Input on Recipe

[FeelinFroggy]

BNers, this is my first take at a custom recipe, which I am trying to clone an old extract batch I made. I used Beersmith to change it over to an all grain recipe and made some changes. Interested in your input and reasonable thoughts on this (keep in mind I dough in with 18 quarts for everything, and batch sparge with 16 quarts):

Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
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Amt Name Type # %/IBU
8 lbs 8.0 oz Pilsner (Weyermann) (1.7 SRM) Grain 1 77.3 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 2 9.1 %
8.0 oz Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 4 4.5 %
1 lbs Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 3 9.1 %
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 11 0.0 IBUs
0.50 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] - Mash 60.0 min Hop 5 1.6 IBUs
2.00 oz Tettnang [3.90 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 27.7 IBUs
0.50 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 9 4.0 IBUs
1.00 Cup Brown Suger (Boil 30.0 mins) Spice 7 -
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 8 -
1.0 pkg American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) [125.00 Yeast 10 -


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Full Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 11 lbs
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Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 18.00 qt of water at 162.3 F 152.0 F 60 min

[BDawg]

Looks like a decent brown ale.

No need to use Pilsner malt in this. All the chocolate will hide the pilsner malt character. Go with either Maris otter or a Pale Ale malt.
I'd split the Crystal 20 into a half pound each of C20 and C80 for more complexity.
1 cup of brown sugar won't add much. It might not even be detectable. A cup of molasses will work better.

You are bittering with German hops, flavoring with English hops, and dry hopping with American hops.
i'd stick with one genre, personally. I'd probably avoid German hops in a brown ale. They will get lost in the flavors.
If i wanted a British hop profile, I'd probably use Challenger or Target to bitter, then use Fuggles for flavor and aroma.
If I wanted an American hop profile, I'd use American C-Hops throughout, probably bitter with Centennial, Cascade or Columbus, and
use Amarillo and Citra for aroma and flavor, or maybe some late Chinook for a more piney flavor.

HTH- my.02

[LukeD23]

+1 on the C20 and C80 combo...something I got from Jamil and really lends a nice complexity to the beer.

Everything looks good, but, I would back down on the Chocolate a little. 1 lb seems like alot to me. If its a brown ale, cutting back to .5lbs would be plenty. If its a stout I would use some Black Patent in there with the choco malt.

Cheers

[FeelinFroggy]

Sorry for the delay but I am going to change up the grain bill with your suggestions. I liked the complexity the hops gave it when I made it as an extract, so gonna keep that the same. Thanks for your input!