too much specialB

went to my local homebrew store to get ingredients for a belgian dark strong which called for 10lbs of belgian pilsner malt and 1.5 lbs of belgian cara munich and they said I could use special b instead of the belgian pilsner which in my opinion would make it very dark and not sure of the flavor thought I would post it up here before I brewed it to see what the masses thought

I like Special B, some don't. I don't thing 1.5lb would be too much for a dark strong.

Sub the Special B for the pilsner or the cara-munich?

Holy crap no...subbing special b for 10lbs of pilsner?! Those guys at your LHBS are out to lunch lol

I'd be surprised if Special B has enough diastatic power to convert itself let alone anything else. Sub for the cara munich maybe, sure, but definitely not the base malt.

Dougie63 said:

they said I could use special b instead of the belgian pilsner

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Seriously!? Not only is Special-B not a base malt it only needs a small amount to make a statement in a beer. Even subbing the 1.5 lbs for the CaraMunich is way over the top IMO but subbing for the pilsner malt is just nuts, ignorant or both. You could consider adding .25-.50 lb to the recipe for a bit of added color and flavor depth. Special-B does give a nice, dark toffee note along with touches of dark dried fruit.

Do not use 10 lbs of Special B as posted above its a no go maybe use .5lbs if you haven't used special B alot a little goes a long way.