BeerBorg

Well I am about to do my first AG tomorrow, went and got grains.
Called the homebrew store, they got my stuff all ready, fantastic! Went and picked it up happy as a clam.
Well, I get home and notice all the grains in one bag together....crap!
So now I have this all mixed together:
3 Lbs 2 Row
3 Lbs White Wheat
1 Lb Biscuit ......man this has me worried
1 Lb Carapils......this too

It's sposed to be 4 oz of the two specialty malts, I just asked for a lb so I could have more on hand, figured the grains would all be in separate bags....

So...well, no use wasting these grains right? I'm still gonna brew but damn...any thoughts on what this will turn out like?
It's supposed to be a Berliner Weisse, 5 gallon batch, .5 oz Tettnang or however you spell it OG right around 1.040....

Any thoughts? Will this now be some horrible over foamy over toasty beer?

First I'd call your LHBS and tell them you wanted them separate and see what they say about you bringing it back (if you want to).

But you may just plug it into your brewing software and see what it thinks you will end up with; BB2 "invented" his Texas Crispy Amber ale by plugging a bunch of leftover stuff into BeerSmith and ended up with a truly great beer that he has perfected over a few brew days.

The carapils and wheat in your case seems like a conflict though as one is intended to dry/ lighten and the other to add body so I'm not sure how they would behave together for your intended brew.

Could be assuming on yours and the stores part. Unless you specify bagged separtly, they might assume it is one batch.
I like BB suggestion, when you get lemons, make beer!!
Unless it was a major malfunction, I would let it go. My LHBS is very good to me and it's customers, offering more than a product. Countless times, OK pretty much everytime I go in, we discuss things. Like today, doing a cereal mash. I'm learning from them, and that means something to me. Only you know for sure what will be best. They may have no problem making it right if asked.

Brewbirds wrote:First I'd call your LHBS and tell them you wanted them separate and see what they say about you bringing it back (if you want to).

But you may just plug it into your brewing software and see what it thinks you will end up with; BB2 "invented" his Texas Crispy Amber ale by plugging a bunch of leftover stuff into BeerSmith and ended up with a truly great beer that he has perfected over a few brew days.

The carapils and wheat in your case seems like a conflict though as one is intended to dry/ lighten and the other to add body so I'm not sure how they would behave together for your intended brew.

No dice on the return =/ Yeah they thought it was one batch since I needed it all milled too.

I don't have any brewing software either, just grabbed a recipe off some blog post about doing a full sour mash Berliner.
I'm going to just do it anyways and take notes. Grains are pretty cheap, especially for a recipe with only 6.5 lbs of them. I'll chalk this one up as a learning experience, who knows, could turn out great if it's sour enough lol!

Would you recommend I get some brewing software?

It actually doesn't look all that bad. Except for the pound of Biscuit. Maybe call it a Wheat Bread Wit??? It may turn out to be a little bready. As I see it, that malt bill has potential. Your OG will be higher than 1.040.

I love biscuit and keep some around but 1 lb is kind of a lot.
I definitely think you'd benefit from Beersmith. It's great software, has a pretty easy learning curve and will help you be a better brewer.

What hops and how much do you have in this recipe?

Well, here's to hoping for the best with this one. Maybe dump in some DME to increase the percentage of base malt over specialty grain?

I use Brewer's Friend. If you pug in the grains and such, it will tell you what styles it matches.

Beer-lord wrote:I love biscuit and keep some around but 1 lb is kind of a lot.
I definitely think you'd benefit from Beersmith. It's great software, has a pretty easy learning curve and will help you be a better brewer.

What hops and how much do you have in this recipe?

.5 oz Tettnang for 15 minutes.
I'd imagine the sourness from the lacto will balance the malt's sweetness, but I've never done it before.

I'll check out some software.

Alright plugged it in, it's close to a lambic in profile, apparently as far as SRM, OG, FG, and IBUs go. Might work out well, get 1.039 OG with a 65% efficiency, not sure what mine is but even at 75 it's only 1.045
I'm pretty excited to brew tomorrow, hope it all goes well.

I ran it in quick, and it comes out pretty close to Weissbier.

John Sand wrote:I ran it in quick, and it comes out pretty close to Weissbier.

Nice!
Hopefully the racking onto fruit will go well with a bready flavor. Maybe like toast and jam haha.

Philm00x's suggestion of adding DME to balance the specialty grains is one possibility, and brewing what you have is clearly another. An argument in favor of brewing what you have, besides being a learning experience, is that you might find the result is something new and good. I bought a book about Stone Brewing Co at the end of my tour there, and it says Arrogant Bastard was actually originally a mistake. With some new equipment, they used too much of some ingredients. We probably all know how tasty the result is.

I suspect most LHBS package everything together unless you specify otherwise. I prefer to measure my own, grind and bag it myself as part of the pleasure I take in brewing, so I put it together IF I want it together.

If it comes out like toast and jam may I have the recipe pleaase.

Brewbirds wrote:If it comes out like toast and jam may I have the recipe pleaase.

Putting it that way, it sounds amazing!