To dump or not to dump

So I've finally started making my own recipes (I started home brewing again in March) after I made about 10 or so batches. I also do tons of forum crawling. Regardless, I'm pretty advanced in some areas and pretty ignorant in some others. Long story short, I made a mistake in my new batch of ESB - didn't know carared was a caramel malt (I know, stupid stupid). So here's the partial mash recipe:

6lbs two row
3lbs carared 20L
2lbs caramel malt 60L
.5lbs rye malt
2lbs. Pale LME
1.5lb light DME

1oz Northern brewer for 45min
1oz Motueka for 30 mins
1oz Pacific jade for 15 mins

WLP 005 (British Ale)
FWH with .5oz Strange Brew

Soooo...I know one is not supposed to dump batches (as time heals most wounds), but caramel malt consists of 36% of the grain bill. Now I know you don't get full sugar conversion from caramel malts (as numerous threads have demonstrated), but we're still looking at like 25-30% caramelized sugar. Most people say the max should be 10-15%. I first wort hopped with strange brew to try and counteract the caramel sweetness, and boiled for only 45 mins instead of the usual 60 (to avoid that extra 15 minutes of caramelization). What are people thinking about this batch; should I just dump it or will aging help this excessively caramelly beer? OG was 1.064 and projected FG was 1.019, IBUs should be 50+.

Have you tasted it? I definitely wouldn't dump it until I had tasted it. That being said, this isn't going to be a "to style" ESB, but it will still be beer.

Never dump a batch that is not bad. Somebody will drink it. Many great inventions have come by accident. You could always try to hop it up really well to mask it. Either that or brew another batch of a really dry, light, and hoppy beer to mix with it some ratio. That's what I do with beers I don't like. I mix them with other beers, and it makes a drinkable mix.

It may turn out good. Who knows.

Minimal marginal effort to let it ferment out. But I think your analysis of the recipe (caramel overload) is right on; won't be your best work.

If you have a clean ferment, even if it's not good for drinking, might be good for cooking.

Take a gravity reading and then taste. If it is a little sweeter than you would like dry hop it for a week, then taste it again. Hops can help cover up a lot of off flavors, but like what was said it won't be to style but if you like it who cares.

I'd probably blend it with a second highly fermentable batch - like all base malt mashed pretty low and hopped similarly.

TyTanium said:

Minimal marginal effort to let it ferment out. But I think your analysis of the recipe (caramel overload) is right on; won't be your best work.

If you have a clean ferment, even if it's not good for drinking, might be good for cooking.

Click to expand...

That's what I was thinking. I can see this beer being absolutely fantastic for breads and batters.

Horseballs said:

I'd probably blend it with a second highly fermentable batch - like all base malt mashed pretty low and hopped similarly.

Click to expand...

For me, that'd be too much work to try to "Fix" a batch. That said, If it isn't broke, don't fix it.

Wait to taste it, and if you don't like it just bottle/keg it and forget about it for a month, retaste, wait. Etc. I had a stout that I made with "kitchen sink" specialty grains approach. It was suppposed to be a dry stout that finished above 1.020 with way too much roasted and caramel grains and tasted like a punch in the teeth. I forgot about it for about three months and then it was AWESOME.

Just wait, what can it hurt?

Horseballs said:

I'd probably blend it with a second highly fermentable batch - like all base malt mashed pretty low and hopped similarly.

Click to expand...

Exactly what I was going to say. If you make another 5 gal batch with no crystal malt and mash low, you should have 10 gallons of pretty good beer.

I've tasted it, and surprise surprise it's like eating caramel coated hops. It is only two weeks old, though, so we'll see how it ages.

Also, why is everyone saying it is not "to style?" I checked the BJCP guidelines and perhaps I hit a bit big on a few things (1.064 is 4 points too high, 1.019 is three points too high, 5.9% is fine, 50 IBUs is fine, 19 SRM is one point too high). Is it because of the crazy amount of caramel malt? Maybe the rye?

Horseballs said:

I'd probably blend it with a second highly fermentable batch - like all base malt mashed pretty low and hopped similarly.

Click to expand...

So I'm guessing I'd just make the batch, cool it in a bottling bucket, then pour half of it in to a second primary bucket, pour half of the caramel crap into that second bucket, then pour the remaining half of what's in the bottling bucket into the first primary (containing the rest of the caramel crap)? I don't have ten gallon buckets.

3 points in FG is pretty big. And style is more than just BJCP numbers

Sounds similar to something i tasted at the last hbcm i attended. Brewer made an esb, didn't like it but bottled and shared. Definetly not an esb, but a real nice scotch ale. Don't dump, maybe dry hop, or bottle and drink and learn.

TyTanium said:

3 points in FG is pretty big. And style is more than just BJCP numbers

Click to expand...

Exactly. The style of a beer is much more dependent on recipe than numbers. Hell, you could brew a batch from the same mash, same boil time, same hops, split and ferment with two different yeasts and come up with two beers in totally different style categories.

The "out of style" stuff in your recipe: too much caramel malt, wrong type of hops. I'm not saying what you did was wrong, it just wouldn't pass for an in-style ESB.

stjackson said:

Exactly. The style of a beer is much more dependent on recipe than numbers. Hell, you could brew a batch from the same mash, same boil time, same hops, split and ferment with two different yeasts and come up with two beers in totally different style categories.

The "out of style" stuff in your recipe: too much caramel malt, wrong type of hops. I'm not saying what you did was wrong, it just wouldn't pass for an in-style ESB.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I was just curious. I'm still trying to understand the constraints of style. I understood the caramel, and I suppose I'd have to use British/European hops for that part. Thanks!

This could be the most caramel malt ever put in a 5 gallon batch. I want some for research purposes!

So what did you end up doing?

I ended up kegging it and drinking it

Much ado about nothing, really. As I stated, the hops I was using put this at 50 IBUs and I FWH'ed with a 1/2 ounce of Strange Brew, so I ended up somewhere in the 60-70 IBU range (perhaps more, I forget what their alpha is). What I'm getting at is that after it mellowed for 4-5 weeks and I kegged and carbonated, the hops really help offset the caramel sweetness. The beer ended up tasting balanced (which is ridiculous at 70 IBUs, but the FG was 1.022).

I think the big thing here is the CaraRed - I believe the lovibond rating was 10. So yes, it's a caramel malt, but a really light one that is highly fermentable. And sure, I used too much of it, and it wasn't the greatest beer (no one was that thrilled about it) but no one said it was unpalatable, either. The endorsement was "Hey, it's definitely better than the crap they have at the bars around here, but it's not your best."

Essentially, the hops saved my ass - pretty sure I was at 70+ IBUs and that really helped cover up the abundance of caramel (in the form of residual sweetness, as the FG will attest to).