Dank CDA-ish help

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kingwood-kid

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The goal is to brew a beer vaguely reminiscent of magic brownies. I'm not going to use the real magic ingredient, just hops that give the illusion. It's like the David Copperfield of CDAs. I'm more interested in meeting my taste objectives than with meeting any particular set of style guidelines, so I'm okay if it drifts into Porter/Stout/whatever territory. Rough draft of recipe as follows; any feedback is appreciated.

10 2-row
.75 C-20
.75 Chocolate Malt
Bittering hops to 50IBU
2oz each Nugget & Columbus flameout
2oz each Nugget & Columbus dry-hop
US-05
Gravity/ABV: 65/14/6.7%
 
I would add a small amount of special roast, or special B to pair with the chocolate malt for more of a brownie taste, and possibly some lactose for mouthfeel. Your hop selection is good for what your going for, but if you wanted a little more complexity some Willamette or Glacier would pair well.
 
Aren't Special B and Special Roast wildly different malts? I'm curious how they would help with the brownie taste. I'm not saying you're wrong about either; I'm just trying to understand what they'd bring. Thanks for the feedback.
 
Special B would help give it a sweeter taste with rich caramel and stone fruit flavor, while special roast will give some lighter caramel and strong bread flavors. I think both paired with the chocolate malt will help cut the astringency from it.
 
I'd shoot for about 1.078 OG for this type of beer and check out Crisp C-70. Use about 5% each of that, chocolate malt, sugar, and either white wheat or flaked oats. Mash-in around 150F.

I would use 9-12 oz. total hops with lots of late additions and double the dryhop.

Example:

42 IBUs Columbus at start
Another 3 oz. from 20 to 7 min w/Citra and Summit
2-3 oz at Flameout
4 oz. at Dryhop

(For flameout & dryhop, can use Summit, Apollo, Chinook, Columbus, Nugget - w/small amounts of Citra, Nelson Sauvin, or Amarillo)
 
To get that, lets say vegetative note, you might consider a boatload of low alpha hops to bitter. Maybe even a little chinook late for that rough note.
 
Bearing in mind my strict non-adherence to style guidelines, what's the general opinion on cacao nibs?
 
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