Have extra steeping grains - suggest a recipe?

HI all,

I have extra steeping grains lying around from 18 months of brewing beer and buying stuff and for whatever reason, not always using it all. I'm only an extract brewer so far - I was hoping someone could suggest a recipe that uses some of these, or direct me to a site or some software where I could plug in these ingredients and get back possible recipes.

I have, currently:

1 lb each of
Chocolate Wheat
CaraHell
Marriss Otter.

.5 lb each of
Muntons Crystal
Cara Red

I also have the following hops in the fridge:

2 oz. Kent Goldings
2 oz. UK Challenger
1.5 oz Hallertau
1 oz Phoenix
1 oz Galena
1 oz Cascade
1 oz Crystal
1 oz WIllamette

Thanks in advance!

i'd say throw all your grains together, add some extract, use your willamette for 60 minute bittering, use 1 oz EKG for 20 minute flavor and you've got yourself a beer!

ALL those grains???? Isn't that too much? I'll admit the thought crossed my mind, but I think the most I've ever steeped was 1.5 lbs of grains total (that was a mix of 3 .5 lb'ers)

Any downside to steeping that much grain? If not, I'll do it!

Yeah there is a downside. Steep more than 4 lbs or so and it becomes an AG batch....

I agree with Deathy here, but I would specify 3 lbs of Dark DME..mmmmmm

I guess what I haven't thought of, is, how much extract? Usually I boil between 6 and 7 lbs of it. With 4 lbs of steeping grains, would that lessen the amount of LME or DME I'd need?

cheezydemon said:

Steep more than 4 lbs or so and it becomes an AG batch....

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Ha! I do plan to move to AG brewing soon but not just yet. So it's okay to steep my 4 lbs, and then do I add less extract than I usually do? Just looking for a number.....

Well that depends on if you want a reasonably big beer or an itty bitty beer.

Go with the 3 lbs I suggested and some WL Irish Ale yeast.

I'll do it! Off to buy the yeast now.... thanks guys.

one more thing, what would you classify this beer as, for my record-keeping purposes?

looking at it again, maybe only 1/4 lb of the chocolate wheat and 1/2 lb of the carahell, but other than that...yes, i would do it all. i've done a few leftover recipes and it's fun and never let me down.

consider this: marris otter is a base malt. if you steep all 2.75 lbs of grains in about a gallon of water for 30 minutes...you are basically doing a partial mash.

do you have two pots and a large bag for the grains? if so...here's what i would do:

1) Heat 1 gallon of water to 175°F and turn off heat. Add grains in bag and let sit for 30 minutes.
2) In the meantime, heat 2 gallons of water in another pot to 180°F
3) Grab the bag and dunk it in the 2 gallons of water for a few minutes. This will extract more of the sugars and more flavor and color
4) Add the water from the original 1 gallon to the other 2 gallons, add your extract and start your boil as usual

so if you did that, this would be your recipe:

1.0 lb - Marris Otter
0.5 lb - CaraHell
0.5 lb - Crystal
0.5 lb - CaraRed
0.25lb - Chocolate Wheat

1 oz Willamette - 60 minutes
1 oz EKG - 30 minutes

hmm...looks like an amber ale to me. with some english characterics. You won't get much sugar from the grains, so i wouldn't worry about changing your extract.

Adigital thermometer is good too.....but we may be rushing you!

The base malt will benefit greatly from the correct temps.

Did I hear right? Leave out the crystal?????You haven't seen my poll!(not pole)

nah, just knock it down a notch. between the carahell, the crystal and the carared...you've got plenty of crystal in there. might even consider leaving one of them out.

Ah, my mistake.

DeathBrewer said:

1) Heat 1 gallon of water to 175°F and turn off heat. Add grains in bag and let sit for 30 minutes.
l

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I really appreciate the help. We're making this beer tonight. Just one more question - do I keep the water at 175, or turn it off and let it cool throughout the 30 minutes? When steeping in my other n00b beers, I've always kept a constant temp.

Thanks again.

Hello again, guys. After an adventure with an expired yeast starter, my brew is bubbling away in the primary this fine morning, a little more than 48 hours after we brewed.

I just wanted to ask DeathBrewer (or anyone else who might know) how long this recipe should be in the primary. I had always assumed 7-10 days, but for my last brew (an IPA that was also kindly laid out for me in these forums), I was told to leave it in primary 3 weeks, which I did.

So now I don't know how long to leave it in. If I knew how to calculate that from the recipe, I would, but since I don't, I'm asking for advice yet again.

Thanks everyone. You have made my homebrewing not only possible, but very tasty.

you transfer the beer to the secondary after it has finished fermenting. use your hydrometer...it's the only way to be sure.

if you're unsure, leave it in primary for a good two weeks total, or maybe a week after activity has stopped.

it is ALWAYS better to leave it longer than shorter