Oops! Specialty grains not separated at LHBS

So I was gonna grab some grain to brew up a mild and rounded all the specialty grains up to one pound each. I didn't specify this to the guy at the shop and realized too late all the specialty grains got thrown in one bag. So as it stands I have a bag with the following:

1lb crystal 40
1lb crystal 120
1lb chocolate 350
1lb black patent

Thinking of brewing up a big stout or doing a partigyle for an imperial stout and then a smaller stout or brown. I do 5 gallon batches so there's that.

What would you do given the circumstances?

 

1lb crystal 40
1lb crystal 120
1lb chocolate 350
1lb black patent

What were the quantities you wanted of each of these.

 

Plan was to brew a mild so
.5lb crystal 40
6 Oz crystal 120
4 Oz chocolate
2 Oz black patent

 

I usually round up specialty grains to a full pound. To make things easier on everyone and I like having extra ingredients on hand

 

Problem's not the amounts of each but that they weren't separated and thrown all into one bag

 

Kinda amusing that the guy at the HBS didnt pick up on this.

If it was me I would give it a really good mix then use some of it to make a RIS or stout. Add some more crystal or chocolate to the mix to tone down the black patent if that is too high (I havent used this malt before but I assume a little goes a long way). Otherwise you might add wheat and munich for a dunkelweizen, though you will be well sick of dunkelweizen before you use a pound of each specialty.

 

Alternately, thinking outside the box here.

If the malts are uncrushed, how hard would it be to pick out the black patent? I would bribe the kids with an ice cream. Crystal + chocolate without the black patent might open up a few more styles for you, porter comes to mind.

 

Take it back and ask for what you wanted. There is no excuse for mixing small amounts of specialty grains unless asked in advance.

 

^^^This^^^

There is no reason anyone working at a HBS should have mixed them all together like that.

 

It's odd to me that you didn't specify what you wanted nor the employee didn't ask. We ask three questions. Mill it? How fine? Keep separate or mix together? No exceptions.

 

The shop is an hour and a half drive away. It'd cost me more to drive down to return it than the price I paid for the grain.

I think I'm going to try to make a 3-4 gallon RIS with first runnings and small stout with the second runnings and call it Oops It's a Stout

 

So, just the specialty malts are in one bag, and the base malts are separate?

If that's the case, I'd just mix up the specialty malts well and use half of them. Save the other half for something else.

 

That's what I'll probably do. At least after the first brew if I see I need to increase something I'll have a starting point.