Old Ale - Critique please

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Pommy

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Im going to try to make an old ale which will be good for xmas. Ive not made a recipe for an old ale yet and have not used treacle before so Im not sure what flavours to expect, I thought it might be somewhat similar to brown sugar though so I omitted it and upped the treacle a little. Anyway, heres the recipe:

Batch Size: 6 Gallon batch

3.00 kg Pale Liquid Extract (3.5 SRM) Extract 50.0 % (add after boil)
2.00 kg Pale Liquid Extract (3.5 SRM) Extract 33.3 %
0.30 kg Treacle (100.0 SRM) Extract 5.0 % (add after boil)
0.25 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 4.2 %
0.25 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 4.2 %
0.10 kg Chocolate Malt (450.0 SRM) Grain 1.7 %
0.10 kg Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 1.7 %
25.00 gm Target [10.20%] (60 min) Hops 27.4 IBU
25.00 gm Styrian Goldings [6.40%] (60 min) Hops 17.2 IBU
0.50 tbsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
S-04 Yeast

Est Original Gravity: 1.071 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.018 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.8 %
Bitterness: 44.6 IBU
Est Color: 23.4 SRM

Any suggestions from anyone with some experience as to what I can expect from this brew?

Cheers in advance for any replies :mug:
 
I'm not an expert on old ales, but as far as I know they aren't supposed to be dark beers really. at 23 SRM you are in brown ale territory, or approaching porter. Also, I believe treacle will give you a black licorice like flavor......

I think of old ales as less hoppy versions of barleywines with a focus on malt sweetness and an aged character that plays an important role in the overall flavor. with that in mind, I would drop the roast barley and probably the chocolate too, and I might ditch the C80 for some C120 and cut it down a tiny bit too.
 
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