More considerations on Recipe Formulation

First-generation top-cropped Wyeast 1469.
This is about 8 ounces. So fresh and so clean!

In my last post on formulation, I gave a recipe for the next beer I'd planned, a standard-strength bitter that I was brewing, at least in part, to grow up some yeast. I'd ordered a 10 lb bag of Golden Promise, but that was going to make just too big a beer, both for what I wanted on tap and for the purpose of growing up a big batch of really healthy yeast without the need for a starter.

In the interim, I thought about the issue and did a little research. I saw that Amazon had a vacuum sealer on sale for less than $20, saw that at least one online homebrew retailer will sell you grain by the ounce and milled and packaged by recipe, and read an interesting Brulosophy experiment showing most folks can't tell whether beer is made from grain milled months before brewing (my own experience bears this out as well, as I restarted my recent brewing kick by using 2-year old milled malt to make a decent ESB).

So, I bought that vacuum sealer and made a lovely bitter at the gravity I wanted, for both chugging and yeast-farming reasons. I sealed up the spare grain in a bag and have ordered ingredients for the next five (free shipping, y'all!) batches, all with non-standard amounts of base malt.