don't want to waste left over grains

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So here's the challenge:

I have a half pound of Belgian Special B already crushed.

I have a brew sitting on a Wyeast 3522 Belgian Ardennes yeast cake that I am going to transfer to secondary for some bulk aging.

I don't have a ton of cash to do a big expensive batch.

What relatively simple (extract/steeping grains, maybe partial mash or small BIAB) recipe can I do that would make use of both of those without leaving me with other left-over grains.

A simple kit (thinking NB or MW) that I could add my Special B to would be good. Or some other simple recipe that my LHBS would likely have the ingredients for would be 2nd choice. For what it's worth, my LHBS has a decent selection of supplies, based on my limited exploring of their inventory. The reason I have the left-over grain to begin with is that I ordered it from NB and 1 lbs is the smallest increment they sell bulk grains.

I've never pitched a new batch on an old yeast cake, but I like the cost-effectiveness and time-efficiency (no time spent on a starter) of that idea. And I really don't want the Special B sitting around until it gets stale and/or forgotten and not used. Any help or suggestions would be great. I've done about a half dozen batches and have been happy with the results so far, so I'm feeling comfortable with the idea of altering pre-determined recipes with a little extra grain.

Maybe a Pale Ale with some belgian flavors? A basic dubbel? A slightly brown farmhouse ale? What would you do in this situation?
 
A nice Belgian Dubbel wouldnt be a bad idea. Maybe something like this:

6# Pilsen DME
.5# Special B
1oz Saaz 60min
.5oz East Kent Goldings 5min

Pitch onto your yeast cake, wait patiently, and enjoy :mug:

Cheers!
 
Since the sunk cost on that half pound of special B is less than a buck, I really wouldn't let that factor into my decision on what to brew next.
 
A nice Belgian Dubbel wouldnt be a bad idea. Maybe something like this:

6# Pilsen DME
.5# Special B
1oz Saaz 60min
.5oz East Kent Goldings 5min

Pitch onto your yeast cake, wait patiently, and enjoy

That!

I'd recommend only using a quarter of the cake, rather than the whole.

Replace a pound of the DME for plain table sugar. This will help dry the beer out.

If you can't get Pilsen, you can use light, extra light, or similar.

Use either DME or LME. 6 lbs of DME = 7.5 lbs LME. Don't worry about getting the amounts of extract exact.
 
Looks like we have a winner.

How would you recommend I go about using only a quarter of the yeast cake? Pour the wort into a different fermenter and scoop/pour out just part of the yeast cake? Or scoop out the excess and then pour the wort directly into that fermenter.

Also, I'm not that familiar with the difference between East Kent Goldings and Styrian Goldings, but I know I've used the East Kent in an english beer and I've read a lot of recipes for belgian beers that use Styrians. Are they relatively similar?
 
How would you recommend I go about using only a quarter of the yeast cake? Pour the wort into a different fermenter and scoop/pour out just part of the yeast cake? Or scoop out the excess and then pour the wort directly into that fermenter.

Also, I'm not that familiar with the difference between East Kent Goldings and Styrian Goldings, but I know I've used the East Kent in an english beer and I've read a lot of recipes for belgian beers that use Styrians. Are they relatively similar?

After racking/bottling the beer, swirl everything in the bottom of the fermenter (it should become a slurry), and pour about a pint into a sanitized container. Most people use mason jars. That should be sufficient for your next beer.

SKG and SG are similar. In a Belgian, the hops are just part of the supporting act, while the yeast is the star, so you don't use too many hops. Any English type hops will do fine (Fuggles, Willamette, Goldings, etc)
 
With half a pound of Special B, I'd just steep it in 2 -3 cups of warm water, strain it, put 1/4 cup of your yeast slurry in it to make a starter. After the starter takes off dump it in a mixing bowl with some flour, olive oil, pinch of salt, and the spent grains. Mix it up, let it rise, and bake a couple pizza's! Then go order ingredients for a new batch of beer while washing the rest of the yeast cake! :mug:
 
With half a pound of Special B, I'd just steep it in 2 -3 cups of warm water, strain it, put 1/4 cup of your yeast slurry in it to make a starter. After the starter takes off dump it in a mixing bowl with some flour, olive oil, pinch of salt, and the spent grains. Mix it up, let it rise, and bake a couple pizza's! Then go order ingredients for a new batch of beer while washing the rest of the yeast cake! :mug:

Hhhhmmm....
 
I think I need to brew soon. The longer I wait, the more I think about adding to the recipe. This is where I'm at so far:

6 lbs. Briess Pilsen Light DME
1 lbs. Belgian Soft Candi Sugar - Brown
8 oz. Belgian Special B
8 oz. Table Sugar (Sucrose)

1 oz. Sterling - 60 min.
1 oz. Liberty - 10 min.
0.5 oz. Styrian Goldings - 5 min.
0.5 oz. Styrian Goldings - 1 min.

I included Sterling and Styrian Goldings, because I'm more familiar with them and enjoy them.

So, I wanted to brew with that half pound of Special B, because I didn't want it to go to waste even though it wasn't expensive. I wanted to use the 3522 yeast cake, because it would save time and money. I realized another part of my motivation for using both of those. It has forced me to break away from just looking at pre-set kits. Even though I'm sure I'll buy recipe kits in the future, coming up with something that uses what I already have is more creative and fun for me. Might not be more fun for everybody, but I enjoy it.

Oh yeah, I read a recipe for a dubbel in Brew Like A Monk that included raisins. Hhhhmmm....
 
This is one reason I kind of like kits - proven recipe and no materials overages.

This is one reason I DON'T like kits. I create my own recipes and with no left overs it requires that I buy a kit. I usually order at least twice what I need for a certain recipe so that I have left overs to experiment with.

This way the limiting factor on when I can brew is the timing of making a starter. (I also freeze yeast so I have 7 or 8 types of yeast on hand)

I work off proven recipes and make small alterations depending on my stock. I have not been disappointed yet.
 
Spent grain and leftovers go into bread around here. Pizza crust, loaves, burger/sausage buns, etc.

These two arts go together perfectly.
 
Well, I brewed this yesterday. Here's the finalized version of the recipe that I worked from:

6 lbs. Briess Pilsen Light DME
1 lbs. Belgian Soft Candi Sugar - Brown
8 oz. Belgian Special B
8 oz. Table Sugar (Sucrose)

1 oz. Sterling - 60 min.
0.5 oz. Liberty - 15 min.
0.5 oz. Liberty - 7 min.
0.5 oz. Styrian Goldings - 3 min.
0.5 oz. Styrian Goldings - 1 min.

Also, I made this a 5.5 gallon batch which brought the OG to 1.060

Everything went smoothly. After I chilled the wort most of the way, I went ahead and transferred the other batch to secondary in order to free up the yeast cake. I took the advice given here and what I read on other threads I found and dumped about half of the yeast cake (as best as I could tell as it sloshed all around the inside of the carboy). Then I poured the wort in on top of what was left and added the top-off water. Hid it away in the dark recesses of the basement.

I checked on it later last night. Nothing doing. Checked on it this morning. Nada. Checked on it just a few minutes ago. Still nothing.

It's getting close to 24 hours since pitching and nothing is happening. I know lag time is to be expected some times, but this is the first time in 7 batches that there wasn't solidly active fermentation within a few hours. Sooooo, I'm getting a little nervous. The good news is that my lhbs is open on Sundays. The bad news is that if I don't go get some more yeast today, my next opportunity wouldn't be until Wednesday morning (leaving super early tomorrow morning to go out of town for a couple days).

So, let's take a vote. Who says I should trust in the yeast, and that they will wake up and get to work sooner or later? {looks around for raised hands} Who says I should go pick up some fresh yeast from the lhbs and pitch it right in? {anybody? Buehler?}
 
Give 'em time. There's no reason why they shouldn't wake up and get busy before too long. I've found that pitching with existing cake can take a little longer to get going than straight yeast with a starter. Also, Belgian strains are kinda known for having a long lag time. Patience, Grasshopper.
 
OMG!

I just read your response and decided to take another look. There is a thin layer of krausen forming and a few bubbles coming through the airlock.

Yay! Now I can hide and not ask any stupid questions for the rest of the day.
 
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