Anybody ever brew just a 2-Row recipe?

I'm swamped at work. Ran out of time to order from MW. Can't get to the LHBS before the weekend.

That's the bad news.

Good news is I've got 35#'s of 2-row in the brewshop, some Perle and cascade hops, and enough harvested yeast to start a brewery.

I might be able to rustly up a 1/2 pound of honey malt and a 1/2 pound of flaked wheat, but aside from that, I got no specialty or color grains.

How bout it. Anyone else been forced to brew with just a base malt?

My DFH clone is just base malt (marris otter and two row) so if you make it a hoppy beer, then the malt is just background. You could toast some two-row to make a nutty or toasted or roasted flavor to make things more interesting.

Yooper's DFH 60 just has 6 ounces of MO and the rest is American two-row. I did an almost-all Pils recipe with just a tenth of a pound of Aroma Malt and it was delicious.

I think if you try to do an IPA, you'll wind up kind of bland on the malt-side. So shoot for something that lets the hops show off their flavor and aroma. Make a fresh-tasting beer without the brutal bitterness of an IPA. I suggest a First Wort hop followed by a lot of late hop additions.

Go for it!

Excellent. Brew day is back on. I'm actually just going for a basic house ale at around 4.5% and low to moderate hop flavor/aroma.

So.
Just ghetto with the equipment?
Where are the pisachio hulls, the dark roasted polenta, the crushed WHOPPER malted milk balls?

Seriously.
Scaling back is a refreshing trend away from the extreme beer recipies lately.

Alright...here tis:

BierMunchers, Back To Basics Ale

Batch Size: 11.00 gal
Boil Size: 12.59 gal
Estimated OG: 1.040 SG
Estimated Color: 5.5 SRM

Estimated IBU: 17.2 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item
15.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Honey Malt (25.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM)
0.25 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM)
0.50 oz Pearle [8.00%] (60 min)
0.50 oz Pearle [8.00%] (40 min)
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50%] (30 min)

Dry Yeast - 05 (Harvested from last weeks batch)



Just a pinch of caramel 120 (that's all I have) to bring it to an american lager color. Should come in around 4%. The flaked wheat should help with the head.

Do you boil off 1.59 gallons in 60 minutes?

BierMuncher is like the Mcgyver of homebrewing.

EdWort said:

Do you boil off 1.59 gallons in 60 minutes?

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Actually I start out with just a bit over 12 gallons.

...details...details...

the_Roqk said:

BierMuncher is like the Mcgyver of homebrewing.

Click to expand...

Give me a shoe string, a paper clip and a half filled ink cartridge and...watch out.

My American Pilsner
1 malt
1 decoction
2 hops

You could make it really simple and forgo the decoction. BTW this beer turned out terrific. I'd make it again with a different yeast though, wasn't pysched about the White labs American Lager yeast WLP840. Good transition beer for those BMC friends.

I have been tempted to try just using base malt. I have to build up my bottle stock before I actually do it. It will be nice to hear your experience.

The blonde I just did was 8.5lb 2-row, half pound of crystal 10. That's about as basic as it gets. I can't really tell if the crystal did anything. The malt character is relatively low (ok, very low) but I also barely bittered it. I like it but it's pretty embarrassing that my wife's Coors Light-ONLY friends pulled off that keg like they were trying suck start a Harley. Ok, it is a good thing.

Recipe looks nice. I like the KISS method as well.

I'd be really, really temped to do a small decoction to pull out a little extra color and flavor, especially since it looks like a domestic 2-row rather than a Brit. But, nothing wrong with a smallish, clean, simple beer.

the_bird said:

I'd be really, really temped to do a small decoction to pull out a little extra color and flavor, especially since it looks like a domestic 2-row rather than a Brit. But, nothing wrong with a smallish, clean, simple beer.

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With the honey malt and crystal in there? Decoction definitely not needed.

You guys and your decoctions. It is amazing.

I forgot about the honey malt and the crystal... doing too many things at once...

Toast your own Specialty Grains. I am brewing on monday. Making my first (year's hop)harvest ale. I ended up with about 1.5oz of nugget, 2.25oz cascade and .75oz goldings. Going to toast up some specialty grains for this one as well. I figure why not make as many of the ingredients for this batch as I can!(I want to get into malting my own grains for giggles but I'll save that for later this year when I have more time on my hands) And I have wanted to do this for some time!