Beer Forum

I'm brewing a Robust Porter based on JZ's in Brewing Classic Styles. It should look something like this: 12lb. British Pale, 1½ Munich, 1lb. Crystal-40, ½lb. Chocolate malt and 8oz. Black. However, I grabbed Caramunich by mistake. It was milled and in the bag before I realized my mistake. I figured I'd just roll with it and see what happens. Is this beer trashed? I'm worried about getting a weird flavor or not hitting my target gravity. What are your thoughts. I'm brewing this thing in a few hours.

Cara-munich instead of the 1.5 lb of munich? Assuming that, it is a lot of crystal malt in the recipe but it could still be a good beer. Sweeter and maybe a little lower heavier, so maybe just a little farther down the robust line.

Roll with it and see how it turns out.

Andy

Hopefully it won't be too cloying. It's only a 5 gallon batch. Thanks for your input.

...and yes. 1.5lb caramunich instead of 1.5 lb Munich

So instead of grabbing the Munich you grabbed Caramunich? If that's the case it isn't a huge deal, there are worse mistakes that you could have made. The beer will certainly taste different but I would still call this a very drinkable grainbill. Caramunich is essentially a german crystal malt malted by Weyermann. Adds sweetness, color, body, etc... but without the malt character of a Munich Malt. You won't get the fermentable sugars you were looking for with the Munich malt but since you were only using 10% begin with, your gravity won't be that different to dramatically throw off your beer.

There are a number of modifications you can make:

1. Mash lower to achieve a lower final gravity to counteract the increased body from the crystal malt

2. Increase the IBUs to counteract the sweetness

3. Add a few pounds of DME to dilute your percentage of crystal malts

4. Modify your mashing to increase your efficiency of fermentable sugars

5. Save your grains and brew another day with a further modified recipe.

Thanks Afterlab. I had planned on adjusting my IBUs but hadn't considered lowering my mash temp or adding DME. All of your suggestions are great.

Afterlab wrote:So instead of grabbing the Munich you grabbed Caramunich? If that's the case it isn't a huge deal, there are worse mistakes that you could have made. The beer will certainly taste different but I would still call this a very drinkable grainbill. Caramunich is essentially a german crystal malt malted by Weyermann. Adds sweetness, color, body, etc... but without the malt character of a Munich Malt. You won't get the fermentable sugars you were looking for with the Munich malt but since you were only using 10% begin with, your gravity won't be that different to dramatically throw off your beer.

There are a number of modifications you can make:

1. Mash lower to achieve a lower final gravity to counteract the increased body from the crystal malt

2. Increase the IBUs to counteract the sweetness

3. Add a few pounds of DME to dilute your percentage of crystal malts

4. Modify your mashing to increase your efficiency of fermentable sugars

5. Save your grains and brew another day with a further modified recipe.

6. Cold brew some coffee, an ounce or two in a cup of water, three days before packaging. Add it to your bottling bucket.

LeakyPolynesian wrote:I'm brewing a Robust Porter based on JZ's in Brewing Classic Styles. It should look something like this: 12lb. British Pale, 1½ Munich, 1lb. Crystal-40, ½lb. Chocolate malt and 8oz. Black. However, I grabbed Caramunich by mistake. It was milled and in the bag before I realized my mistake. I figured I'd just roll with it and see what happens. Is this beer trashed? I'm worried about getting a weird flavor or not hitting my target gravity. What are your thoughts. I'm brewing this thing in a few hours.

22% of specialty grains isn't completely unheard of...especially for a porter or stout. You'll be alright. In addition to the low mash temp, use a powerful yeast like WLP001 @ 68 degrees internal wort temp with a large starter. You'll also need to use a reliable yeast nutrient with 10 minutes left in the boil, and aerate well. If you don't ferment well, those kinds of recipes can be underattenuated and give you that homebrew twang. I'm not sure that adding extra DME will make the beer less sweet. Like creating any high gravity wort, it'll likely have the opposite effect, but I can't be positive because I've never done it. Also, you're going to have to be patient with that beer. Recipes like that can taste undrinkable at first, but if you let them sit for a few months, they're some of the best recipes I've ever had.