Recipe Help... lighten the kit...

[optimatored]

My dilemma... went to the local homebrew shop and they gave me the wrong ingredients... I wanted to make a "helles" and I got a double bock. So given what I have for ingredients below can someone pleas help formulate a lighter recipe... going for 5 gallons, I normally use specialty grains and extract...

My current inventory:

5lbs Pilsner Malt
1lbs Belgian Aromatic
6 lbs Extra Light DME
7.75 lbs Light DME
8oz Malto Dextrin
11oz Chocolate Malt
5oz Black Malt
2.5oz Crystal Malt
~2.0oz Tettnanger hops, fresh
1/4oz Tettnanger Pellets
1/4oz Hallertauer Pellets
I have one pouch of Wyeast 2308 Munich Lager and a few dry packets...

The kit came with the grains all mixed up of: 8oz Belgian cara-munich, 12oz German Munich malt, 8oz 80L crystal, 1/2oz chocolate for "steeping"... plus 7.75lbs of light dme, plus 8oz of dextrin, and the hops above.

What I really wanted to make, like I said above, was a helles. Something lighter for spring was my thought here, what can I do with what I have to make a "lighter" beer… or do you think?

All help here is appreciated as always!!

[Otis_The_Drunk]

I would think that if your adjunct grains are already mixed up you may as well go with the Dopplebock, unless you have the patience of Job and then you could pick out chocolate and black malts.

[BrewDog]

Since the specialty grains are already mixed up, I can kind of see 3 doable batches from this (though 2 of them will definitely be pushing style boundaries):

1) Do a Helles as an extract only batch using ONLY the Extra Light DME and 1.5 oz of the Tett at 60, then .5 oz Tett at 15, with 4 oz of the malto dextrin for mouthfeel.

2) Then, you can probably do a Dunkel using about 6 1/2 lbs of the Light DME and about 2/3 of the mixed specialty malts. Mix the grains very uniformly, and save about 1/3 of them for a 3rd beer that will be amber like a Vienna. You'll probably want to add some crafa special roast - about 4 oz. and another 1.5 oz of noble-type at 60 (bittering hops only).

3) Finally, the Pilsner malt and the Belgian Aromatic can form the basis of another beer - a Vienna-ish beer - if you add the remaining 1/4 of the specialty malts and add the extra lb and a quarter of the pale DME, plus you buy another 2 lbs of Munich LME and then hop it to 25 IBUs using the rest of the hops (use about 1/2 oz at 15 and the rest at 60 with enough additional Hallertaur/Magnum/Liberty/Mt. Hood to hit 25 IBUs total).

So, if you get 2 extra lbs of Munich LME, 4 oz of Crafa Special II, and 4 extra oz of Tett or any one of the other Noble/Noble-type hops, and some yeast, you'll be able to get 3 batches out of this.

In recap:

Helles
6 lbs Extra Light DME
4 oz Malto-Dextrin Powder
1.5 oz or so Tettnanger at 60 -- enough to hit 5 HBUs
.5 oz Tettnanger at 15

Dunkel-ish
6 lbs Pale DME
4 oz Carafa Special II (no-husk)***
2/3 of the "mix":
11 * 2/3 oz Chocolate Malt
5 * 2/3 oz Black Malt
2.5 * 2/3 oz Crystal Malt
Noble-Type Hops at 60 mins -- enough to hit 5 HBUs (1 oz 5%AA or 1/2 oz 10%AA, etc) ***

Vienna-Ish
5 lbs Pilsner Malt
1 lb Aromatic Malt
1 3/4 lbs Pale DME
2 lbs Munich LME (Northern Brewer sells it)***
1/3 of the "mix":
11 * 1/3 oz Chocolate Malt
5 * 1/3 oz Black Malt
2.5 * 1/3 oz Crystal Malt
Noble-Type Hops at 60 mins -- enough to hit 5 HBUs (1 oz 5%AA or 1/2 oz 10%AA, etc)
1/2 oz Noble-Type Hops at 15 mins


*** means extra purchase

Lager yeast in each, or just do them as ales.

My best guess- Hope it is some help to you

[optimatored]

WOW. Thank you very much... I will be brewing tomorrow morning (east coast time).

I think I will go for the Helles to start... so many possibilities!! I had found the Pilsner Malt in TCJOHB book but decided against the recipe awhile back. I could never find another recipe to use... thank you for your help that is what I was looking for. Cheers.