A confused Multi Malt Mash?

I just gained the ability to do full 5 gallon all grain batches. I've done 1 gallon with 1-2 grains and 5 gallon partials but now I can do BIAB up to 5-6 Gallons

Now my question, I'm a bit of a weirdo and so for my first brew I want to make a bizarre mix of heaps of different malts. I want to know if there's any reason this won't work. I know it's not going to match any style but will it just be disgusting or could it be beautifully complex? Here's my recipe.


Brew Method: BIAB
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 21 liters
Boil Size: 24 liters
Efficiency: 70%

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.080
Final Gravity: 1.018
ABV (standard): 8.12%
IBU (tinseth): 48.41
SRM (morey): 23.51

FERMENTABLES:
1 kg - Abbey Malt (12.5%)
1 kg - Bohemian Pilsner (12.5%)
1 kg - CaraRed (12.5%)
1 kg - Pale Wheat (12.5%)
1 kg - Smoked Malt (12.5%)
1 kg - Crystal Rye (12.5%)
1 kg - Golden Promise (12.5%)
1 kg - Maris Otter Pale (12.5%)

HOPS:
25 g - Cascade (AA 7) for 60 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil
25 g - Styrian Goldings (AA 5.5) for 60 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil
25 g - Cascade (AA 7) for 15 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil
25 g - Styrian Goldings (AA 5.5) for 15 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil
25 g - Cascade (AA 7) for 1 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Aroma
25 g - Styrian Goldings (AA 5.5) for 1 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Aroma

YEAST:
Danstar - Nottingham Ale Yeast

Well, you do have a sufficient amount of base malts there to ferment out, so that part at least wouldn't be a concern.

However, it does seem like a somewhat confused mess of malts... The Golden Promise and Marris Otter are fairly similar, so they shouldn't conflict - but why use them both instead of just 2kg of one or the other? 12.5% of a Rye is a lot of Rye, though I'm not really familiar with how Crystal Rye differs from straight Rye Malt.... The rest of the stuff just seems kind of confusing to be thrown in there together. I'd be concerned that the finished product, rather than being nicely complex, may turn out unpleasant and confusing.

I'd try to focus on one or two of those elements you've got going in there and try to accentuate them. Pick a base malt and stick with it, then a character malt or two for some complexity and body, and see where that leaves you. The smorgasbord approach doesn't typically yield great results.

If that is crystal rye, that along with the carared gives you 25% crystal malt. That's way too much. Crystal brings sweetness to a beer, and I wouldn't use more than 15% and probably less than that.

The rest are "ok". Some of the malts are pretty much the same thing (marris otter/golden promise, abbey malt/pilsner) so you won't be able to discern different colors and flavors from the different malts, but it won't be bad or anything.

An entire kilo of smoked malt? That's going to be a VERY smoky brew! If it were me, I'd reduce the smoked to a few oz (60g or so). But maybe you really like smoky beer. Just my 2 cents worth.
Regards, GF.

The way I look at this is to compare it to cooking. If you want to make some chicken soup, you don't want to just dump in a little of everything on the spice rack and hope it comes out OK. You'd start with a recipe from your grandma or a cook book and see if you can nail the basics. Then you might decide that since you like fennel, it might go well in your soup and add a little. Then you evaluate whether you need more or less fennel, or maybe none at all. Then you might say "what if I roast the vegetables before I throw them in?" and you give that a try and decide whether it added anything or not.

Also, remember that something need not be complex to exhibit complexity. For example, Saison du Pont has a wonderfully complex flavor, but is made with 100% Pilsner malt. So instead of just trying for "complexity," think about what flavor you're actually trying to acheive and what ingredients / techniques are required to get it.

+1 to everyone. There are some very nice light malts in your recipe, but the flavor will likely be overpowered by all the roastyness of the others.

The reason I'd do a kilo of each including smoked and crystal is because I can only buy them in kilos and I get them crushed at the store so I don't want them sitting round. Unless I do 2 beers at the same time that use the same grains then I need to work out some way of storing them or just chuck it out.
I'm not too concerned about the smoked as I've made 100% peat smoked (small batch) before and it was delicious.

gr8shandini, I'm not trying to make chicken soup. If I wanted to make a pilsner I'd use a recipe which I might adjust a little but would expect to end up with a pilsner. What I'm trying to make fits into no category, and has unexpected results. that could be good or terrible (I'm the guy who made beef in bourbon beer, this is what I do)

Yooper, I will take the too much Crystal comment in and adjust. Maybe swap to regular Rye.

I always have two fermenters on the go so I'm sure my other fermenter will have a nice, normal, from recipe brew that will taste good and as expected but I homebrew not only to make great beer but to have fun, and a hilariously bad failure (if that's what happens with this) that I designed is as much fun as a good beer from a recipe.

kiwirevo said:

The reason I'd do a kilo of each including smoked and crystal is because I can only buy them in kilos and I get them crushed at the store so I don't want them sitting round. Unless I do 2 beers at the same time that use the same grains then I need to work out some way of storing them or just chuck it out.
I'm not too concerned about the smoked as I've made 100% peat smoked (small batch) before and it was delicious.

gr8shandini, I'm not trying to make chicken soup. If I wanted to make a pilsner I'd use a recipe which I might adjust a little but would expect to end up with a pilsner. What I'm trying to make fits into no category, and has unexpected results. that could be good or terrible (I'm the guy who made beef in bourbon beer, this is what I do)

Yooper, I will take the too much Crystal comment in and adjust. Maybe swap to regular Rye.

I always have two fermenters on the go so I'm sure my other fermenter will have a nice, normal, from recipe brew that will taste good and as expected but I homebrew not only to make great beer but to have fun, and a hilariously bad failure (if that's what happens with this) that I designed is as much fun as a good beer from a recipe.

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Hey, if you want to throw a bunch of stuff in a pot just to see what happens, I'm all for it. It's your time and money, you can spend it however you like. But if that's the case, why bother asking us?

But to address your problem of what to do with crushed malt, I've heard of many people keeping it in a sealed plastic bag in the freezer for several months with no detrimental effect. If you brew a lot, you might also want to invest in your own grain mill. You'll quickly make back your money by how much you'll save buying in bulk.

gr8shandini said:

Hey, if you want to throw a bunch of stuff in a pot just to see what happens, I'm all for it. It's your time and money, you can spend it however you like. But if that's the case, why bother asking us?

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Glad I'm not the only one thinking this...

The reason for asking is if there's something in there that won't work or is guaranteed to ruin it before I even start. The excess Crystal is a good point and I'll change that before I brew it.
Also if anyone has tried something similar then hearing of their experience would be beneficial.

Personally I like your attitude with this "all in" attitude, not how I would brew but go for it!

I do agree a grain mill would be a great investment though so you can have greater control over how you buy and what you use. Besides, your efficiency will probably increase as well and then you'll buy less

Grain mill is on the list. I just have a space problem at the moment so buying 25KG bags of grain isn't going to keep the wife happy.

kiwirevo said:

Grain mill is on the list. I just have a space problem at the moment so buying 25KG bags of grain isn't going to keep the wife happy.

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You don't have to buy that much grain, you can get a big base malt and then smaller specialty grains and still get several batches in one purchase, you just mill what you need, when you need it.

kiwirevo said:

Grain mill is on the list. I just have a space problem at the moment so buying 25KG bags of grain isn't going to keep the wife happy.

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I don't know exactly how tight your space constraints are, but a sack of grain only takes up a little more than a cubic foot in the right container. A lot of people here in the States use a pet food container that's about a foot square and maybe 15" tall. I'd assume that there's something similar available in NZ.

And the best part about all-grain is that you can make just about any style using standard 2-row as 75% or better of your grain bill. So you just need the one big sack and you can buy your specialty malts a bit at a time as you need them. The savings aren't quite as good since the price of grain in general has been climbing, but I'm still paying about 30% less per pound for a sack of grain than if I were to buy it in smaller lots.

All that said, I can see how it can still be a significant amount of room if you happen to live in a small apartment. If that were my situation, I'd definitely prioritize storing beer over grain.

It's not too constrained but definitely fill up space with beer is the priority at the moment and my LHBS is very close and has heaps of selection so I'm spoilt for choice. Once I do a few all grains I might decide on a base malt and work out how/where to store it.
The LHBS prices are either per kilo or per 25kg bag, and I would save about NZ$40 on the 25kilos so it's worth it if I can eventually do it. An added complicating factor is that I have a friend who can get me amber LME for FREE but I don't know how long that will last.

kiwirevo said:

I'm not too concerned about the smoked as I've made 100% peat smoked (small batch) before and it was delicious.

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More for you. :cross: