Grain Bill substitutions

I'm looking to make my first AG brew on New Year's Day. I'm trying for a Pale ALe, but I'm short a couple of lbs. of grains for basic recipe I want to follow. I'm a pound short of both Marris Otter and Vienna. What can I use to substitue the missing 2 lbs. ? Also, I need 1/2 lb of Caramel 10l, but only have 20l. Will that make THAT much of a difference ?
I DO have 1 lb of 2-row Pilsner, and 1 lb of Caramunich. Can I use those ? I'm REALLY trying to use up what I have in stock right now.

I think that the 2-row Pilsner, and 1 lb of Caramunich would work.

All of those substitutions will be OK. The final result will be a bit darker, but not by much.

kjung said:

I'm looking to make my first AG brew on New Year's Day. I'm trying for a Pale ALe, but I'm short a couple of lbs. of grains for basic recipe I want to follow. I'm a pound short of both Marris Otter and Vienna. What can I use to substitue the missing 2 lbs. ? Also, I need 1/2 lb of Caramel 10l, but only have 20l. Will that make THAT much of a difference ?
I DO have 1 lb of 2-row Pilsner, and 1 lb of Caramunich. Can I use those ? I'm REALLY trying to use up what I have in stock right now.

Click to expand...

Use the lb of pilsner malt to replace the lb of MO. At a 1/2 lb just use the 20L instead of the 10L, it won't make a huge difference. As for the CaraMunich I would not use a full lb. The Vienna is base malt and using crystal as a replacement 1:1 is not a good idea IMO. I would use perhaps a 1/4 lb of the CaraMunich to replace some of the color and flavor of the Vienna and leave it at that. If you are concerned with the slight drop in gravity add a 1/2-3/4 lb of sugar to the recipe to make up the difference.