Help me formulate a recepie

Im a newbie brewer and while browsing and reading about various adjuncts and grains I came up with this.

-A bit of molasses for a hint of rum flavor.

-Some oak chips for a casked flavor.

-Golden naked oats for their sweet berry nut flavor.

-Perhaps a bit of crystal malt for a reddish hue and body/foamy head.

What I need from here are suggestions on the right measure to obtain these qualities without one overpowering the other and suggestions for hops. Any experience with these items greatly appreciated.

Also, what to name it?? Old oak barrel beer.. Rum cask ale.. Hmm..

beer35 said:

-A bit of molasses for a hint of rum flavor.

-Some oak chips for a casked flavor.

-Golden naked oats for their sweet berry nut flavor.

-Perhaps a bit of crystal malt for a reddish hue and body/foamy head.

What I need from here are suggestions on the right measure to obtain these qualities without one overpowering the other and suggestions for hops. Any experience with these items greatly appreciated.

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I don't know anything about oak chips or golden naked oats, but I can safely say that 1/2 lb of 60L crystal malt will give you a good amber color, and 1/2 lb of molasses will give you the right amount of flavor. You can also use molasses for priming, which I just did last night, using an additional 1/2 lb. As for hops, it totally depends on how hoppy you want it to be. Some good middle of the road hops would be East Kent Goldings or Cascade. I'm sure other more experienced brewers will have better suggestions.

Since flavor is totally subjective, I suggest that you start brewing and concentrating on the affects of one ingredient at a time. Brew a baseline simple recipe a few times and only change the amount or type of crystal for instance. You can take some general advice, of course! But to really learn what the different ingredients do there is nothing that can replace experience - especially when attempting a fairly complicated beer like the one you are suggesting. Probably not what you want to hear.

For oak chips, I wouldn't add them until secondary, and then I would taste it every couple of days until you got the flavor you want. It's easy to overpower a beer with them. I've never used molasses or naked oats.

Molasses are a traditional ingredient of some porters. They are another ingredient, like the oak, that can quickly overwhelm a brew. You could probably do a porter of some kind that would include some crystal (I think pretty much every recipe I've done has had SOME crystal malt in it) and three or four ounces of molasses. I'd probably skip the oak on this batch.

Are you doing extract or all-grain? I'm pretty sure the oats have to be mashed, which would somewhat limit their use in an extract-based recipe. I could be wrong, though, I've never used them.

Chairman Cheyco said:

Since flavor is totally subjective, I suggest that you start brewing and concentrating on the affects of one ingredient at a time. Brew a baseline simple recipe a few times and only change the amount or type of crystal for instance. You can take some general advice, of course! But to really learn what the different ingredients do there is nothing that can replace experience - especially when attempting a fairly complicated beer like the one you are suggesting. Probably not what you want to hear.

.

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You are right about that of corse. But Ive already learned a bit just from two replies. Thanks guys and keep the input coming.

the_bird said:

Molasses are a traditional ingredient of some porters. They are another ingredient, like the oak, that can quickly overwhelm a brew. You could probably do a porter of some kind that would include some crystal (I think pretty much every recipe I've done has had SOME crystal malt in it) and three or four ounces of molasses. I'd probably skip the oak on this batch.

Are you doing extract or all-grain? I'm pretty sure the oats have to be mashed, which would somewhat limit their use in an extract-based recipe. I could be wrong, though, I've never used them.

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Ive got a porter in the primary right now. So far Ive been using specialty grain and extract. But I wouldnt mind mashing some oats.

After some consideration I think Ill try keeping it simple by skipping the oats and the crystal and just use the molasses and oak chips with some maltodextrin and irish moss.