CDA questions!
 

So I have a basic recipe formulated but I'm not sure if I want to use a combination of the Carafa III and some chocolate malt, or just one or the other.

I haven't made many darker beers so here is my proposed grain bill:

9# Marris Otter
1# Caramal/Crystal 60L
13.5 oz Carared
4 oz Carafa III
1 oz Chocolate Malt
3 oz Flaked Oats
12 oz Sugar

I really like the style of this beer but I don't want too much dark chocolate malt flavor. I prefer this style when it allows the hops to be forward and then create complexity with some of the darker malts. I'm very picky :cross:

I am set for the hops (Galaxy, Citra, Columbus) and the yeast (White Labs Dry English Ale). Any suggestions or changes?

p.s As for my preferences I've tried Deschutes Hop in the Dark and didn't care for it, but I've had Boneyard's Armored Fist which was probably one of the best beers I've ever tasted.

Recipe looks good to me but I like more roasted flavor (I'd actually add some roasted barley), I guess it depends on if you're mashing the carafa and chocolate for the entire mash session or if your adding them later like at 15 minutes left or some such, etc. There is alot of caramel there but I can't comment since I dont know how much hopping you will be doing, I assume you will be adding enough to create some balance.

So much of beer formulation has to do with personal taste, I would say try it as is, then adjust to your tastes on the next one.

Yeah this is going to be pretty aggressively hopped.Beersmith has it calculated at around 99ibu's

I would add some more chocolate or maybe a touch of black malt. Carafa is debittered, so not much roastiness coming from here. Will you use columbus for flavor? I figured you are using for bittering only, but it has such a nice flavor that will play real nice with Citra.

Just a heads up. I brewed an IPA with Citra. three weeks of aging it was terrible ! 5-6 weeks of aging made it delicious!

How much more chocolate do you think would give it a nice subtle roast without being too much? And I initially was going to just use columbus as bittering but I too thought it would be a nice counter point to the citra and galaxy! So ill be using it as a flavor and dry hop.

Ill be sure to keep this in mind! In what way was it terrible though?

I thought only the three de-husked carafas were considered de-bittered?:mug:

I don't understand your question. CIII is dehusked and debittered.

Well there are 6 carafa's, 3 are de-husked, three are not, I believe the de-husking is what "de-bitters" them.:mug: