Can I salvage this grain bill?

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Belmont

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This is what I was supposed to get for a recipe that I was going to try.

12 lb****** (5.44 kg) British Pale Malt 3L
1 lb ******* (0.45 kg) Crystal 40L
1 lb******** (0.45 kg) Munich Malt 8L
8 oz ** (0.22 kg) Victory Malt 25L
8 oz *** (0.22 kg) Crystal 120L
4 oz *** (0.11 kg) Pale Chocolate Malt 200L

This is what I ordered on accident:


12 lb (5.44 kg) British Pale Malt 3L
1 lb (0.45 kg) Crystal 40L
1 lb (0.45 kg) Munich Malt 8L
8 oz (0.22 kg) Victory Malt 25L
8 oz (0.22 kg) Crystal 120L
4 lb (0.11 kg) Pale Chocolate Malt 200L

The grains are crushed and mixed into one bag. Is there anything that I can do with this other than feed farm animals? I already smacked my Wyeast so I guess I'm headed to the LHBS to pick up some grains. I ordered online to avoid the drive.

Any ideas would be appreciated.
 
dry stout comes to mind. doesnt fit the profile really well, but its about as close as youre gonna get to usable. i think you should use that grain bill and ferment with wyeast 1056 at room temp, give it a good 21 days to attenuate, and see what you get. you might be surprised at the results. itll definitely be very high gravity, so youre abv is gonna be off the charts. i think thatll make a halfway decent stout.
 
4lb of chocolate instead of 4oz??

Too bad the vendor you ordered from didn't question that. I think I would have but maybe the guy filling the order doesn't brew.

I made a Porter and used 12oz of Chocolate and it overpowered the beer. I really like the roasted flavor chocolate malt adds and thought 12oz would be better than 8oz but was too much for me.
 
4 pounds... wow. Not really sure what to expect if you brew that up. Maybe coffee?

Not sure that can really be salvaged, the % of Chocolate malt in there is hanus. Wont hurt to brew it up though, better than simply tossing it.

You could probably get (2) 5 gallon batches out of it, a nice low ABV stoutish sort of brew.
 
+1 on blending. I keg and would pour 1/2 glass of the porter I spoke of with a half glass of anything else on tap, an American Amber, EdWorts Haus Pale, and a Irish Red. It worked for me
 
Where did you get it from? I find it hard to believe that they wouldn't question the order?

I don't know the standard practice out there but I always ask for my grains to be kept separate (I'm always changing my mind on what I'm brewing next)
 
4 lb of pale chocolate malt vs 4 oz.

Since you've already bought it... go ahead and brew it, see what it tastes like after a lot of aging (Like 6 months or more).
 
Between the posts from rcrabb22 and The Pol I might have an idea...

What if I just cut this grain bill into 6-8 future batches of porters and stouts? Can the grain stay fresh that long if kept indoors? It would likely take me a few months to go through that. I do drink a lot though and have friends that love the homebrew. So maybe a couple of parties could get me through 6-8 batches in just a couple of months. :)

Any ideas on the process for cutting it and recipes that could be used?
 
Where did you get it from? I find it hard to believe that they wouldn't question the order?

I don't know the standard practice out there but I always ask for my grains to be kept separate (I'm always changing my mind on what I'm brewing next)

+1

I imagine the OP will do that from know on as well.

Order another 12 lbs of basemalt and use the pre-mix as half of your grist. Be hard to duplicate and it won't be to any one style but you'll still have drinkable beer.

:mug:
 
Between the posts from rcrabb22 and The Pol I might have an idea...

What if I just cut this grain bill into 6-8 future batches of porters and stouts? Can the grain stay fresh that long if kept indoors? It would likely take me a few months to go through that. I do drink a lot though and have friends that love the homebrew. So maybe a couple of parties could get me through 6-8 batches in just a couple of months. :)

Any ideas on the process for cutting it and recipes that could be used?

You COULD do that... you can really do any number of things, the question is, how far are you willing to go? 6-8 porters, is a lot of porters. If it were me, I may cut the bill in half, make (2) 1.045 OG "stouts" and see what happens.
 
yeah, i think blending, or splitting the batch and having a low abv, coffeeish brew would be something to keep in mind. id brew it and see what you get though. be pretty roasty, kinda coffeeish. i dont think it would be bad whatever you got out of it.
 
Maybe even back-sweeten with lactose or something, if it comes out a little astringent?

I dunno, I am shooting in the dark.
 
It is Pale Chocolate 200L that was ordered. That's going to be a bit mellower than regular 350L-400L Chocolate.

Should make a good roasty drinking beer.
 
It is Pale Chocolate 200L that was ordered. That's going to be a bit mellower than regular 350L-400L Chocolate.

Should make a good roasty drinking beer.

Good point, I missed that. The chocolate is still ~22% of the current grain bill so splitting into maybe 3 batches and adding additional base or other grains could be done. I've seen some scotch ale grain bills that use some chocolate so porters or stouts aren't the only options. It may not 100% on style but I would hate to see the money wasted.

I would still fire off an email to the vendor you bought from asking if they thought the grain bill was a little unusual? It's one thing to order 4 pounds of chocolate malt and another to have it combined with the total grain order. I'm not suggesting they have an obligation to compensate, you did place the order, but the order was is a little over the top IMHO.
 
I'd probably cut your current grain bill in half, or even 3rds and back fill it with a bunch more pale. Then use it for 2 or 3 separate recipes. Or maybe even a 15 gallon recipe?

Or just brew it and see what happens. You can always blend it later too.
 
This was WAY over the top and the vendor should have questioned it. But it was my fault. I did place the order. The grain bill was so large they had to split it into two bags. That might have been a hint too. I've already decided not to order from this vendor anymore because they take far too long to get the order ready and actually ship it. If they were consistent I could at least time it right but that's not the case either. I've ordered on Monday before and they shipped just in time to let my hops and yeast sit in a hot warehouse over the weekend. I live 3 hours drive from this shop so that's ridiculous to me.
 
I would still fire off an email to the vendor you bought from asking if they thought the grain bill was a little unusual? It's one thing to order 4 pounds of chocolate malt and another to have it combined with the total grain order. I'm not suggesting they have an obligation to compensate, you did place the order, but the order was is a little over the top IMHO.

This was WAY over the top and the vendor should have questioned it. But it was my fault. I did place the order. The grain bill was so large they had to split it into two bags. That might have been a hint too. I've already decided not to order from this vendor anymore because they take far too long to get the order ready and actually ship it. If they were consistent I could at least time it right but that's not the case either. I've ordered on Monday before and they shipped just in time to let my hops and yeast sit in a hot warehouse over the weekend. I live 3 hours drive from this shop so that's ridiculous to me.

Falls into a "Customer is always right" area. Imagine if you wanted to order something like this, for whatever reason. I know I'd be ticked if the store held my order and wanted to make sure that was what I wanted. It's a no win for them.

I've never had my grain mixed together before though. :eek:
 
Falls into a "Customer is always right" area. Imagine if you wanted to order something like this, for whatever reason. I know I'd be ticked if the store held my order and wanted to make sure that was what I wanted. It's a no win for them.

I get your point, but given this grain bill, it wouldn't bother me. I would like a seller who cared enough to ask the question.
 
If I was putting this order together I would give them what they wanted but I would definitely keep everything separate.
 
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