Need Help! Ideas! Inspiration!

[Mishraile]

Ok friends,
Challenge for you. I have a bunch of leftover grains from my last several brews, def enough to brew something up without having to buy new stuff. I need ideas though. Here is a list of the grains I have right now.

Parameters: 5 gallon recipes preferably, but am about to transition into 10 gallon brewing so I am open to that too. Would like to avoid buying anything for the brew, but am willing to if it is the difference of completing a great brew or not.

Grain:
1.75 lb Munich 10
12 oz Caramel 60
1.75 lb Roasted Barley
8 oz Dark Wheat
8 oz Chocolate
2 oz Medium Crystal
9 oz of something called "black" can't honestly remember what it is. VERY dark roasted grain though.
45 lbs 2 Row
45 lb Maris Otter (sp?)

Hops:
8 oz Cascade hops
2 oz Sterling
.5 oz Magnum
.5 oz Golding
.5 oz Nugget

Yeast:
US-05

So that is what I got. I am very open to getting a different yeast as well. I am able to Lager if need be, but rarely do.

I would like to point out, I am NOT a huge fan in general of Stouts and Porters. I mean, I like em, but usually in small doses so I rarely make 5 gallons of them. That being said, I realize I have several dark grains there so am not opposed to making one if the recipe is good enough, or I just need to use up grains.

I like English beers in general, and also am a hop head.
SO, let your ideas fly, and lets see what we get?!

 

[Braufessor]

Well, for one batch, you could do some sort of west coast amber ale/imperial amber.

10-12lbs of 2 row (depending on your efficiency)
1.75 of the munich
all of your caramel and crystal (so 14 ounces total)

You could maybe even throw in 2-4 ounces of that dark wheat to deepen the color without much roast... how dark is it? iF it is midnight wheat - 2-4 ounces. If it is just a darker wheat but still 10-20L - throw it all in.

Hops -
Magnum and Nugget at 60 to bitter.
ounce of cascade at 15,5,0, dry (so, 4 ounces total)
US 05

Could maybe use maris otter, 4-8 ounces of chocolate malt to make a british mild.....might need to supplement with some crystal 120 or maybe some of that dark wheat (depending on L.) WOuld need to get an english ale yeast .... 1469 or 002. maybe use the sterling and golding in that one.

 

[phenry]

Maris Otter base
All the Munich
About half your Crystal.

Lots and lots of Cascade for flavor/aroma, Magnum and Nugget for bittering.

Not quite an American IPA, not quite an English IPA. For some reason I like these a lot.

Edit: looks like Braufessor and I were thinking along the same lines. You could throw those Goldings in with the dry hop (assuming they're East Kent) to help mix things up a little bit. I threw some Cascade in with my EKG dry hop in the English IPA I just bottled and I really liked how that turned out. This would be like the reverse of that, maybe.

 

[Mishraile]

I am liking these ideas. KEEP EM COMING!

ok, to up the ante a little. The best recipe, that I end up picking will win... a toast! the first beer I drink from this batch I will raise a glass to you! Talk about incentive!

 

[Bigelow92]

Cascadian Dark Ale!!! All the color of a porter... All the hops of an IPA... And just a kiss of the roastiness. I love this style because its not a style yet! Aside from California Common and the infamous "premium light lager" this is one of the only styles we as Americans have contributed to he wide world of beer, and it was invented within the last decade! (Some Oregonians or Washingtonians might disagree). I'm on a plane, so I will write you a recipe an post it as soon as I land

You won't be exactly in style, since traditionally it's all northwest American hops but were experimenting anyway! (Plus its not "officially" a style yet.)

 

[Mishraile]

Ok Bigelow92...you have my attention.

 

[Bigelow92]

Ok Bigelow92...you have my attention.

Sorry I haven't posted yet, I haven't forgot about you!

 

[Mishraile]

I...am...still holding my...breath.... gasp.

 

[Andrikos]

I'd make a 1.100 English Barleywine.

90% Maris Otter
4% C60
2% each Chocolate, Dark wheat, Roasted barley

Mash low 148-150F

90 minute boil

60-70 IBUs of 90 minute hops (Magnum + golding + sterling + balance of Nugget)

another 10-20 IBUs of Nugget at Flameout

Ferment cold (low-mid 60s)

be patient

Enjoy for the next few years!

PS (Alternatively, you can replace ~10% of Maris Otter's pppg with plain sugar after primary has slowed down to about 1.040 or so)

 

[Tico]

Cascadian Dark Ale!!! All the color of a porter... All the hops of an IPA... And just a kiss of the roastiness. I love this style because its not a style yet! Aside from California Common and the infamous "premium light lager" this is one of the only styles we as Americans have contributed to he wide world of beer, and it was invented within the last decade! (Some Oregonians or Washingtonians might disagree). I'm on a plane, so I will write you a recipe an post it as soon as I land

You won't be exactly in style, since traditionally it's all northwest American hops but were experimenting anyway! (Plus its not "officially" a style yet.)

Don't mean to start a controversy but a Canadian brewery also contributed to the Cascadian Dark Ale style

 

[Mishraile]

I am going to step in here and as a dual American/Canadian citizen, play the part of peacemaker.

Well... thats it... thats all I got.

 

[Bigelow92]

Sorry to keep you waiting with baited breath, but without further ado, I present to you Mishraile's CDA (by Bigelow92):

Cascadian Dark-Ale

OG (1.065)
Estimated FG (1.012)
Calculated ABV (7.3%)
IBU (63.9)
Color (32.3 SRM)

Brewhouse Assumptions:

Efficiency (70%)
Batch size (5 gal)
Calc. pre-boil vol. (6.5 gal)
Boil time (60min)

11 LB (2-row) - 2.0 SRM
0.5 LB (Dark Wheat) - 9.0 SRM
0.5 LB (Munich) - 10.0 SRM
0.5 LB (Crystal 60) - 60 SRM
0.5 LB (Chocolate) - 350 SRM
0.5 LB (Black Patent) - 500 SRM

1 oz. Sterling @ FWH
0.5 oz. Magnum @ 60
1 oz. Cascade @ 30
1 oz. Cascade @ 10
1 oz. Cascade @ aroma steep for 30 min.
1 oz. Sterling @ aroma steep for 30 min.
1 oz. Cascade @ Dry hop for 5-7 days

Now there are a few things that need clarification, mainly how you've gotta treat the black patent.

Hopefully you have an extra large French Press coffee maker, and if not hopefully you have a fine-meshed kitchen strainer.

You gunna do a COLD WATER STEEP on the Black Patent malt. This means the the day before your brewday:

1) Boil 2 quarts of water for 30 sec or so, and cool it to room temp. (ice bath or just let it sit...) [this is not to sanitize, its to de-chlorinate the water]

2) Add your finely crushed Black malt to the room temp water, cover, and let it steep overnight.

3) On brewday, pour your water/grain mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into the kettle in the last 5-10 minutes of the boil.

The point of all this is to get the color from the Black patent and little-to-none of the flavor (which has been described as ash/charcoal).

I included the chocolate in the mash, because I like a kiss of roastiness in my CDA's but if thats not a flavor you like, add the chocolate malt to the last 15 minutes of the mash (but don't cold water steep it.)

I chose Magnum hops for Bittering since we have other hops with German heritage in the recipe, but feel free to use nugget instead, both are quite nice.

I tried to be a little conservative with the late and dry hop additions because I like my CDA's to let their roasty flag fly, but this beer is most definitely still hope-foreward.
But if your crazy, then throw the goldings in with the dryhop, or amp up the aroma steep. I'd keep the boil as it is though. (this will likely taste more bitter than it appears to be.)

Have Fun, hope you like it... I had a blast writing the recipe.
and if you hold onto those golding hops, I'll write you up a Traditional British IPA when I get the time

report back with pics and tasting notes!