I went to my local shop today where I have bought many times before. I wanted 6 pounds of Maris Otter and .5 pound of roasted barley. I only make 1/2 size batches - 2.5 gallons BIAB because it's just easier and I like to do it inside and that's the most I can make at one time.
In any case before I know it the guy goes in the back and starts milling the grain. "Whoa" - I didn't need it milled and prefer it not be milled as I like to do it myself and I've bought plenty there before unmilled. Too late... so I thought "Big deal"..then I see him bagging it afterwards and he mixed the roasted barley with the MO already. NOT what I wanted...I wanted to split the 6 pounds of Maris Otter into two 3 pound batches using 3 pounds for a stout and the other 3 for an ordinary bitter. I told him I didn't want it mixed and he said "they will all be mixed together in the mash anyway...", and I told him I wasn't planning to use all of it at once in the same batch. He was not apologetic at all and said I needed to be more clear in the future...ha! Whats more clear than "I want 6 pounds of MO and I want 1/2 pound of roasted barley".. Oh and when I asked for flaked barley, he scoffed and said "No one uses that"...umm, no, I use it in stout all the time. Annnyway...
Now - I can't do a 5 gallon batch on my stovetop so I am wondering if I can even use this now for a 2.5 gallon stout..? And even if it was able to, I normally use .5 pound RB per 2.5 gallons so I had to buy another .5 pound of roasted barley extra, with the thought I could use everything for 2 separate 2.5 gallon batches...but then it occurred to me that it was unlikely the roasted barley would be 100% evenly distributed through the Maris Otter.. would it? I certainly can't use any of it to make an ordinary bitter,..can I?
If you followed all this,..what should I do with this? Toss it and go back and buy 6 more pounds and start over?...
Cheers
Dukester
How do I salvage these grains?
Post #1 made 12 years ago
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- SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From United States of America
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8oz mixed into 6Lb is 1.33oz/Lb which is around 8%, pretty much on the button for ports and stouts. For bitters you may want to dilute it down further to 5% and under where it won't make such of an impact and will add more colour than flavour. So if you add another 6Lb of MO it will be around 4%.
