Hop_on_the_good_foot
Active Member
Hi.
I have a strong desire to succeed in making a beer with a portion of the grist consisting of old baguettes. Essentially I work in the hotel business in France and we have a lot of wastage, so like any reasonable home brewer I have seen the potential in adding it to my grain bill. After a bit of research I chucked a brew on.
Nothing fancy:
4kg of Maris, 1 kg crushed stale baguette and some late addition bramling X for a light hoppy pale.
No water additions apart from normal Campden and AMS additions. No salt, as i figured the bread would add a bit.... 23L into fermenter with US05 at 18 degrees for 2 weeks.
Found the extraction from the bread was very similar to that of grain. Almost equal in fact.
The problem was, I got an awful result. Tasted like I had some kind of polyphenol/medicinal tcp type thing. My procedures are pretty solid. Everything cleaned with PBW and sanitised with Starsan. Fermented in my stainless bucket.
Now, I am happy to put this up to fluke and try again, but on a smaller scale 1 gallon stove top biab.
After speaking with someone it turns out that the frenchies whop 18g of salt per 100g baguette, compared to 2g of salt per 100g sliced bread that is used in the uk on average. These figures came via the guys at toast ale.
So, I have two questions really. Is it worth trying again with this much salt, and if so what would you recommend adding to the mash to help account for the huge salt addition from the baguettes?
Cheers and TIA.
I have a strong desire to succeed in making a beer with a portion of the grist consisting of old baguettes. Essentially I work in the hotel business in France and we have a lot of wastage, so like any reasonable home brewer I have seen the potential in adding it to my grain bill. After a bit of research I chucked a brew on.
Nothing fancy:
4kg of Maris, 1 kg crushed stale baguette and some late addition bramling X for a light hoppy pale.
No water additions apart from normal Campden and AMS additions. No salt, as i figured the bread would add a bit.... 23L into fermenter with US05 at 18 degrees for 2 weeks.
Found the extraction from the bread was very similar to that of grain. Almost equal in fact.
The problem was, I got an awful result. Tasted like I had some kind of polyphenol/medicinal tcp type thing. My procedures are pretty solid. Everything cleaned with PBW and sanitised with Starsan. Fermented in my stainless bucket.
Now, I am happy to put this up to fluke and try again, but on a smaller scale 1 gallon stove top biab.
After speaking with someone it turns out that the frenchies whop 18g of salt per 100g baguette, compared to 2g of salt per 100g sliced bread that is used in the uk on average. These figures came via the guys at toast ale.
So, I have two questions really. Is it worth trying again with this much salt, and if so what would you recommend adding to the mash to help account for the huge salt addition from the baguettes?
Cheers and TIA.
