Crystal substitutions

[Chris Craig]

I'm sitting here looking at the Brewing Classic Styles book, and I've decided that I'm going to try and make a recipe from each style.  Right now I'm looking at making a Blonde Ale this weekend because it's the first style in the book that I have the ingredients for (sort of).

The recipe calls for .5 lbs of Crystal 15.  I don't have it, and I know I can't just use half as much Crystal 30 (left over from my NG days) and kick in .25 lbs extra base to make up the difference...or could I since the Crystal 15 is only about 5% of the grain bill.

I guess what I'm asking is what is the best way of mixing Crystal malts to achieve what a recipe calls for?

[brew]

I've wondered this also, since the Ed Wort's Haus Pale Ale calls for Crystal 10L, can we use Crystal 40 cut by 4?

[fakr]

I'm assuming cutting the quantity of darker grain might achieve the same end result color of the beer, but I'd be concerned that smaller quantity would not achieve the malt flavor of the original recipe....

Here are a couple of malted grain charts to help you find a substitution for your crystal.

http://www.brewstock.com/brewstockbrewing.html
http://brew.is/files/malt.html

[Richard]

Got any Carahell or Carabelge? That'd sub for C10-15.

Problem is that you get flavours from compounds in the darker crystal that simply aren't there in the lighter stuff... and 5% of the recipe is a fair whack.

That said, it's likely not going to destroy the recipe outright if you sub for a blend.

[Kyle]

you could get away with half as much C30 and replace the balance with vienna since your style is blonde ale, that would probably work quite well.