten eggs. Bake on hot griddle. Yield: 16 pancakes
Whole Wheat Tortillas
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 T lard or oil
1/2 cup warm tap water
Combine flour, Baking powder and salt. Add lard or oil and stir until well combined. Put in warm tap water 1 T at a time until dough can be gathered into a ball. Add more water if needed 1 T at a time. Knead on floured surface 15-20 times. Let dough rest for 15 minutes then divide dough into 10-12 equal portions and shape into balls. On floured surface roll out ball from center into a circle. Cook on ungreased skillet over medium-high heat on each side about 30 seconds or until puffy. You can cook them longer until they are crisp like a big chip.
Wheat Pilaf
Breakfast Cereal
Use wheat either whole, flaked or cracked, one cup of wheat makes 4 to 6 servings cooked.
1 cup whole wheat
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups boiling water
Melt butter in heavy skillet, add onion and sauté until opaque. Add remaining ingredients, to a quart size thermos or other retained heat cooker with wheat. Leave to slow cook overnight and have hot pilaf for lunch.
2 tbsp butter or margarine
3 tbsp chopped onion
1 tsp. bouillon chicken or beef
2 tsp chicken or beef flavored TVP
1/8 tsp pepper
INDIAN FRY BREAD
Mix together:
4 c flour
1/2 c non instant powdered milk
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp sugar
ADD: 1 1/2 c very hot water
Quickly work ingredients together and knead for a few minutes. Take pieces from ball of dough, pull and stretch with hands into a circle of about 6 to 8 inches. (Or roll out on oiled counter and cut into desired shapes.) Fry in hot oil.
PITA BREAD
Mix together:
2 c flour
1 tbsp active dry yeast
ADD and mix well:
1 1/4 c water (120 degrees F)
1/2 tsp salt
Gradually add another 2 cups flour until dough cleans sides of bowl. Dough should be moderately stiff. Knead 4 - 5 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic-like. Do not over knead. Form dough into 10 balls. On a floured counter top, roll each ball from the center out, into a 1/4-inch thick and 5 - 6 inches round shape. Make sure both sides are covered with flour. Place on a lightweight, nonstick baking sheet. Let rise 30 minutes or until slightly raised. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F. Gently turn the rounds upside down just before placing in the oven. Bake on the bottom rack of oven. The instant hot heat makes the breads puff up. NOTE: The Pita Pockets will be hard when removed from the oven and soften as they cool
FRIED MUSH or Pan Haas Scrapple
2 1/2c. water
1 tsp. salt
1 c. cornmeal
1/2 c. coarse flour
1 egg
Combine cornmeal and flour. Bring water, salt to a boil. Stir in cornmeal and flour mixture. Will get very thick. Cook 1-2 minutes. Beat in egg. Can be fried right away or mold in loaf pan and slice after cool. In small amount of butter or oil fry until crisp and brown. Meat can be added to make a Pan Haas mush, ground ham, beef, pork is best but small pieces like pork are sometimes used. Good place to use your squirrel and small birds. We plan to use meat flavored TVP and bullion when necessary.
BISCUITS
4 c whole wheat flour
1 1/3 c nonfat dry milk
1/4 c baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 c vegetable shortening
1 c water
Add water to baking mix and stir about 20 times. Turn dough onto lightly floured board. Knead 10 - 15 times. Roll or pat to 3/4 inch thickness and cut with biscuit cutter. Bake on ungreased pan or cookie sheet in a 400 degrees F preheated oven for 12 - 15 minutes. To freeze, place in freezer bag. Reheat in microwave.
YIELD: 20 two-inch biscuits.
DUMPLINGS
2 c whole wheat flour
2/3 c nonfat dry milk
1/8 c baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 c vegetable shortening
2/3 c water
Stir together baking mix and water. Drop batter by heaping tablespoons onto boiling soup or stew. Cook covered for 10 minutes, then remove lid and cook uncovered for an additional 10 minutes.
Whole Wheat Pasta
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp salt
Water, as needed
2 eggs (actually optional but bind the noodles together and greatly enhance the flavor.
Blend together flour, eggs and salt. Add water, one tablespoon at a time, until dough comes together, but is not sticky. Check after each tablespoon to see if dough has firmed. Roll dough as thin as you can, forming a rectangle. If dough starts to spring back when rolled, let the dough rest for ten minutes and resume rolling.
Trim the edges of the dough and roll the flat sheet of dough into a jelly roll. Using a very sharp knife, slice the roll into small rounds. Unroll the rounds into long noodles, and toss them with flour on a baking sheet to dry, or serve immediately.
Fresh noodles will only take about 4 minutes to cook — they are done when they float to the top of the water.
WHOLE WHEAT BREAD RECIPE
1 package active dry yeast (or 1 Tbl bulk active yeast)
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 cup water 100 F
6 cups water, 100 F
1 Tbl molasses
1 tsp salt (more or less, depending on taste)
9-12 cups whole wheat flour,
vegetable oil
1) Start the yeast: Warm 1/4 cup water to 100 F, dissolve 1/2 tsp sugar, stir in Tbl active yeast to suspend. Set a side for 10-15 minutes. It should foam up in that time.
2) Warm 6 cups of water to 100 F, add to bowl, whisk in the molasses and the salt. Add the foamy yeast, whisk in.
3) Whisk in flour, 2 cups at a time until it is too stiff to easily mix with the whisk. Clean dough off of whisk. Add another cup or two of flour on top of dough, work down along the sides with your fingers so the dough does not stick. Continue adding flour until dough begins to together slightly firm.
4) Sprinkle a cup or two of flour on a clean kneading surface and turn out dough onto the flour. Loosen stuck spots in the bowl by rubbing with flour. Sprinkle flour on top of dough, and lightly bring in edges with your fingertips, folding over on top. Every time you see a wet spot, hit it with a little flour, keep folding over and turning on itself.
5) Knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic: Fold the dough in half, press down and roll with the heel of your hand, turn the dough a quart of a turn. Repeat these steps over and over, adding small amounts of flour to prevent sticking either to the board or to your hands. Do not add so much flour that the dough gets tough or hard
Let sit in warm place (not above105 F) until double in size, about an hour or so, depending on how warm the spot is.
7) Punch the dough down, knead briefly to bring back together, and form 8 pieces about 1 lbs each.
8) Knead each of the four loaves until they are smooth and elastic. Let rest for a few minutes, then shape each into a loaf. Cover the loaves with the damp towel, and place the rack in a warm place until doubled in size. Do not let the loaves over-rise, or they will fall, and you will have "flat top" bread. This is especially a problem with coarsely ground flour
9) Pre heat the oven to 360 F before the loaves have doubled in size. With the oven preheated and the loaves doubled in size, place the loaves on a rack
12) After 30-35 minutes, remove the most done looking loaf. Thump the bottom of the loaf with a sharp rap of the finger. If it sounds hollow, it is done. If it sounds muffled or sodden, bake it 5 minutes more and test it again. As loaves sound hollow, remove from the oven, and place on a cooling rack which allows air circulation so the steam can escape.
Making Maltodextrin from sprouted grain.
Maltodextrin is low-molecular-weight carbohydrates produced by the enzymes hydrolysis of starch such as in wheat. It is moderately sweet and, in the bread making or sweetening tea, you can replace about one teaspoon of sugar with half a teaspoon of malt.
1. Malting
Malting is a process which both preserves sprouted grain for longer-term storage and activates enzymes in the grain that help turn starches into sugars. After the grain is moistened and allowed to sprout for a few days, then dried in an oven at low to moderate temperatures, and stored. Historically, kilning was done in a large wood oven or smoker. The malt would be spread out on a cloth or straw matting on top of a rack in order to allow the hot air or smoke from the kiln's oven to evenly penetrate the grain and the malt dried for several hours.
2. Crushing the dry, sprouted grain
In order to allow hot water to get at the starches in the grains, the grain must be crushed but not powdered into a flour which make a big sticky mess that one cannot get any liquid back out of. Ideally then, each grain should be crushed into two or three pieces. A hand-mill using a knurled steel roller to crush grain against a flat plate can, by adjusted the grinding plates further apart than usual, produce crushed grain.
3. About mashing and infusion
Mashing is the process of converting the starches in the grains into fermentable sugars, using the enzymes that are in the malted grain. After being crushed, the grain is mixed with hot water so that the mixture ends up in the 145oF – 158oF range and it is held at this temperature range for one to three hours. During this time, the enzymes will convert almost all of the starches into simple sugars that the yeast can digest. Both Alpha- and Beta-amylase cuts starch into simple sugars suitable to yeast digestion but Beta-amylase is most active at somewhat higher temperatures than Alpha, and that the higher the temperature mash, the sweeter the results. Finally, the liquid would be drained away from the grain solids.
Weak Ale (similar to Sybille’s brew house, ale merchant, 1368)
For 2 1/2 gallons of ale:
Ingredients:
4 2/3 lbs., Pale (not roasted) wheat malt
1 1/2 lbs., oats malt (you can just use more wheat)
13 qts., water
2 pkt, yeast
Sanitize the lauter tun (a 10 gallon bucket with small holes or slots), insulating tur (like a small picnic cooler), and a fermentation vessel (a 4-gal. food-grade plastic bucket with lid). Also sanitize a strainer if needed to separate liquid from grain.
1. Boil water. Crush the malts, then dry wheat mix it well with the oats.
2. Open up the insulated tun and place it on the floor pour 2 quarts of water into the tun from a reasonable height, moderately slowly, to let the water release some heat in the pouring.
3. Pour all the dry grain into the lauter tun. Slowly pour 3 more quarts of boiling water over the grain. Don't stir. Put the cover on the tun and let it stand for 10 mins.
4. Then add 1 more quart of boiling water. At this point, there should be a very small amount of visible liquid. Put the lid back on, wait 20 more minutes then stir it all up. It should be about the consistency of fairly thick porridge.
5. Replace the lid and let stand at least an hour and a half. Then open up the tun and stir in 3 more quarts of boiling water, and stir. Close up again and wait 25 more mins.
6. Finally, add remaining boiling water (4 quarts -- don't worry about pouring it in from a height). Stir well.
7. Open the tun valve or otherwise start straining out the liquid part of the wort from the grain into sanitized fermenter. Close the fermenter and let the wort cool overnight.
8. Rehydrate both packages of yeast according to the package instructions (being careful to use water that has been boiled and cooled, and a glass that has been sanitized in some way). Pitch the yeast into the wort, and shake, stir, and otherwise agitate the wort in order to aerate it.
9. Let the ale ferment for a day and the yeast should have started and activity. Let the ale ferment for a couple more days. Draw off and serve.
10. Because of its short, as little as 4 day, shelf life, ale was first served when still young (not yet done fermenting) and very slightly sweet. It taste is often described as like "liquid bread" (not too surprising since it was full of sprouted grain nutrients) yet is considered quite refreshing even with a fairly low alcohol content.
11. No Post-mash Boil
This is the important difference between medieval English ale brewing technique and that for beer brewing: medieval English ale was not boiled after the wort was strained from the grains. Getting the ale to market before it spoiled was a very great and continuing concern. The longevity of beer, especially in comparison to that of ale, is due to the addition of hops as the alpha acids in hops (that give beer its bitterness) also have a preservative effect. One particular aspect of adding the hops significantly increases the keeping time of beer or ale: the post-mash boil. The heat of the boil is necessary to dissolve the hop alpha acids into solution effectively. But the other thing that happens early in the boil is that many of the proteins are cooked (and later fall out of solution). If the post-mash boil is not done, then these proteins will stay in solution in the ale, and give extra body and nourishment not only to the drinker, but also to some types of bacteria that might like to contaminate the drink. After the ale was fermented 3 days, it was cloudy and tasted very much like liquid bread, never the less, it was quite drinkable and refreshing. It started to sour as early as the fourth day, and was fully sour before it started to really clear. Even the sour ale was drinkable and found acceptable to many tastes.
