Can 6 row substitute for 2 row?

I would like to make BierMuncher's recipe for Cenntenial Blonde Ale shown below but there are no HBS within 2 hours of where I live. A local liqour store does carry some grain but right now only has 6 row available and no 2 row. I could try ordering 2 row online but I would like to make this recipe this weekend. Can 6 row be used as a substitute for 2 row with any modifications in a recipe like this and still make good beer?


Cenntenial Blonde Ale by BierMuncher
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 6.57 gal
Estimated OG: 1.040 SG
Estimated Color: 3.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 21.5 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount
7.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
0.75 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM)
0.25 oz Centennial [9.50%] (55 min)
0.25 oz Centennial [9.50%] (35 min)
0.25 oz Cascade [7.80%] (20 min)
0.25 oz Cascade [7.80%] (5 min)
1 Pkgs Nottingham (Danstar #-) (Hydrated)


Mash at 150 degrees for 60 minutes.

As far as I know... they are extremely similar. So much so, that I don't think I could tell the difference. There are prolly some people on here that can. I can't. If I remember right 2 row has a point or two more than 6 row. that is about it though.

Many resources discuss this on the internet http://www.brewingwithbriess.com/Malting101/The_Row_Less_Traveled.htm if you are using brewing software make the adjustment and have fun.

had a brain fart...too many beers today

First off Pale Malt and 2 or 6 row brewers malt are two different malts.

Pale malt is also known as Pale Ale Malt and used in ales more, brewers malt is used more for lager, american wheats and so on

that description in the hyperlink is pretty accurate. When using high percentages of adjuncts, the six row has more diastatic power to convert the adjuncts then the 2 row does, although the 2 row has been improving all the time.

flavor wise, six row gives you a slight bit of grain like flavor, where the two row is more smoother flavor. Not much, but you can taste the difference when using high percentages of these as base malt.

pale malt has more of a malty fuller flavor

Thanks everyone for your input. My swmbo decided we needed to drive 100 miles today to a particular store in order to get some more baby items before the young one arrives in mid May. I did go by a store in Des Moines that had a grain sale and bought 50 lbs of Briess 2 row for $56, which I hope is a good buy. So I have both 2 row and 6 row Pale Malt to use and I might try a few recipes where I blend the two types together.

In order to make several recipes this week (during my spring break where I don't have any teaching duties) I will have to use my 5 gallon glass carboys as fermentors. Does anyone know what the actual usable volume of a 5 gallon carboy is? Should I scale my recipe back to like 4.5 gallons?

Thanks,

Mick

Hi Mick,

I live in the quad-cities. If you head over to Chicago at some point, see if you can get to http://www.countrymaltgroup.com/ They have some fantastic grain prices, but shipping would kill you. You have to phone in your order ahead of time, and they will have it waiting for you when you show up.

Regards,
Jason

beeraggie said:

they are very similar but 6 row has less enzymes that convert the starches in the mash. Should not be an issue unless you are using a lot of adjucts or heavy roasted malts

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Unless I'm missing something here, the opposite is true. From the HBT wiki...
"6-Row is a base malt with a higher diastic power than 2-Row Malt to help convert other adjuncts."

Yes, 6-row converts adjuncts better, which is the main benefit of it.

Not only does it convert a very little bit better it also has more husk making sparging with adjuncts less troublesome. It also has more protein and lower extract percentage than 2-row.

msa8967 said:

In order to make several recipes this week (during my spring break where I don't have any teaching duties) I will have to use my 5 gallon glass carboys as fermentors. Does anyone know what the actual usable volume of a 5 gallon carboy is? Should I scale my recipe back to like 4.5 gallons?

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I generally put 5.5 gallons of wort into 6 gallon Better Bottles, and typically only have blowoff with Hefeweizen yeast or if I'm pitching to a cake.
My 5g glass carboys hold 5g, so 4.5 should be fine. You can also make the wort more concentrated, then dilute back to 5g with boiled water.

Enjoy your week off brewing

On the 5 gal. fermenter If you leave the hop and break material in the boiler. And have a temperature controlled fermentation chamber/fridge, you will probably end up with 4.5 - 4.75 gals when finished. Some yeasts like the wheat yeasts mentioned, call for a fermenters 30% larger then the batch being fermented. so you can lose a lot of wort to blowoff keeping it on the cooler sider will help control the blow off somewhat!

You have to remember when you create your recipes you have to design them so whatever is lost post boil, is accounted for in the recipe. So if you go backward in your thinking from bottle to boiler adding your losses, that will help you determine what batch size you need.
Example: I want 5 gals finished(kegged/bottled. I lose 1/2 gal to bottling bucket, fermentation,blow off, and racking. Then the hops absorption, and wort left behind in the boiler is a 1/2 gal.

5 gals finished
.5 gals lost after boiler
.5 gals
= 6 gal. batch size

Hope this helps

gxm said:

I generally put 5.5 gallons of wort into 6 gallon Better Bottles, and typically only have blowoff with Hefeweizen yeast or if I'm pitching to a cake.
My 5g glass carboys hold 5g, so 4.5 should be fine. You can also make the wort more concentrated, then dilute back to 5g with boiled water.

Enjoy your week off brewing

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I've been mostly using carboys for fermentation lately. It really depends on the grav of the beer and the yeast. My latest was my first AG, low grav and using WY Thames Valley. The krausen only came up a couple inches.

I did a higher grav red a while back with nottingham yeast that took off like a rocket... I had it filled just to the top side of the shoulder and it was bubbling over. I just tied a towel around the neck and popped the bung from time to time to make sure it wasn't building pressure. ANd cleaned it all up after a day or two... still drinking that yummy one

I try to err on the side of caution (ie just to the shoulder) if its a yeast/beer I don't know that well yet.

Have fun!!

Thanks to everyone for the info and I will fill no farther past the shoulder of the carboys. This will be my second weekend at trying all grain recipes and my first at using yeast starters. I tried making 3 starters last night by boiling 1 liter of water with 100 gram of DME. Cooled this to room temp then added the yeast from my wyeast smack packs that had been activated 1 hour prior to this. Everything had been sanitized and now only one bottle shows any activity. Each bottle had the 1 Liter/100 gram DME combination. Is there a good way to tell if these other two starter will be viable after just 14 hours? If not, should I just order more yeast?

when pitching from an activator pack you will have longer lag times then if you pitched on a yeast cake or built a starter The activator packs tell you if your yeast is viable by swelling up after you break the nutriment pouches inside. If it doesn't swell then wait or make a starter to see if it takes off

Another thing is you need to whip the oxygen back into your wort solution pre fermentation.
Your boil drove off any oxygen that was in the solution, so you really need to beat the wort up, to get it back into the solution once chilled.

Yeast depend on the oxygen in the first uptake stage, especially when you under pitch. Some guys use a funnel in the top of the carboy, then splash the wort into the funnel from the boiler. Then you either shake the bejeezus out of the carboy, or use the back end of your spoon/paddle and stir/whip/beat the wort until it says uncle.

Also when pitching your yeast, you have to make sure that the wort and yeast are very close to the same temperature. Best is with 5*F of one another, but no more then 10*F apart.

So should I start over with these and get new packes or sanitize a whish and try whipping some more O2 into the mixture?

I will definitely pay much closer attention to adding oxygen next time.

Thanks for the advice

Mick

msa8967 said:

So should I start over with these and get new packes or sanitize a whish and try whipping some more O2 into the mixture?

I will definitely pay much closer attention to adding oxygen next time.

Thanks for the advice

Mick

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If your starter was at high kraeussen when you pitched, you should be fine. If the starter wasn't really active, you may need to oxyenate the wort. You only normally do this within the first 12 hours after pitching your yeast.

You may want to just give it some time and let it have a longer lag at this point. next batch do it the other way