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Wade E

Beer Buster
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Middlebury, Ct.
I want to make a 5 gallon brew out of some grains that I was just given and need some help from you masters on whipping something up for me that wont require much of anything more then what I have on hand if thats possible. I pretty much like all brews except BMC's so Im wide open for suggestions.What I have on hand is 8 lbs of Wheat malt, 12 lbs of Pilsner, 12 lbs of Aromatic, 12 lbs of Marris Otter. I also have 1 oz of Mt Hood, 1 3/4 oz of Cascade, 3/4 oz of Williamette. I have US 05 and Nottingham on hand also. Thanks in advance. I fairly new to AG and have never designed my own brew and have looked through a shot load of recipes and dont have enough experience to know what can be subbed for what I have.
 
You can do a few different brews with just what you have that are lighter, more summer-time type of beers. Something like 60% wheat/40% Pilsner with a lower IBU addition of Mt Hood (like Hallertauer IIRC); you'd probably want a different yeast for a wheat beer over what you have. If you pick up a little medium range crystal (60L or so) you can do a bitter with 87.5% MO, 10% crystal, 1.25% aromatic and 1.25% wheat (for some extra body) with the Willamette and the Notty. You could probably make a decent IPA with the cascades following a similar recipe using the US-05.

Something to get you started at least... :) If you haven't got Beersmith yet or similar depending on your preference), DO IT NOW!
 
I still need Beersmith and a malt mill and the malt mill has to come first. Im using I have Brewtarget right now but really havent used it much. I will be getting Beersmith for sure soon though.
 
A wheat beer is in order I believe, and a pale ale. I'd use the Mt. Hood with 6lbs pils and 4lbs wheat, along with the US05 for a the wheat beer. I'd do 8.5 lbs MO, .5 lbs Aromatic and 1lbs of C40 or C60, with the willamette and Cascade. Of course you'll have to tweak the recipe to hit the numbers you're looking for. On the wheat beer, if you want more of the wheat character push it up to 60% as Gremlyn suggested or you can even go a little higher, I prefer to stay 50% or lower, though I should try more. Just use plenty of rice hulls in any wheat beer you try. I like to aim for around 1.050 to start for wheat beers, with about 25 IBU. One ounce of Mt. Hood may not have enough alpha acid to provide that much bitterness without some help. For the pale ale I'd shoot for an OG of about 1.055 and probably mash around 154. For a pale I'd look for 35-40 IBU though I know some people like to pour it on. These are just a couple places to start, someone may come up with a bolder idea that sounds fun! Enjoy the brewing!
 
If those are the only malts, and those are the only hops, I'd either go with an APA that is malty, like this:
10 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 97.56 %
4.0 oz Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 2.44 %
0.75 oz Williamette [4.80 %] (60 min) Hops 12.6 IBU
1.00 oz Mt. Hood [4.40 %] (60 min) Hops 15.4 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.40 %] (10 min) Hops 6.9 IBU
0.75 oz Cascade [5.40 %] (2 min) Hops 1.2 IBU

or an English bitter/pale ale with the same malt bill and changing up the hops, bittering with the cascade and flavoring with the Mt Hood and finishing with willamette.

I'd rather use American 2-row in American pale ales, but I think the MO would be good.
 
Thanks Yooper, I wouldnt mind getting a few supplies but Id like to keep it ow as Im saving up for the barley crusher and Beersmith right now so keeping spending to a min, is best because you know what happens when you go to the brew shop, you spend money you dont have! :)
 
If those are the only malts, and those are the only hops, I'd either go with an APA that is malty, like this:
10 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 97.56 %
4.0 oz Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 2.44 %
0.75 oz Williamette [4.80 %] (60 min) Hops 12.6 IBU
1.00 oz Mt. Hood [4.40 %] (60 min) Hops 15.4 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.40 %] (10 min) Hops 6.9 IBU
0.75 oz Cascade [5.40 %] (2 min) Hops 1.2 IBU

or an English bitter/pale ale with the same malt bill and changing up the hops, bittering with the cascade and flavoring with the Mt Hood and finishing with willamette.

I'd rather use American 2-row in American pale ales, but I think the MO would be good.

doing an English pale ale just by flip-flopping the hops as you suggest sounds delicious to me! Finishing with the Willamette...yum.
 
in lieu of buying crystal malt, you could always boil down a gallon of the first runnings to get some caramelization going on, then add it back to the main boil.
 
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