BW didn't take as long as I expected

Other than it being 90 degrees outside the roasting didn't take as long as I thought, only close to 4 hours total. I didn't need to have them in as long as I expected. I'm not sure if that is because they were wet or because the oven was a convection oven.

To the right is cooked BW and the left is the raw laid out on a cookie sheet. Cooked it tasted nutty, and reminded me a little of caramel malt. I toasted the second batch lighter than the first to hopefully give it some balance. The plan is too do a test batch of 5 gallons this week.

This is after the first hour! I was really surprised at how brown they were getting in what I thought was amount of time. I took them out and moved them around to get the more cooked ones into the middle and the less cooked out towards the side. It looks like the top rack is less than stellar place to be in the oven so I put the more done looking tray on that one when I put the BW back in for it's next stage. I upped the temp to about 225 and set the timer for 30 minutes. It smells really nutty here in the kitchen. The pungent sprouty smell is almost gone and now it smells almost meaty and nutty in here. There's no way I could have just set these in the oven and walked away until the timer went off. I believe there will be a small window between well roasted and done and completely fucked. I'm hoping to not sail through the window headfirst and fall screaming to my death.

So my friend comes by after walking the dog and walks in and the first words out of her mouth are, "God, that smells awful!" I kind of laughed. After the sprouty smell I think it smells fine. I'm tempted to taste a few when they come out.

During the course of this post I've made a temp adjustment to 250 and put the clock back to 30 minutes. It's roasting out nicely. Some are truly getting charred and toasty (the smaller ones) and others are in the mid range.

Sprouts are finding their way to the oven

Today was a good morning to do the BW. It's cool outside so I can have the kitchen door open and
nice breeze is blowing in. The whole place smells like bean sprouts, it's going to get pretty cloying really quick I have a feeling.

Ok so back to the roasting. I decided not to do the roasting at the house I"m living in,even though it's only 2 doors away, because I didn't want to carry cookie sheets of sprouts, and I realized after I'd filled the fourth cookie sheet and hadn't even gotten the rest out of the bowl that this was going to be more involved than planned. It would be better to take up more space in the house I started the project in than try and move everything and realize what I need is back at the first place. So I had to make sure that my notes said where I was doing this, so that I didn't try to duplicate the process. Barnaby and Olga of Teutonic Wines have a convection oven so I'm hoping I can get at least 2 racks at a time done in there and cut down on needing to be at this all damn day. Thankfully, they're both out and about today so I'm not in anyone's way.

I read that you could roast BW wet or dry so that solved the problem of waiting to long to roast. I worried that the little sprouts would get too long and the BW would lose viability. It seems like they've doubled in length overnight. I was pleasantly surprised when I came in and saw them. this picture doesn't really do them justice, I just wanted to show them on the cookie sheets.

I preheated the oven to 300 degrees on regular bake for a half hour, per instructions from the owner of said tempermental oven, and then dropped the temp down to 200 and switched it to convection. There was room in the oven for three cookie sheets evenly spaced so I put them all in. I'll keep checking and if needed I can take one out and rearrange so there's more even heat distribution. It'll bake for 1 hour at 200 and then you bring up the temp 25 degrees at a time for 30 minute intervals until you reach the color you want.

I'm resisting the urge to check on it constantly since I know that drops the temperature and causes longer cooking time. There's still at least another 2.5# to roast today.

Success!

It was touch and go for awhile but I woke to this. The buckwheat, from here on out to be known as BW, had started sprouting little rootlets. Not all, but a good many. I'm planning on talking with a friend who is food science teacher about the process, including what kinds of container would be best so I don't weigh down the seeds.

The next time I do this I'm going to do less than the four pounds I initially dumped into a bowl and I don't have to let them soak for 2 days. Maybe a few hours and then put them in a colander. The rinsing is the key I think because these babies get really slimy and seem to be constantly oozing starch. We've had weather here in Portland that has been over 95 degrees and I was a little concerned that it was a little too hot but the kitchen is pretty comfortable. I had initially put them in Barnaby's wine work area but changed my mind and brought them up because I was worried about mold and bacteria and what those would do to the BW. I'm really sensitive to mold and I always get stuffy and sneezy when I spend to much time in their basement. Besides I was being over-protective as usual and wanted the BW where I could keep a constant eye on it.

The next step is drying and roasting the BW.

Fresh Buckwheat Hell

Buckwheat is a pain in the ass. Right up there with pellet hops.

I had to separate the buckwheat into two colanders because we'd just put too much into the first pan. Those little suckers swelled like fat ticks and now I have two aired containers oozing gelatinous goo. They better spout or I'm going to be really disappointed...and then pissed, moving straight into frustrated anger. I do have a plan for what to do with the remaining 4# in case this attempt is a bust.

I would have taken pictures of the process but I would need someone to hold up the colander so I could get a picture of the greyish goo dripping from the container. I'll have to wake up through the night and check to make sure goo doesn't over flow all over the table.

From Food Matters

How to Sprout Buckwheat: Place 1 1/2 Cups of buckwheat groats into a bowl and cover it with 2- 3 times as much room temperature water. Mix the seeds up so that none are floating on the top. Allow the seeds to soak for about an hour. Drain the water in a colander and let them stand, rinsing 3 times per day with cool water for 2 days. You will notice a gooey substance on the buckwheat, which is starch. Make sure that you wash this off thoroughly. Spouts will form after a day or two.

So because this was my first effort every little thing appears to be the tip of the failure iceberg. After soaking and rinsing the buckwheat in water for two days my friend Barnaby, whose house we're doing all this in, calls me this morning and says it's possible that the buckwheat was already processed and not going to sprout. Both of us were thinking that it was a good thing we picked up amylase enzyme to put in the mash. Before I totally threw in the towel I searched online and found this food website which gave clearer directions than any of the entries written by the brewers that malted. I have to remind myself to write a better entry when I post my recipe.

Nature at its finest

These are chardonney grapes (I think) from Barnaby's backyard vineyard. I took this picture and many more pictures a few weeks ago when I dog-sat for Sophie and Sabrina. I had just visited a couple of days ago and it was amazing how much growth there was in the span of a couple of days. I can't imagine what it will look like when I head over later today.

Today's weather was a nice reminder of the Portland that I love and missed. The cool, overcast and grey days that seem to stretch on for weeks. The days of endless sun just seem to make me pissy and introverted. Of course, it could be the lack of any brewing happening in my life that is making me pretty unhappy. The lack of space to work and money to get some last minute equipment is disheartening. I know it's important to prioritize and basic necessities always trump everything else, but it's really starting to wear on me.

My plan for today is to walk over to the library and drop of some books. Walk around the neighborhood and take some pictures and come back to the house and do a little writing this afternoon, then head over to the neighbors house to socialize.