advice please! (brown ale recipe)

how does this look to everyone?

Northern English Brown Ale
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* • OG should be 1.052 or lower
* • FG should be 1.014 or lower
* • ABV should be 5.4 or lower


malt and fermentables

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% LB OZ Malt or Fermentable ppg °L
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69% 10 0 American Two-row Pale info 37 1 edit icon
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7% 1 0 Caramel/Crystal Malt - 30L info 35 30 edit icon
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7% 1 0 Honey Malt info 37 25 edit icon
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7% 1 0 Cara-Pils/Dextrine info 33 2 edit icon
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7% 1 0 Victory Malt info 34 25 edit icon
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3% 0 8 Chocolate Malt (US) info 28 350 edit icon
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Batch size: 6.0 gallons cancel edit


Original Gravity
1.057
(1.051 to 1.060)
Final Gravity
1.015
(1.013 to 1.016)
Color
20° SRM
(Light Brown to Medium Brown)
Mash Efficiency ?
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60% edit

hops
use time oz variety form aa
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Boil 40 mins 1.0 Williamette info pellet 5.5 edit icon updating...
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Boil 15 mins 1.0 Williamette info pellet 5.5 edit icon updating...
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Boil 5 mins 2.0 Fuggles info leaf 4.5 edit icon updating...
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Boil: 7.7 avg gallons for 60 minutes updating... cancel edit


Bitterness
0.0 HBU
22.3 IBU
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ƒ: Average edit
BU:GU
0.39

yeast
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Wyeast British Ale (1098) info
ale yeast in liquid form with medium to high flocculation

Wish I knew what program you're using; the paste is wicked weird.

I think your BU:GU ratio is a bit low. I prefer a target of 0.5 for Brown Ales. Your 0.39 is closer to Bock than Brown Ale. But that's your taste.

Your grist is way too complicated.

First, that much Honey Malt stands an excellent chance of overpowering the flavor.

Second, you don't need CaraPils; if the other grist ingredients don't provide enough body and foam retention - and they will - use mash techniques for those purposes. Skill, not ingredients.

Third, that much Victory is teetering on the brink of excessive. If you insist on using that much, definitely increase the bittering addition to bring your BU:GU ratio to as close to 0.5 - probably better to go as high as 0.7 - as you can.

Good luck to you!

Bob

I agree with Bob's comments -- I would cut the honey malt at least in half. I too would reduce the Carapils, or even eliminate it entirely. You could then increase somewhat the Crystal, though I wouldn't. I might go for a slightly darker crystal, though. I don't object as much to the level of Victory malt -- that will lend to a toasty, dry malt flavor.

You can offset some of the malt with same hop rates you are using, just boil them longer. It looks as if you are only boiling hops for 40 minutes -- make your first addition at the start of your boil, and your second about 1/2 through. That should balance the beer out nicely. Wyeast's 1098 or 1099 would work nicely. So would 1968, but that takes a little more care because it produces a bit more diacetyl than most strains.
You don't mention what yeast you are using, but if you are looking for some residual sweetness, consider using a less attentuative strain.