Grain bill, critique/commentary wanted

So I'm trying to put together a grain bill for a nice malty winter ale that I'll be using some spices in for the holidays. I have a basic idea of what I would like to use but my brain keeps telling me its too many caramel malts. Any comments or ideas would be great to help me figure out what I really should brew.

Current grain bill in progress, 5.5gal batch @ 65% efficiency:

Golden Promise 8 lbs
Breiss White Wheat 3.5 lbs
Cara Aroma 0.5 lbs
Cara Hell 0.5 lbs
Cara Amber 0.5 lbs
Caramel 40 0.5 lbs
Caramel 60 0.5 lbs
Caramel 80 0.5 lbs
Amber Candi Sugar 1 lbs (hard crystal type, to be added around last 15-20 minutes of boil)

Hallertau 1oz @ 60 mins
Hallertau 0.5oz @ 30 mins
Willamette 0.5oz @ 30 mins
Hallertau 0.5oz @ 10 mins
Willamette 0.5oz @ 10 mins

Was planning to use Wyeast 1056 as I like its clean nature.

I really want a nice toffee caramel malt flavor and aroma with earthy/spicy hop profile to go along with the cinnamon and other spices (thinking maybe nutmeg or ginger, and clove?). This should end up being somewhere around 6.5% - 6.8% ABV.

So let em rip and tell me what you think, all comments are welcome.

Thanks

Any input? anyone? Looking to buy the ingredients for this in the next day or two.

That amount of crystal might be okay. 3lbs / 15.5 = 19%. Mash at 155 or a little under to keep it from being cloying. High mash temperature and 20% crystal could make syrup.

I think you're probably right-too much/many crystal type malts. Also, I'm not a big fan of using the rock type candi sugar. If you're looking for flavor contribution the candi syrup (or treacle or molasses or some type of raw sugar like panela) adds a lot more flavor. If you're just looking for better attenuation I'd just use plain old white suger-it's a lot cheaper.

As far as suggestions, having a rough idea of a base style generally helps people (me included) wrap their brains around what exactly you're going for and would make it easier for us to make specific suggestions (rather than "that sounds like a lot of crystal").

If you were going for say a spiced, caramely winter warmer (old ale) I'd simplify your recipe and go with something more like:

11lb GP
1lb wheat
.5lb caramunich III
.5lb c 80
.25lb cararoma
.5-1lb candi syrup, raw sugar, treacle,etc. (the darker the lower amount I'd go ie black treacle .5, amber candi maybe 1lb)


Also, since you're going for something more malty but you say you like cleaner fermentation character you might consider a yeast more like WLP051 or WY1450. I think they both accentuate malt more than 1056/001 and are both a bit cleaner than most british yeast.

Ok revised grain bill

11 lb GP
2 lb White Wheat
.5 lb CaraMunich III
.5 lb CaraAroma
.5 lb CaraAmber
.5 lb C 80
1 lb D-45 Candi Syrup

I am aiming for close to a mahogony color for the brew, so I kept the caramber in there. Also going to use WY1450 if they have it.
Thanks everyone for the help with the grain bill. Any idea on amounts of spices or a link to a thread about that. I didn't find one when I searched for it earlier.

Thanks again

If you if you click the "recipe" tab at the top of the page and scroll down to "spice/herb/vegetable beer" you'll find a lot of successful recipes with various blends.
Most common spices for this type of beer would be cinnamon and ginger, followed by nutmeg, allspice, and cloves (be careful) in smaller amounts. I also like star anise with fruitier yeasts.

A lot of people just add them late in the boil and that's fine but I'd be a bit conservative if you go that route.

I prefer to make an extract or "potion" by soaking the spices in high proof vodka, filtering, and adding to taste at the end of fermentation-you have more control this way.