Ingreduent left out of Nut Brown Ale (from true brew)

So I came home on my lunch break to check fermentation on my steam beer I brewed last night. I'm having company tonight so I decided to clean up a little bit.

As I was doing so, I came across a package of Muntons Crushed Dark Crystal 2 Row Barley Malt (8 oz). This wasn't an ingredient in my steam beer, so I went and pulled the instructions/ingredient lists for the other kits I've done. It must have been left out of my nut brown ale (from true brew). it has been fermenting for a week and a half so far in primary. I did a gravity reading on Monday (before I discovered the omission), and tasted it, and it's pretty good.

So my questions are:
1. What kind of beer will I end up with? Will it still be a nut brown, or will it be just like a chocolate ale (I guess I just steeped chocolate)?
2. Is there any way to remedy this (I doubt it, but I was thinking along the lines of racking it onto the crystal. Don't know if that would raise sanitary concerns or not)? 3. What should I do with this crystal? I know it's pretty common, so I know I'll be able to use it when I finally stop doing kits, but anything in the meantime?
4. What is the storage procedure? Does it have a shelf life?

Sorry for all the questions. I've RDW but haven't had a beer since I'm still working. Just curious more than anything.

Should be ingredient. Damn phone

1 - Without knowing what else was in that nut brown ale besides the crystal you forgot and the chocolate malt you did use, I don't think we can say what kind of beer you'll end up with. But honestly, if it tastes good, IMO that's more important than nailing down exactly which style you've made, unless you're planning to enter a competition.

2 - Malted grain is a breeding ground for bacteria. I would not rack beer directly onto crushed grain unless you want to make a sour beer, as this is precisely how many traditional methods purposely inoculate beer with lacto. I suppose you might be able to steep the grains to make a tea just like steeping grains with extract, and then boil it, cool it and add it to the fermenter ... but I doubt it's really worth it, especially if (see #1 above) the beer tastes good to you now.

3 / 4 - I'd just save the malt for a future brew. Milled grains don't stay fresh as long as unmilled grains, but if you keep it in a cool, dark and airtight container you can definitely keep it for a few weeks and just use it next time you brew.

Hope that helps. In the meantime, RDW and HAHB when you get home.

Thanks. I figured that #2 wasn't an option, but thought I'd ask.

Here is the ingredient list:
•Hopped Light Malt Extract (1 can)
•Light Dried Malt Extract (1 lb)
•Amber Dried Malt Extract (1 lb)
•Special Dark Brown Sugar (1 lb)
•Grains: Chocolate, Dark Crystal & Roasted Barley

Don't know what kind of chocolate it was. Like I said, it tastes great. I noticed when i pulled the gravity sample that it didn't taste like i was expecting, but it did taste good. Thats why I figured, what the hell.

I did have an idea while i was brewing this that it might be cool to rack onto some roasted pecans or something like that to give me a little more nuttiness. But had pushed that idea out of my head until just now. Chalk one up to another lesson learned, and another 5 gallons under the belt.

Now, here is an alternative. Anyone with more experienced can chime in if this won't work, but you could possibly still use the grains and get closer in the ball park of what you are looking for style wise. But it requires a bit of math. It looks as though steeping grains will contribute very little to your gravity, and only about 10% is fermentable, so if you know the weight of the grain that was left out we can figure out how much fermentable sugar would be added. If you were to steep that for 20 min, then boil with your adjusted amount of priming sugar, cool and use that as your priming sugar at bottling time, you could add back in the flavor you are missing.
If you are interested in doing this, we would need to know the following. Total batch size, amount of sugar you were going to use for priming, weight of the grain left out. From there we can look up some info and do some math.

mcbethenstein said:

Now, here is an alternative. Anyone with more experienced can chime in if this won't work, but you could possibly still use the grains and get closer in the ball park of what you are looking for style wise. But it requires a bit of math. It looks as though steeping grains will contribute very little to your gravity, and only about 10% is fermentable, so if you know the weight of the grain that was left out we can figure out how much fermentable sugar would be added. If you were to steep that for 20 min, then boil with your adjusted amount of priming sugar, cool and use that as your priming sugar at bottling time, you could add back in the flavor you are missing.
If you are interested in doing this, we would need to know the following. Total batch size, amount of sugar you were going to use for priming, weight of the grain left out. From there we can look up some info and do some math.

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Thanks! That's what I was looking for! Batch size is 5gallons, priming sugar is whatever comes in the kits...I'll look tonight to confirm, but I'm pretty sure it's 5oz, and the weight of the grain is 8oz.

motleybrews said:

Thanks! That's what I was looking for! Batch size is 5gallons, priming sugar is whatever comes in the kits...I'll look tonight to confirm, but I'm pretty sure it's 5oz, and the weight of the grain is 8oz.

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just confirmed priming sugar size is 5 ounces

i just did a quick search for the terms "forgot to add" and pages upon pages came up. Ran across some that forgot to add the crystal and much of the recommendations said to just steep it in 3 cups of water at 170 for 20 minutes and add it. Haven't run across one that added this late in the game yet though. I'm considering doing this.

any reason NOT to? i can let it sit in the fermentor for another couple weeks if necessary. i don't mind waiting on a good beer.

motleybrews said:

i just did a quick search for the terms "forgot to add" and pages upon pages came up. Ran across some that forgot to add the crystal and much of the recommendations said to just steep it in 3 cups of water at 170 for 20 minutes and add it. Haven't run across one that added this late in the game yet though. I'm considering doing this.

any reason NOT to? i can let it sit in the fermentor for another couple weeks if necessary. i don't mind waiting on a good beer.

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This will work too if you are willing to wait an extra week, then no need to adjust priming sugar at all.

That's similar to the "tea" method I was suggesting above, but I was just speculating. It sounds like others have actually done it and been happy with the results.

I can't think of any reason not to do it, except for the risk of possible contamination if you aren't really careful with your pasteurizing and sanitizing. If you're careful with all that, it sounds like a solid plan.

motleybrews said:

i just did a quick search for the terms "forgot to add" and pages upon pages came up. Ran across some that forgot to add the crystal and much of the recommendations said to just steep it in 3 cups of water at 170 for 20 minutes and add it. Haven't run across one that added this late in the game yet though. I'm considering doing this.

any reason NOT to? i can let it sit in the fermentor for another couple weeks if necessary. i don't mind waiting on a good beer.

Click to expand...

i would boil the water for 15min or so and let it cool to 170 before steeping

this will sanitize it as well as remove all oxygen

terrapinj said:

i would boil the water for 15min or so and let it cool to 170 before steeping

this will sanitize it as well as remove all oxygen

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You will also want to boil after the steeping too, to kill anything that might survive a 170 deg bath on the grains.

plan is:
1. drink a beer (all i have at the apt is some 1554)
2. boil up 3 cups of water
3. remove from boil, steep grains for 20 minutes
4. bring back up to a boil to kill off any contaniments
5. cool down the tea to approx 68 (where the beer should be fermenting away)
6. pour it in carefully to not aerate the beer
7. leave it in primary an additional week.

i just assume that i should cool it down to the temperature of the beer, so as to not raise the temp of the beer.

anything else i've left out?

Sounds good. Remember not to squeeze the grain bag when draining/removing. And if you wanted to, you could do a mini sparge with 1/2 c hot water to rinse the spent grains before you boil it. You could probably heat that in mug in the microwave. That way you extract all the flavor you are looking for.

thanks. heading to the LHBS now to get a couple grain socks and gonna make it happen.

thanks for all the suggestions. I will probably do the mini sparge.

Well, all is well. Thanks for everyone's help. Did the tea thing. Top was off the fermentor for approx 45 seconds. Poured the tea in slowly. Hopefully it turns out well.

Thanks again