Cleaning out freezer...

I have a bunch of hops left from previous brews and decided I'd make a franken-beer. What do you think?

8 lb 2 Row
3 lb Honey Malt
2 lb Vienna
1 lb C20
.5 lb Carafoam

.25 oz Centennial 9.1% @ 90 min
.5 oz Northern Brewer 10.6% @ 75 min
.25 oz Amarillo 9.1% @ 60 min
.5 ozCentennial 4.5% @ 60 min - this was 9.2% one year ago, so I cut it in half
.5 oz Amarillo 3.5% @ 30 min - this was 7.5% one year ago, so I cut it in half
.25 oz Perle 7.5% @ 15 min
.5 oz Fuggles 4.2% @ 5 min

I'm gonna pitch Denny's Favorite 50. It should be interesting if nothing else.

Seems like a lot of honey malt; but what the hell!

It varies, but hops generally lose about 30% of their bittering compounds in 6 months when kept at room temperature. If you kept them in the fridge or freezer, it will be less than 10% in a year.

I'd move the Amarillo to the 15, 10, 5, or 0 addition.

I'll +1 on cutting back on the honey malt...seems like way too much to me. I'll also +1 moving that 60 minute amarillo addition to later in the boil

With the Centennial and Northern Brewer that early in the boil I'd think you have enough to cover your bittering addition...toss the rest in 15 minutes down to 0 minutes and it sounds like it should be pretty tasty

I never would have thought it would lose that little. They've been in the freezer, however, it is the freezer in the fridge I ferment in, so it doesn't always stay at freezing temps. Usually in the 40's I would guess. I was adding the Amarillo as a bittering hop early due to the high AA. Do you like it more for aroma than bittering? And for the honey malt, I'm just looking for a little sweetness. I could drop it to 2 lbs and up the 2 row to 9 lbs. Either way wouldn't bother me.

Amarillo is beautiful in late addittions!

Works for me! I changed the 2 row to 9 lbs and the honey malt to 2 lbs. Moved the Amarillo additions to later. Can't wait to brew this. It will be my first "franken-beer"!

I've never used more than 0.5 lbs of honey malt. Not really use it that much, so don't take it as 0.5 lbs as being the limit, but I think you should be sure 2 lbs is what you really want. Maybe someone else with more experience with the malt can add something.

According to my calcs (for a final volume of 5 gals):
O.G. ~1.074
SRM ~14
ABV ~7.3%
IBU ~65

Have fun with it!

That's about what I came up with too, except my IBU's came to 34.3. How do you calculate them so high? I used Brewtarget for my calc's.

Yeah I would say that 2 lbs of honey malt still is excessive especially since you already have a lb of crystal in there.

On the suggestions form the forum, I have changed the grain bill to 11 lb 2 row, .5 lb Carafoam, 1 lb honey malt, 2 lb Vienna and .5 lb C40. I am now thinking that I want to add more hops to the first addition and maybe make this an IPA. Maybe another oz of fresh Centennial. Thanks for all the replies!

Made a couple more changes that I wanted to share. the total grain bill is now:
10 lbs 2 row
4 lbs Vienna
4 oz Carafoam
8 oz honey malt
4 oz C80

I also added 1 oz of Centennial at 90 min. The IBU's are calculating at 56.9. I have turned it into an IPA now more than an APA.

This recent grainbill looks the best so far. I'd stick with this one.

I agree. I have a bad habit of adding too many non-fermentables to be recipe, so after all of the input I forced myself to pull them back! haha

What are you mashing at?

I usually mash around 151F but I was thinking about 154F for this one to add a little more body. Alos thinking about a 75 min mash.

No need really for a 75 minute mash. I mash long for beers I'm trying to dry out, which is opposite of your goal of adding body...

Oh. Cool. 60 min mash it is. Lookie there, I just cut my brew day down by 15 min! hahaha