Given wrong grains. Will it still make a good beer?

[fun4stuff]

I was recently given the wrong grains and yeast on accident at my LHBS. They gave me the appropriate ones for free when the error was noticed; so no problem there. Said I could keep the other grains and yeast though, so I was going to make beer with them still. The grains are all mixed together so I can't separate them out!

So I was supposed to get:

9 lbs 13.0 oz Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 81.61 %
1 lbs Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 8.32 %
5.3 oz Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM) Grain 2.75 %
3.5 oz Melanoiden Malt (20.0 SRM) Grain 1.83 %

1.36 oz Styrian Goldings [5.40 %] (60 min) Hops 23.4 IBU
0.71 oz Saaz [4.00 %] (30 min) Hops 7.0 IBU

10.6 oz Sugar, Table (Last 15 minutes of boil) (1.0 SRM) Sugar 5.49 %

1 Pkgs Abbey Ale (White Labs #WLP530) Yeast-Ale



but instead got:
10 lbs Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 81.61 %
1 lbs Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 8.32 %
1 lb Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM) Grain 2.75 %
1 lb Melanoiden Malt (20.0 SRM) Grain 1.83 %

1.36 oz Styrian Goldings [5.40 %] (60 min) Hops 23.4 IBU
0.71 oz Saaz [4.00 %] (30 min) Hops 7.0 IBU

10.6 oz Sugar, Table (Last 15 minutes of boil) (1.0 SRM) Sugar 5.49 %

WLP500 Monastery Ale Yeast

------------


I was going to go ahead and make both. Maybe add some cherries to the second, incorrect one. How you guys think it will turn out with the change in grains and yeast !?

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Brew it up - see what happens!

 

[iijakii]

I think that'll still be a tasty brew. Definitely a good chance to compare them side-side and see what your thoughts are on Melanoidin malt.

You could also change yeasts and make a nice biscuity/malty lager if you want something different.

 

[wilserbrewer]

I would certainly brew up the "instead" grain bill. More spec. malt so perhaps more bitterness in order, but I'm no recipe expert. Nothing prohibitive about that grain bill, but w/ a pound of each mun. bisc. and melanoiden, might be a malty nice beer...maybe mash on the low end IDK. It will certainly make something palatable imo.

Heck....free beer, nothing wrong with that

 

[AndytheBeave]

I think that will make a killer beer!! I freaking love biscuit and Munich malts.
edit - maybe use an English yeast strain and drop the sugar and mash at 150ish and you'll have a nice bready tasty bitter on your hands. I noticed that your grain percentages haven't been updated in your "instead" grain bill. Make sure that is updated in your recipe calculator to ensure your OG estimate is correct.
I would call this a happy accident for sure.

 

[PlexVector]

With that much melanoiden you may want to compensate with bitterness and dry. Maybe use an APA yeast instead. Put it in something like Beersmith and play with the hops.

Another thought: Maybe mix it well and split in half or 3rds, and then make up with more base malt. use the present hops and yeast with the first and see how it comes out, and then you'll have a better idea as to what to do with the other batch. If you have already milled it, then you'll have to do the other one fairly soon. It should be interesting.

 

[McKnuckle]

Make sure you adjust your gravity and absorption expectations for the new bill. The percentages are no longer correct for the "as filled" order.

You had 11 lbs, 5.8 oz in the first bill. The actual bill has 13 lbs.

[Whoops, just noticed this has been mentioned already]

 

[madscientist451]

Go for it, brew both using the same hops and process and then you can compare. The "wrong" grains might make a brew you like better.

 

[m00ps]

I'd brew the accidental malt bill and add some sugar to help dry out and compensate for the larger % specialty malts. It'll be a pretty high OG Belgian

 

[Brettomomyces]

but instead got:
10 lbs Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 81.61 %
1 lbs Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 8.32 %
1 lb Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM) Grain 2.75 %
1 lb Melanoiden Malt (20.0 SRM) Grain 1.83 %

10 lbs Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 76.9 %
1 lbs Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 7.7 %
1 lb Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM) Grain 7.7 %
1 lb Melanoiden Malt (20.0 SRM) Grain 7.7 %

just wanted to fix the new percentages incase it needs to be brewed again in the future

 

[dwhite60]

Looks good to me.

Cook it up.

All the Best,
D. White

 

[misterkidd]

Happy accident for sure! As has already been suggested, upping the sugar and mashing long and low would give you the best chance of balancing out the strong malts. Maybe check the attenuation of your yeast as you'd want this to finish as low as possible.

 

[Gavin C]

I'd add another 10lbs of Pisner malt to the wrong'un and divide it into two 5G batches with different yeasts or differing hops, low mash in both 150F

Cut that 7.7% of melanoiden in half in each one. Still a lot of melanoiden at <4% but won't be so much of a malt bomb.

A cool ferment with WLP029 56F in one batch for a lager like brew
A less cool ferment in the other with the same WLP029

Edit: reread @Plexvector covered this already.

 

[Sir-Hops-A-Lot]

What you do with these depends on how much abbey ale you want to drink.
One thing no one has mentioned is that you have decently high gravity grain bills with only one liquid vial for each. Too little yeast for the job. If you make starters then it's no problem. If not, it's time you learned!
Another option is to brew the correct batch and split it into 2 carboys and use both liquid yeasts without starters.
Then take the maltier batch and brew it with a highly attenuation yeast like BRY 97 or S-05. Or... holy smokes... 3711 Wyeast French Saison... bone dry!

 

[mgortel]

Let us know how it turns out !!!!

 

[Toga]

The accidental beer screams lager yeast. If you can ferment lagers I'd give it a whirl and save the Belgian yeast for another brew.

 

[fun4stuff]

Update:
3 weeks old.

Ended up brewing this BIAB with wlp500. It's what I had on hand. OG was 1.060. SG now is 1.030.

Has a good body, but a little bitter as I think a few predicted. I force carb a small amount using a carbonator cap on a 12 oz bottle. A little sweet, of course Reminds me of an amberbock??

So going to let this one sit for awhile. Maybe recheck SG next weekend. I would have thought it would have a lower SG by now though.

Edit: made 1 L starter . Had vigorous fermentation for about 3 days. Temps been at 70-74 degrees. Going to try and move to a slightly warmer area of the house.

 

[iijakii]

Yeah that's way too high of an FG. Either you mashed super off or you need to repitch methinks.

 

[fun4stuff]

Yeah that's way too high of an FG. Either you mashed super off or you need to repitch methinks.

It was my first biab.... Still new to this.

What do you mean by mash being off? Wrong temp?

 

[iijakii]

Yeah.. did you hit your temps?

 

[fun4stuff]

Yeah.. did you hit your temps?

Yeah, hit my temps.90 mins at 158. Grains were double milled. Forgot to do mash out though, but didn't think everyone did those anyhow.

 

[fun4stuff]

Maybe 158 is a tad high? To be truthful, after adding the grains I initially didn't stir enough. I thought temp in center was too low so I reheated instead of just stirring more. After heating, I stirred and temp ended up at around 164 for a few mins, but I stirred and added a little ice and got it down to 158.

Maybe I have too much unfermentables? It's only a little sweet. Doesn't taste super sweet.