What to do with fresh squished kit?

[Hwk-I-St8]

OK, so I bought a pair of Resilience all grain kits that were a fundraiser for the victims of the campfile forest fire. I virtually never do kits, but it was for a good cause, so I bought two and gave one to my BIL.

I didn't pay a bunch of attention to the grain bill except for working up my water profile and pH, but the hopping schedule was a little too "west coast" for my liking. I moved things around a bit and turned it into a east coast / west coast IPA fusion.

The result was pretty uninspiring and I'm pretty sure the reason is what I consider to be a metric crap ton of crystal 60 (like 1.5 lbs in a 5G batch). It has a noticeably roasty bite that just doesn't work with an IPA in my opinion. Other than that, the beer turned out OK.

So, my BIL, as a thank you, gave me a Fresh Squished kit. I looked up the recipe and, sure enough, it's got a lb of caramel 60.

So, at this point, I'm thinking one of two approaches:

1. Take the grain bill as is and use it for something different (base for a stout or porter maybe?) and create my own grain bill for the IPA. I have plenty of grains for that.
2. Split up the grain bill to dilute the caramel and do 2 or 3 batches with it.

I'm not thrilled with option 2 as I prefer my own recipes and I don't really want three batches of beer with the grain bill dictated, at least in part, by the kit.

Whaddya think? Anybody want to propose a recipe for option 1? Here's the grain bill in the kit:

· 11 lbs Rahr 2-Row
· 1.5 lbs Briess Bonlander Munich Malt
· 1 lbs Briess Caramel 60L

 

[BrewerBrad82]

If you enjoy Fresh Squeezed, I think you will be impressed on how close that particular kit turns out despite the seemingly high amount of C60. I have brewed it multiple times and I may actually like it better than the real deal. Because of the amount of caramel malt, mash this one relatively low (150F) to get the wort quite fermentable so the beer dries out pretty well and any residual sweetness from the C60 is not overbearing.

 

[Soulshine2]

I would split that pound of Caramel 60 up to use in future brews.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

If you enjoy Fresh Squeezed, I think you will be impressed on how close that particular kit turns out despite the seemingly high amount of C60. I have brewed it multiple times and I may actually like it better than the real deal. Because of the amount of caramel malt, mash this one relatively low (150F) to get the wort quite fermentable so the beer dries out pretty well and any residual sweetness from the C60 is not overbearing.

I used to love Fresh squeezed when it first came out. I had a bottle about 2 months ago and either my tastes have changed or the beer has (or maybe it was an old bottle).

I would split that pound of Caramel 60 up to use in future brews.

I can't just use the caramel separately since the kit came with the grains mixed in one bag.

 

[Soulshine2]

I used to love Fresh squeezed when it first came out. I had a bottle about 2 months ago and either my tastes have changed or the beer has (or maybe it was an old bottle).



I can't just use the caramel separately since the kit came with the grains mixed in one bag.

oh , i misunderstood, sorry. Thought it was a separate bag.