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I went to my LHBS today and there was a guy there who I've never had service with (been going to this place about 3mo now). He ended up giving me the wrong grains, and I'm wondering what I can do with these, or how it will turn out (they are all mixed and milled in a brown bag).

My recipe was for a simple 5.5 gallon weizen and what he gave me won't meet the criteria for it.

I requested the following grains:

  • 5# Wheat
  • 4# Pilsner
  • 1# Crystal 40L

This is what I got:

  • 5# Pale 2-Row
  • 4# Wheat
  • 1# Crystal 40L

I'm considering just using it and seeing how it turns out, and going back to get the right stuff tomorrow. Then I can brew two batches this weekend, so no major loss.

Thanks!

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    I say go for it too. It is always fun to experiment. The wheat to barley ratio isn't too far off. And subbing Pale 2-Row for Pilsner is not likely to have too large of an effect.
    – Chris Plaisier
    Sep 28, 2012 at 22:34
  • That's what I'm going to do. I am going to split it up into two smaller batches and add some orange/grapefruit zest to one and leave the other alone. I'm heading back to the LHBS to get the correct grain bill as well. Nothing wrong with brewing two batches this weekend since I didn't brew last weekend. I'll report back here with how it all turns out.
    – jsmith
    Sep 29, 2012 at 15:12

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I would continue with the recipe - the yeast do most of the talking in a German wheat, and the grain bill is still close enough. It's not going to be as pale as the original, but then with 11% C40 it's not going to be very pale anyway, so the difference not significant compared to the color already present.

You may want to mash it a couple of degrees F lower to try to get a little more dryness and grain character to offset the pale vs pilsner malt, since the pale malt is naturally warmer and slightly maltier in character, although that's not unwelcome, and you may simply not notice this under the mass of flavor from phenols and esters produced by the yeast.

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