Would this recipe work

[Edan Z]

Now that I have a couple of very successful blonde/amber Belgian ales under my belt. I want to try something a little different for the next brew day. I'm thinking of something along the lines of a dark brown ale brewed with the same trappist yeast. I personally really like quadrupels, but the high (10% and more) ABV makes me not drink them as often as I'd like.

I'm thinking to try a 7% or so ABV dark strong ale, with similar characteristics. This is my idea so far:

Pilsner 60%
Abbey or Aromatic 10%
Special B 6%
Some sort of Crystal 45L 6%
Roasted barley 2%
Sugar 10%

I want to make sure that the flavors of the malt will complement each other and won't clash, and also that the result won't be cloying. This will ferment down to 1.007 FG, so it won't be overly sweet. The sugar addition is meant to cut the body a little, so it doesn't feel too heavy.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

similar to mine, unless you just have it or its cheaper, you don't need pilsner

14.5 lb - American - Pale 2-Row (67.4%)
3 lb - American - Victory (14%)
1.5 lb - Belgian - CaraMunich (7%)
1.5 lb - Canadian - Honey Malt (7%)
1 lb - American - Chocolate (4.7%)

 

[J A]

unless you just have it or its cheaper, you don't need pilsner

I've been totally grooving on a Czech Floor Malted Pilsner that I get from a local Belgian Brewery. I really think it's taken my beers to another level. I may be attributing characteristics to the malt that aren't strictly accurate, but it's so good every time that I hate to mess with success, so I haven't used regular American 2-row since I started using it.

 

[oliver]

I really love the clone recipes on this website, they all use Candi-syrup in some way, very tasty. I typically steal ideas from here, base some recipes on this, pick elements from here and there.

http://www.candisyrup.com/recipes.html

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

I've been totally grooving on a Czech Floor Malted Pilsner that I get from a local Belgian Brewery. I really think it's taken my beers to another level. I may be attributing characteristics to the malt that aren't strictly accurate, but it's so good every time that I hate to mess with success, so I haven't used regular American 2-row since I started using it.

I say if it works why change it, thats why I keep using the same yeast and hops with certain beers

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

I want to make sure that the flavors of the malt will complement each other and won't clash, and also that the result won't be cloying. This will ferment down to 1.007 FG, so it won't be overly sweet. The sugar addition is meant to cut the body a little, so it doesn't feel too heavy.

I really didn't answer your post sorry but I think it will taste fine, kind of reminds me of a higher alcohol amber bock which might be a good holiday beer

 

[thehaze]

Roasted barley is kinda strong. For a dark belgian I would go with Chocolate malt, Pale Chocolate malt, Chocolate Wheat/Chocolate Rye/Chocolate Spelt ( Weyermann ).

 

[Edan Z]

A couple of things:

unless you just have it or its cheaper, you don't need pilsner

Yes. I can get Castle Malting belgian pilsner cheaper than pale malt, not sure why... but maybe because I'm in Europe

I really love the clone recipes on this website, they all use Candi-syrup in some way

Roasted barley is kinda strong.

Yes, I thought about that. I was thinking that Candi syrup would be hard to get, and I wanted to add color to about 40 SRM. However, I did just find Candi syrup 180 Lovibond.

I may then substitute all the white sugar with 650g of syrup and eliminate the roasted barley.

 

[thehaze]

If you can get the real Dark Candi Syrup, then drop the roasted malts altogether. If you want a bit more complexity, you can add like 1-2% chocolate malt, but you already have found Candi Syrup, so simply drop it. I would anyway.

 

[Nosybear]

^^^^ What he said. The dark (D90 or D180) syrups give a great caramelly flavor unlike grain - don't compete with it.

 

[Edan Z]

Update. Ended up going with D-90 Syrup, dropped the sugar and roasted malt. Substituted abbey malt for Biscuit, because I had some already. Made a couple of changes from my past brews: didn't use a hop sac and everything went into the fermenter, and cold crashed for a week before bottling cold.

Got a delicious, balanced, very dark ale (redish black). The hops definitely pop (styrian goldings) with distinct earthiness. Bitterness reminds me of what you would expect of a porter, but with the fruity esters of the WLP530. Fermented this on the colder side.

This is definitely a keeper!