I’m new to home brewing and bought the Number 8 All-Grain kit from Northern Brewer a while back. I’ve decided I don’t want to make it, but I still want to use the grains. Anyone have suggestions on what I could do with this? I enjoy low hoppy beers. I was thinking of possibly switching out the yeast, maybe trying a different hop? Thoughts?
Link to the Number 8 grain bill: Expert Knowledge Base
Some chocolate malt, English hops and yeast would make a nice brown ale.
Cut the crystal to 1 lb, the pilsner to 9.5, use an ounce of tradition and 1/2 oz hersbrucker at 60 minutes, a half ounce of hersbrucker at 30 or 45 minutes, and your choice of ale yeast, and you’d have a pretty nice, light to moderately hoppy (maybe 30-35 IBU) pale ale. Or, if you want to give a lager a try, the same grain bill would make a pretty good pilsner with, say, WY2278. I would only use a half pound or so of crystal though, max, and I would probably only use 9 lbs of pilsner malt. OR, use kölsch yeast with the same grain bill and brew a kölsch.
If its a kit then the grains are likely already mixed together, I’d bet.
Like Steve Ruch said, I’d go Brown Ale or a little further and make it a Porter.
I’d add Chocolate malt (add a bit of Black Patent malt to make it a Porter). Save the corn sugar and candi sugar syrup for a different batch (IIPA or a different Belgian?). I’d hop it with English hops (Target or Challenger for bittering, a bit of EKG at 10) to the tune of about 30 to 35 IBUs and use WLP007/Wyeast1098 or WLP002/Wyeast1968 or Nottingham
Nottingham has always produced very drinkable ales.
That would also work.