Beat the Brewer Recipe Ideas

Unless you're making an American Barleywine or an Imperial Red Ale, that's the worst grainbill that I've ever seen. Even then, it's not that good. Guess you could go for something like Arrogant Bastard, if you wanted. Eesh.

 

Do you have to use all those grains? And how much time do you have from now until the competition?

 

Do you have to use all the grains? Or can you scale them back as long as you maintain the proportions? Can you steep some of the grains (for like 30 seconds)?

 

How about souring it with lacto and/or brett and doing a dark sour?

 

Yeah I was thinking along these lines as well. It's a gamble, but maybe a gamble is the best strategy (along the lines of going for it on 4th down when 3 points won't do you any good). A middle-of-the-road beer is not going to stand out in a competition like this and would be hard to pull off in any case. So go for something a little crazy!

In terms of timing, if you brew it soon I think you could do a mixed fermentation sour (by which I mean a combination of Saccharomyces, Brettanomyces, and Pediococcus, as commonly sold by vendors such as Yeast Bay). @EvenMoreJesus can give you some better guidance on timing, but I seem to remember him stating that you don't need as much time as people generally suppose. [Edited to add: Ehhhh I did the math wrong, this seems a little too quick for a mixed-fermentation sour, but I'd love to be told I'm wrong about that.] The advantage of a mixed-fermentation sour is that it will thin the beer out and provide some sharp acidity to differentiate your beer from the others. I have brewed a mixed-fermentation sour that had a lot of crystal malt in it and it came out pretty damn good, not nearly as cloying and syrupy as the malt bill would have suggested. (Admittedly your malt bill has other issues, but I think similar logic applies.)

A beer brewed with Lactobacillus is basically the same but less so. What I mean by that is that Lacto will not thin the beer out much, or get the beer as sour as Pedio will. Still might be a good approach, I don't know.

Another thought is that 5% of this grain bill (which is the limit for additional grains) is nearly a pound. You could throw a bunch of roasted barley or black patent malt in there and make a decent stout. The roastiness would be playing the same role as sourness described above—it would overwhelm the other malt flavors and differentiate your beer.

 

Since roasted barley isn't malted, it's technically an adjunct. Go for a stout.

 

ive brewed some weird stuff, with that bill, im at a loss.good luck

 

Why try to put a white-shirt on a turd? My suggestion is to cheat (sort of). Take the supplied grain and feed it to the cows. Then with a decent grain bill, brew something that's sure to be a crowd pleaser . . . you know . . . something like a Bell's Two Hearted clone. This will overwhelm the unwashed-masses and you will capture first place. Then just politely explain livestock ate your grain and you had to brew with what was on hand (somewhat true). You'll abdicate the trophy but bask in the sweet glory of victory.

 

There are some posts I wish I could like twice.

 

+1 for the Florida team

 

God what a terrible grain bill....I’m at a loss but I agree I’d add roasted barley and try to make a stout.

 

i,m feed the cows, hahahahaahahaah

 

Yeah, this is a tough one! Couple ideas (but not really sold on any of them).
-You could add candi syrup and Belgian yeast, and call it a dubbel of sorts.
-It could maybe pass as a California common? Sort of?
-Sour it with Goodbelly and then add some fruit and/or hops.
-Biere de Garde?
-Hop the shit out of it and call some kind of IPA.
-The Stout idea is good too.
Good luck on this one!

 

The Bier De Garde idea sounds interesting.. do you have to use all the grain? I know it’s mixed up but maybe use less of it and go for a super dry low ABV hoppy Bier De Garde maybe add some Brett to give it a little depth. Bunch of noble hops late and a super long and low mash. I guarantee you it would stand out, although with that much crystal I don’t know how dry you could get it? Maybe with a decent amount of sugar??

 

Can you use fruit,syrup,spices or any yeast you want. I have a few ideals if you can.

 

hm, if you really want to win, scale that down to a smaller batch, and go get some new grain. Ferment it with a neutral yeast and lightly hop it. Now you have a feel for the malt bill and can try to wrap your head around what would play well with it. You have just under 2 months so if you aren't going to go for souring then you might be good. Just a thought