first beer, finished bottling -looking for some opinions

Hello All, Thanks to your advise a while ago, I believe I have been successful in brewing beer.

Recipe used:
1 lb crystal - 40L
1/2 lb chocolate
5 lbs Light LME
1 lb brown sugar
3 oz Fuggle hops (1 oz at a time)
Wyeast 1028 or 1056 (I forget which, but I think the english style)

OG and FG were right in spec.

It is my understanding that this should turn out to be a California Brown Ale, a slightly hoppier beer. In my planning for my next batch, I think I would like to tone down the hops and get a more full taste. Any thoughts or experience doing something similar?

First, congratulations on your first brew. Did you enjoy the experience?

The only input I have is that if you took the time to bottle, take the time to wait for it to be conditioned properly. One of the hardest things to do as a beginner is to wait for the results.

Cheers!

It's not THAT much hops actually - Fuggles is only about 4.5 alpha so I would not worry about the brew being hoppy (middle 20's IBU??)

Also = Brown sugar - try adding a touch of water to the brown sugar and caramelize it by boiling it until it gets a little syrupy then pour the wort on it. YUMMO.

and . . . what ThickHead says.

If by fuller you mean more full-bodied you could add a little more extract to raise the OG and therefore alcohol.

You also didn't say how the hops were added, if you did 1 oz at 60 mins, 20 mins and 5 mins then I get about 32 IBU's.

Yea - I went with 60 15 and 0 for 24 IBU so it really does make a difference when you added the hops . . . . it's the little things.

I added the hops at 60,30,0 per the instructions.

I had to bury the bottles so that they are hard to get to. Otherwise I would find out when they are ready by popping 1 a day. I can't wait to do it again. There should be more jobs doing this...

*edit (added to post) When you say to add more extract, what quantities make a difference? Are we talking 1/2 pound, or another few pounds?

Well - 1 lb of Liquid Extract (LME) will had about 0.007 to the OG which is about 0.7% alcohol. (hmmmm never put those two numbers together before - weird).

so I would think 1/2 to 1lb depending on what you are looking for. You could go higher but I would go small to see how it is first.