Cleaning out the cupboard...

[JKoroniak]

So it's that time of year, time to clean house. Time to stop staring at all those bags of poorly labelled malt and try and make something tasty while cleaning out any grain I have before restocking.

I just took a look at what's left in my home brewery, and this is what I have:

GRAIN:
3# Vienna
5.5# Crystal 10L
1# Honey Malt
~1# Black Patent
1.25# Pilsner Malt
8# 2-Row

For hops I have a mystery bag totalling probably 1oz and at least 1oz of Centennial. As for the yeast, I always have a package of Danstar Nottingham Ale sitting around.

To me this seems like an odd combination of grains to formulate a recipe from. So I ask the knowledgeable brewers here, what style/recipe will use the most of what I have and still make a great beer?

Thanks!

 

[corax]

Ha, I just did a "clean out the cupboard" IPA last weekend...

I think just using it all would make a great beer (except not that much Crystal -- cut that back to no more than half a pound). Mash low, bitter with the Centennial, toss in the mystery hops with 15' boil time left, ferment cool, and call it "Alt".

(You can get away with calling a lot of things "Alt". Not that many people have been to Düsseldorf to be qualified to call you on it.)

EDIT: I misread the amt. of black patent you had. If you use the whole pound you probably can't get away with calling it an Alt!

 

[beowulf]

My choice would probably be a porter...

 

[JKoroniak]

Ha, I just did a "clean out the cupboard" IPA last weekend...

I think just using it all would make a great beer (except not that much Crystal -- cut that back to no more than half a pound). Mash low, bitter with the Centennial, toss in the mystery hops with 15' boil time left, ferment cool, and call it "Alt".

(You can get away with calling a lot of things "Alt". Not that many people have been to Düsseldorf to be qualified to call you on it.)

EDIT: I misread the amt. of black patent you had. If you use the whole pound you probably can't get away with calling it an Alt!

Ha! No that probably wouldn't fly even outside of Düsseldorf. I was worried that a pound of honey would be a really jarring addition to almost any style, I haven't brewed very much with it...

 

[jflongo]

So it's that time of year, time to clean house. Time to stop staring at all those bags of poorly labelled malt and try and make something tasty while cleaning out any grain I have before restocking.

I just took a look at what's left in my home brewery, and this is what I have:

GRAIN:
3# Vienna
5.5# Crystal 10L
1# Honey Malt
~1# Black Patent
1.25# Pilsner Malt
8# 2-Row

For hops I have a mystery bag totalling probably 1oz and at least 1oz of Centennial. As for the yeast, I always have a package of Danstar Nottingham Ale sitting around.

To me this seems like an odd combination of grains to formulate a recipe from. So I ask the knowledgeable brewers here, what style/recipe will use the most of what I have and still make a great beer?

Thanks!

You could make an APA out of that.

 

[JKoroniak]

You could make an APA out of that.

True, I wouldn't be surprised if most of what's left is from many batches of Centennial Blonde's or EdWort's Haus Pale Ale.

Lately I've been finding my water profile/fermentation profile hasn't been as successful for pale beers as for darker ones... Maybe an amber variation of either of those two beers would be interesting...

Thanks for the input!