I tend to brew a lot (because I tend to drink a lot) and I generally purchase new base malt each time. But because I buy specialty grains by the kilo and I never use them all in one batch, I build up a stockpile of leftover grains like crystal, roasted barley, cara-viene, chocolate, flaked wheat, etc. In addition, I accumulate hops, but not as much. Since I prefer my beers pretty hoppy, I don't have as many leftovers, but they do accumulate somewhat. So once every few months I take a look at what I have accumulated and try to design a beer to use up the leftovers. It's usually something thrown together to resemble an IPA, although the grain bill is usually more complex than an IPA calls for. Most of the time, it comes out pretty good. This weekend, I'm brewing another leftover batch and I decided to use a different yeast than the WLP001 that I normally use for leftovers. The LHBS had WLP510 Bastogne Ale Yeast, so I picked that up. Looks like my leftovers will be Belgian this time. So I was just curious - does anyone else do this, or are you using up all your grain each time you brew? What's the best way you have found to brew with leftovers?
I try to order the lowest quantities of grains needed to make a specific recipe. But I still end up with odds and ends, and I do periodically try to craft a recipe around them. It's sort of a fun way to geek out over recipe design. Hypothetical Example: I have 4 ounces of honey malt, 5 ounces of chocolate malt... I could cold-steep the chocolate to minimize roastiness, get some light sweetness out of the honey malt, and make a black session IPA using that extra half ounce of magnum for bittering. Just need to get about 10#s of base malt and 4 or 5 ounces of C-hops.
I tend to buy in bulk, a sack of this a few pound of that etc. So I do end up with some odds and ends. Leftover beers are a great guilt free way to experiment with combos you would mix otherwise. I have found some interesting effect this way. Most of them escape my memory right now. I think of it this way. What am I going to do with these scraps, nothing? May as well make something!
When I first saw this thread, I immediately envisioned someone brewing with meatloaf...I'm sincerely glad this is not the case In all seriousness, I have yet to accumulate enough extras to make a beer, but I'm not sure I would in the future. I like to plan out my beers beforehand...brewing is just too much work for me to make a kitchen sink brew. I gots kids, man, I have to plan a brew day weeks in advance.
I do keep track of my left over specialities and try to incorporate them where applicable. I don't have a ton of them though.
I go to a great home brew store thats super close to me. I can buy grains by the lb, and the price is the same regardless if it .1lb or 50lb.
If it exists, someone will probably make beer out of it. Kinda like internet rule 34. My 2 gallon small experimental batches are soft of this kitchen sink thing. Here's a stout I just made.
I try to use my grains and hops up by adjusting recipes and substituting something that I have on hand. Once I get down to a bunch of small leftovers then I just throw all of them together (within reason) and brew a Junkyard Ale with spare parts.
Since there are no local stores for me I buy everything in bulk, and I keep enough on hand to brew almost any style that interests me. Also until recently I've never been able to foresee a day off in time to order for a particular batch it's just been easier to have some of everything. I have plenty of space for storage so that's also not an issue.
I can tell you what's my brow store do, they call it "broom floor" recipe, to be use for AG 101 class. You can do the same but add 60% 80% base malt to it and you good to go.
That's illegal here in Norway! Of course, that's probably why nearly every farmer has a still out in the barn!
They generally turn into porters or brown ales. Don't be afraid to buy MORE grain to make this batch work. If you can get rid of 3 or 4 leftover bags of grain, you may need to be willing to buy the fifth to make the recipe taste good. Round hole, round peg, you see where this is going. For most of us, it's a perpetual cycle to try to prevent waste.
I have never bought enough grains to have leftovers (small apartment brewer), but I love this idea. I would love to do a barleywine or brown ale.
I have been trying out a lot of clone recipes lately, which has left me with a wide array of leftover hops. I decided to use them all up recently, and went to my LHBS and bought a bunch of grain for an IPA, did one big mash, then did two small boils side by side. Totally different hop profiles and OGs, so really excited to see how each turns out. Going to also set aside a few bottles during bottling and do a few 50/50 splits to see what happens there.
