Unexpected mixture of grains

[gunhaus]

AAAHHhhhhh! One of the joys of the current internment is that there are little helpers around with idle fingers and dandy intentions!!!!

So I now have a bag with:
4 lbs of Marris Otter
8oz Victory
8oz Vienna
8oz Munich
8oz Simpsons DRC
12 oz of melanoidin
All "nicely mixed and ready for you to use Papa!"
So let's make some beer.

My first thought was to toss another 4 lbs of Marris at it, along with 40ish IBU of Northdown, and toss it on a cake of Imperial Pub from an ordinary bitter I just kegged up this morning. Which would create a Franken ESB of sorts i guess.

Then I though I could go with 5-6 pounds of Marris, and a pound of so out of the mixed bag, and just build a few batches of a basic-ish ordinary bitter. As I said I have the yeast cake already on hand, and some notty, and another bag of Pub, and i think some 1084. Lots of Northdown and EKG as well.

Anyway that is my shut in day tale - comments welcome. Tag your it

 

[cyberbackpacker]

Add 2 pounds of MO and brew a 2.5g batch and call it a barleywine!

 

[gunhaus]

I had actually thought of adding 18 lbs and calling it a barleywine! But as much as i like that idea I am stretching my grain into some smaller brews- Good idea though!

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Then name it child’s play or some such title that will invite the story to be told.

 

[madscientist451]

I'd go with it as is, and call it "Idle Fingers Ale" Take it gallon of the first runnings and reduce it to a quart, then blend in with the main batch. Perhaps reduce the batch size below 5 gallons? Re-pitch whatever yeast you have handy and let it rip....
Its hard to say when our last day will come, so enjoy your Idle Fingers ale ASAP!

 

[TheBeerGuy]

I would add:

4# 2-Row
0.5# Lactose
1oz Cascade 60 min
0.5oz Liberty 15 min
1pkg US-05 yeast (or something you have already)

I feel that would be a good Sweet American Amber Ale

ABV 5.0%
OG 1.050
FG: 1.012
SRM: 13
IBM: 27

 

[Brettomomyces]

Add more maris to get an OG of 1.070-80, touch of chocolate malt and make a baltic porter. It's actually not too weird for that, just a lot of melanoidin

 

[bracconiere]

Then name it child’s play or some such title that will invite the story to be told.

obviously the kids want a small beer for themselves to drink!!! you'll just have to explain the government wouldn't let you, and add more base malt.....


edit: not so bad at recipe formulation! they just know their body weight already......

 

[gunhaus]

So, I ended up taking 1/4 of the blend , and added enough MO to get a 1.036 ordinary Bitter. I hopped to 32 IBU total with all Northdown at 60 20 and 5. Pretty similar to a beer I make regularly. I chucked it on some Notty, and let here rip at 64 F. After 3 days I bumped up to 72 for two days. It was at a surprising 1.006 (I usually end uo at 1.008-1.010 with Notty on a MO beer of this gravity - but I will take it! ended up being just a whisker under 4%) Thing is the sample was amazing! Great bitterness, with VERY pronounced malt and biscuit flavors. A VERY happy beer. I popped it in a keg with some gelatin, 30 psi for 24 hours, then down to serving pressure ( I actually like mine a little more carbed than traditional - sorry my purist friends!) It has cleared nicely, but I am gonna let it ride one more week before attacking with a vengeance. It is a really really nice beer already. So now I have high hopes for part two: I took the remaining 3/4 and mixed enough MO to get to 1.056. And this I hopped With EKG to 22 IBU with a single 60 min addition. And I pitched it back on the Notty yeast cake from the first beer. This wort was a deep reddish/copper color and had distinctly bready and caramel notes and I just decoded on the fly to hop it like I do my favorite Irish Red. We'll see on another week or so what we gots! I love it when accidents work out.