Cascade of issues with upcoming brew!

So last weekend I was going to brew a Ballantine IPA clone from BYO issue from 6/10. Got all my ingredients Friday with attention of brewing on Saturday while snowed in with the blizzard. Made my starter on Friday with idea, I would cool wort overnight in fridge and pitch on Sunday. But I have had one careless issue after the other...

1. Needed 8 ounces of crystal 60, changed scale to ounces at LHBS to ounces and then got to 0.8 and said OK, 8 ounces. Did not realize my mistake to I was already home and said screw it, not going back.

2. Recipe called 2.25 lbs of flaked maize, instead of bagging separate at shop, I mixed in the bucket with the other grains! Realized mistake as I went to mill, but what could I do at that point...so flaked maize is ground maize.

3. So much snow in MA, spent Saturday and Sunday digging out, so brew day did not happen. Pour out yeast starter since I did not feel it would be OK to wait a week.

4. Went back to shop yesterday to get new yeast and figured while there I would get more crystal 60 to fix mistake #1. Get two vials of yeast as I did last week since that's what starter called for...don't know until I get home that the yeast is even fresher than a week earlier so I only needed one vial.

5. And last, but the biggest issue...as I am printing off recipe and figuring out brewing water additions to prep for tomorrow...I see recipe was for 10.5 lbs US 6 row and I am pretty sure I screwed that up and got 2 row. :smack:

So besides that fact that it seems that the brewing Gods are telling me NOT to brew, or are telling me I am a moron, what harm will come from using 2 row vs 6? Here's what the recipe should have been:

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 7.50 gal
Post Boil Volume: 6.00 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal
Bottling Volume: 4.75 gal
Estimated OG: 1.076 SG
Estimated Color: 9.0 SRM
Estimated IBU: 65.4 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 79.9 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
10 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 69.1 %
2 lbs 4.0 oz Maize, Flaked (Thomas Fawcett) (2.0 SRM) Grain 2 14.8 %
1 lbs 14.0 oz Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 3 12.3 %
9.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 4 3.7 %
2.00 oz Cluster [7.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 46.3 IBUs
0.85 oz Brewer's Gold [9.40 %] - Boil 25.0 min Hop 6 17.2 IBUs
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 7 -
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - Boil 3.0 Hop 8 1.9 IBUs
1.5 pkg California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) [35. Yeast 9 -
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [6.60 %] - Dry Hop 3 Hop 10 0.0 IBUs

I think 6-row is essentially a little less powerful of a grain than 2-row. I'm not certain about flavor differences. Your starter would've bee fine after a week. My starters sit in the fridge for a while before I'm ready for them and never have trouble. If you're making a starter, though, why bother buying two vials? Half the reason for a starter is to allow for a smaller yeast purchase.

While you may not end up with the exact clone you were looking for I don't see anything that will be detrimental to the making of beer. Maybe you'll have stuck sparge issues with the ground-flaked maize, but that's purely speculatory. Kyle

Nah..."I think 6-row is essentially a little less powerful of a grain than 2-row."

It has more diastatic enzymes. That's why it was in the recipe. The husk is more solid and lessens the chance of a stuck sparge.

With the 2row you may not get what you need from the corn, as it doesn't have the extra enzimatic umph to convert it all. That why six row is almost always called for with adjunct brewing. Of course the other plus is all the extra husks help to keep sticky corn mashes from cloggin up the works. I brew an adjunct pre-pro lager, and the six row really keeps the stuck sparges at bay.

Brew it - you will have plenty of enzyme to convert the corn. The final flavor will be slightly different but it will be a great beer.

Conan said:

If you're making a starter, though, why bother buying two vials? Half the reason for a starter is to allow for a smaller yeast purchase.
Kyle

Click to expand...

I had purchased two vials based on Jamil Zanisheff's Mr. Malty site. Based on the date of the (original) vials I purchased, and the 1.074 OG, Mr. Malty site recommended 2 vials in a one liter starter.

Thanks for all the info everyone. Wound up going to back to my LHBS and confirmed US 6 row was also in a larger white container just like 2 row, so my confidence that I did get 6 row went up greatly.

Brew day actually went fantastic. This was only my 2nd all-grain done inside, with the last being my first a few years ago. I don't know if it was the lower heat from a gas stove vs propane burner outside, but I actually hit all my numbers pretty much spot on. Pre-boil, post-boil and carboy volumes were exact, as were pre-boil and post-boil gravity. My OG was 1.073, just 1 point short. Only problem was cooling. I cannot hook hose to my sink faucet and outside taps are buried in snow, so had to just cover the pot and put it outside where temps were in 30's for like 6 hours until it dropped under 100. Then transferred to carboy and stuck in cool front hall until morning. So a delay in pitching yeast. Right now the yeast is chugging along and it looks and smells great!