Mixed grains

[Brewer #401141]

Hi all,

I'm still a bit green, and I'm on to my 3rd batch. I went to the LHBS and bought grains I planned to use for separate batches and different beers in the future, but I forgot to tell the worker to mill them separately. Needless to say I have 24 lbs of mixed grains, which consists of 5lbs of Vienna, 5lbs of 2-row, 5lbs Pale ale, 3lbs of roasted barley, 3lbs of Carapils, and 3lbs of flaked oats. Big beginner mistake and lesson. my question is: Can I make this work into a decent beer? Its too much grain to throw out. I think it will make something like an okay stout. Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

 

[Minbari]

can you not just keep them seperate and make whatever batches you were going to make? just mix the grain, by weight, into what ever you need and leave the rest behind for the next one.

I have a containers that I store speacialty grains in and 5gal buckets for base grains. I dont ussualy buy for a specific batch volume.

EDIT: I misread it. they are all mixed. never mind....................

it looks like a good base for pale ale or IPA or ESB with just a few additions.

 

[Megary]

Well, just make a beer, wait til it’s done, then give it a name!

But I agree, assuming these grains are mixed thoroughly, it looks like you might be in Oatmeal Stout territory. Not sure how many beers you can get from this bag, but to add a little spice to each batch, you can mash at different temps, ferment them with different yeasts or at different temperatures, use different hops, maybe add some vanilla extract to one or cacao nibs to another etc.

Good luck!

 

[Over The Cliff Brewing]

I agree with all of the above. I think the biggest one is use a different yeast on the grain bill. I see a number of experiments coming. Let us know your results.

 

[DarkVader2]

How mixed is the grain?

As Megary said, looks like an Oatmeal Stout, but the roasted barley has a huge effect in small quantities (many brewers have found that less of it yields better tasting oatmeal stouts as opposed to more) and 3 lbs is a lot of it for 21 lbs total of malted grains. Typical recommendations are for 5% to 10% of your total grist and you're beyond that.

The roasted barley will be the darkest color grains in your mix and will stand out from the rest by their darker hue. If you could somehow remove about one-half of it --even if you scoop up some of the other grains with it-- I think you might like the resulting brew better. You know you had 3 lbs of it to
begin with. If it's not too mixed in, pull out some and weigh it. Than subtract that from the initial amount.

That said, everyone's taste is different and maybe you would like a higher percentage of it.

Lessons learned the hard way make the most impact and make us better brewers. Don't be discouraged. brew up.

 

[Donoroto]

I hesitate to suggest a magnifying glass and a pair of tweezers...

That grain bill would make a nice darker Ale as well, maybe a little more roasty than typical but not bad. Use an english yeast and some goldings or fuggles hops.

As mentioned, you have a golden opportunity here to brew several batches, all the same grain but change up the yeast and/or hops to best learn the impact of each yeast or hop.

Sorry to hear of the misfortune, but maybe lemonade will be made.

 

[Ward Chillington]

Yeah...I'm with @Megary ...really dark oatmeal stout...two 5 gallon batches and you'll have more practice unless you have a huge kettle or want to do an imperial stout... A couple ounces of fuggles or EKG and you're making beer...now....what kinda yeast? Play with it...learn from it!

 

[Herm brews]

Cascadian Dark Ale, aka Black IPA? Hit it with some big hops!

 

[Sandy Feet]

I'm on board with the above. You have it, so play with it. Either go the English route or hop the shit out of it. Make sure the grains are milled. My store has a button to check online for the grains to "bag separately".

 

[west1m]

Mix up the grains real good. They just ground one on top of the other.

 

[The Brew Mentor]

5 gallons of imperial oatmeal stout!
No sparge method.
Bitter to about 40 IBUs and add some ekg or fuggle at the end.
Ferment with a healthy dose of an English strain, something like London ale.
My 2 cents

 

[The Brew Mentor]

Oh and call it "30 weight"