Need advice on "leftover ingredients" recipe

[nvdrake]

Hello all, I'm new to the forums. I'm looking for some opinions on figuring out what I am making. Im using the last of my home brew supplies tomorrow before i order some more. So what i've got is...

Yeast - Wyeast 3522 Belgian Ardennes
Malt Extract - 6lbs Light LME
Hops (obviously not using all of them)- 5oz centennial, 4oz cascade, 1oz summit, 1/2oz us northern brewer
Possible steeping grains -carapils

I also have a lot of canned blueberries but i'm not sure i want to mess with those.

So my questions:
-What the heck I am making? a Belgian pale ale?
-which hops should i use?
-will the carapils do anything for steeping?
-any other advice for making this into awesomeness?

 

[MaxStout]

You could try some kind of a Belgian IPA with the LME, a little of the carapils for body, a bunch of those hops and the Belgian yeast. It may not be exactly to style, but I think it would be tasty.

I believe the carapils needs to be mashed (it has no diastatic power), so you'd need to do a mini-mash of that.

 

[Tryger73]

Carapils will add body and some head to your brew but won't give you much of anything flavor or color wise as it is a dextrin malt. Sounds like if you ran a 3 gallon batch you could either end up with a sorta maibock or perhaps a hoppy helles style beer. Try some different combinations with the hops in a brew calculator and see what your end color and IBU's are then find a style that matches and go for it. I love making a leftover ingredients beer. Good excuse to do something different!

 

[Sailingeric]

I did a left over hop/ gain beer a month ago, it turned out to be an amber IPA (about 60 IBUs). I used Nugget, Willamette and Nelson Sauvin and it turned out pretty darn tasty.

 

[nvdrake]

thanks all for the quick replies. Yea i love leftover beers too, no choice but to be creative.

So will the carapils add body by steeping or would i have to minimash?

Do you have a brew calculator you recommend?

I've never been to sure what hops to use with belgian yeasts, i feel like the aroma of cascade might work well with the fruity/spicy yeast aroma

 

[MaxStout]

thanks all for the quick replies. Yea i love leftover beers too, no choice but to be creative.

So will the carapils add body by steeping or would i have to minimash?

Do you have a brew calculator you recommend?

I've never been to sure what hops to use with belgian yeasts, i feel like the aroma of cascade might work well with the fruity/spicy yeast aroma

If you steep the carapils, you'll just get a bunch of unconverted starch, which could cloud your beer. It won't add the body you want. Use a small grain bag and mash it at 150-155 for 30-45 minutes, then continue brewing with the malt extract, etc., as you normally would.

 

[Tryger73]

You can steep carapils you just won't get as much out of it. It's a dextrin malt and will raise the OG and FG of your brew. I like using Brewers Friend calculator myself as it tells you which styles it would match and it works well on the iPad.

 

[mrdail87]

Depending on your brand of LME, it could have carapils in the blend already. I know Maillard Malts light LME includes it.

I'd go with Centennial and/or Cascade for the hops. They have a simple profile and shouldn't overpower the character from the Belgian yeast.

Do you have any specialty grains left? Some Belgian biscuit and/or some light crystal (10-20L) could add some depth to it.

 

[nvdrake]

I have specialty grains from the Northern Brewer Dead Ringer kit. I couldn't find what it was made up of though.

 

[m00ps]

I have specialty grains from the Northern Brewer Dead Ringer kit. I couldn't find what it was made up of though.

says youve got 1 lb of caramel 40L. Sound right?
http://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/beerkits/DeadRingerIPA.pdf

all their recipes are on the webpage

 

[m00ps]

I would do a belgian IPA with centennial/cascade. Summit for bittering. Let fermentation free rise to bring out belgian yeast esters. 3522 usually makes a mix of apple/pear/clove spice IME