Next batch?

[Altbier bitte]

Anybody have a brew coming up? My brewing partner is leaving town (more on that in another post), so if we get a chance to do another batch it will be an odds and ends beer, along these lines
*pale malt - we have a couple of single # bags of MO, and a couple of bag-corners of MO and domestic 2-row; probably use up the MO first.
*Munich - we have 3 single # bags (don't ask me why) plus 30#s or so of a 55 # bag
*Belgian biscuit - we've got a # of this. Never used it - I hope a # is a reasonable amount for a 10 gallon batch.
*Special B - we have a few #s of this. Probably throw 4 oz in.
I'm not sure what yeast we have on hand. I know we have a couple pouches of Safale-04 (has anyone used that?), otherwise we have a couple of batches to keg so if we harvest one of those we'd have Notty and Wyeast Northwest ale to pick from.
We have a pretty good hop assortment, including Mount Hood, which I've been wanting to try. Since MH is an American attempt at a Mittelfruh replacement, I thought we'd pair it with Hersbrucker which is the original Deutsche Mittelfruh replacement. Could actually toss a little Mittelfruh in, but I'm thinking stick with the other two. We have a little of most of the common varieties - if anyone has a suggestion for another hop to go with MH and H-brucker, have at. I would say Citra (since it goes with everything), but I think we've finally exhausted the 11' supply of that.
Otherwise, we have: rye malt; oat flakes; Victory; generic biscuit; brown sugar (never used it - thinking of throwing a # or 2 in. Good idea, or would it combine badly with the sp-B ? It's a lighter, pure cane sugar, described as 'golden' brown.); German dark wheat malt. I think that's about it. Thoughts?

 

[JAMC]

I know we have a couple pouches of Safale-04 (has anyone used that?)

I used Safale-04 for a stout a few months back. I was pushed for time so I didn't even bother with a starter, just pitched the contents straight in. 18 hours later the krausen had blown straight through the airlock! OG on that batch was 1.063.

Couldn't detect any esters at all - so I'd say a clean and neutral yeast profile.

 

[Altbier bitte]

That's helpful - I'll probably go with that.

 

[LarryBrewer]

Fresh hop brew? The timing is just about perfect!

 

[Altbier bitte]

Are you talking about 'wet hops'? I think I missed the boat on that - didn't you have to pre-order those? If you're saying that the 2012 crop is ready, I need to get over to Hops Direct and make an order. Otherwise, a friend of mine has some growing, but they were only planted this year and they are still pretty small - might be enough for one 5 gallon batch if we combine all the plants/varieties. That's assuming he's going to share. When will you be harvesting those fat Chinook cones?

 

[BrewHop]

sounds like you should do a "kitchen sink" beer like a barleywine, porter, or old ale or something like than...

 

[Altbier bitte]

Well, we've got 2 B.A.B.s (big ass beers) in the carboy and another in planning stages, so I've got this one figured at OG 1.060 - medium big. It's based on what we have hanging around to use, so it's semi-random. I've got a recipe mostly worked out, haven't made it public yet. I still have to bounce it off my brew partner. I'll post the recipe soon - maybe you can help me figure out what kind of beer it is.