Recipe Help Brown ale

Hi all just made this up in beer smith been wanting to do one for a while let me know what you guys think


Type: All Grain Date: 1/2/2013
Batch Size (fermenter): 6.00 gal Brewer:
Boil Size: 8.97 gal Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 90 min Equipment: Pot and Cooler (10 Gal/37.8 L) - All Grain
End of Boil Volume 7.28 gal Brewhouse Efficiency: 80.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 5.25 gal Est Mash Efficiency 93.3 %
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage Taste Rating(out of 50): 30.0
Taste Notes:
Ingredients


Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
7 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 59.6 %
1 lbs 4.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 2 10.6 %
1 lbs Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 3 8.5 %
12.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 4 6.4 %
12.0 oz Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 5 6.4 %
8.0 oz Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 6 4.3 %
8.0 oz Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 7 4.3 %
0.25 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 8 10.1 IBUs
0.50 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 9 12.2 IBUs
0.75 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 10 6.1 IBUs
0.75 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 11 7.8 IBUs
0.50 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Aroma Steep 0.0 min Hop 12 0.0 IBUs
0.50 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Aroma Steep 0.0 min Hop 13 0.0 IBUs
2.0 pkg London ESB Ale (Wyeast Labs #1968) [124.21 ml] Yeast 14 -

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.055 SG Measured Original Gravity: 1.055 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.015 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.016 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.2 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 5.1 %
Bitterness: 36.2 IBUs Calories: 185.2 kcal/12oz
Est Color: 27.5 SRM
Mash Profile

Mash Name: Single Infusion, Medium Body Total Grain Weight: 11 lbs 12.0 oz
Sparge Water: 4.66 gal Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F Tun Temperature: 72.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: FALSE Mash PH: 5.20

Mash Steps
Name Description Step Temperature Step Time
Mash In Add 17.89 qt of water at 161.6 F 152.0 F 60 min
Mash Out Add 8.22 qt of water at 207.0 F 168.0 F 10 min

Sparge Step: Fly sparge with 4.66 gal water at 168.0 F
Mash Notes: Simple single infusion mash for use with most modern well modified grains (about 95% of the time).
Carbonation and Storage

Carbonation Type: Keg Volumes of CO2: 2.3
Pressure/Weight: 12.54 PSI Carbonation Used: Keg with 12.54 PSI
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 45.0 F Age for: 30.00 days
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage Storage Temperature: 65.0 F
Notes

I'm also formulating a brown ale recipe myself!

Your recipe looks good for the most part, but here's my 2 cents:

-You have a lot of (dark) crystal in there, 15% of your total grain. The crystal (and especially the Special B) will impart dark fruit sweetness. I would significantly reduce the crystal. Personally, I'd take out the Special B and use 1lb of Crystal 60 or lower.

-I would use English hops instead and probably reduce the IBUs by a tad to the 25-30 range with your gravity.

-I might also reduce the chocolate malt to 8 oz or less. I'm not a huge fan of that malt and it's pretty strong, but that's just my taste.

Cheers!

Looks pretty good, but I'd agree with above about reducing your crystal malt. In my brown ale I use a half pound each of c60 and c80 and IMHO that contributes enough caramel character. If anything I would just cut out the special B, I'm really not fan of that malt unless I'm looking for intense dark fruit and some roasty (I cant quite describe it) flavor is acceptable. Depending on how much you want your hops to show you may want to adjust your hopping, but personally I like the schedule you have since I tend to favor hoppier browns than more malt focused ones.

Looks good enough and I mostly agree with the comments above. Especially with the hops which look like an IPA to me.

Other than that here's my main thing when coming up with a recipe for the first go round: start simple and go from there. Brew it as basic as it can get. Don't try to hit a homerun on the first pitch because if you swing and miss you're already in a hole making it difficult to move forward. Example: if you brew your beer as is and think it could be improved upon where do you go? You've got seven different grains in there making it difficult to pinpoint what you like about it and what you don't. For a brown ale I'd down to for grain varieties to start with.

That said, I do like to work conservatively and I brew smaller batches so I can brew more often than most.

Thank you ill take out the special b and reduce the chocolate to 8oz.. Thanks for your coments