How would you change this Quad recipe?

How would you change this to make it better?

Ingredients Amount Item Type % or IBU
7.00 lb Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 39.4 %
4.00 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 22.5 %
1.50 lb Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 8.5 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 5.6 %
0.75 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 4.2 %
0.50 lb Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 2.8 %
0.50 lb Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) Grain 2.8 %
0.50 lb Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 2.8 %
1.50 oz Syrian Goldings [4.40%] (60 min) Hops 22.0 IBU
0.75 oz Belgian Saaz [7.00%] (20 min) Hops 6.6 IBU
0.75 oz Hallertauer [4.80%] (20 min) Hops 4.5 IBU
0.75 oz Syrian Goldings [4.40%] (20 min) Hops 3.7 IBU
0.75 oz Belgian Saaz [7.00%] (5 min) Hops 3.2 IBU
1.00 lb Candi Sugar, Amber (75.0 SRM) Sugar 5.6 %
1.00 lb Candi Sugar, Clear (0.5 SRM) Sugar 5.6 %

Beer Profile Estimated Original Gravity: 1.136 SG (1.124-1.150 SG) Measured Original Gravity: 1.137 SG
Estimated Final Gravity: 1.033 SG (1.016-1.036 SG) Measured Final Gravity: 1.026 SG
Estimated Color: 24.1 SRM (20.0-28.0 SRM) Color [Color]
Bitterness: 40.0 IBU (30.0-50.0 IBU) Alpha Acid Units: 4.2 AAU
Estimated Alcohol by Volume: 13.5 % (12.0-15.2 %) Actual Alcohol by Volume: 14.7 %
Actual Calories: 670 cal/pint

I am unsure of the amount of carapils to use or if i should use flaked wheat instead to add foam/body. Not sure about crystal 10L either, could use caravienne. What do you think? Going to pitch on top of WLP575 yeast cake and add the DME in 1/2 lb additions daily.

Caravienne is awesome. I'd definitely replace the 10L. I'd also reduce the aromatic to maybe 2-3 ounces, 4 max. That stuff is potent and the munich malt will give you some nice melanoiden character.

Maybe boil for 30 minutes before you add hops to get rid of some of that pilsner DMS.

Stepping the DME additions is a wonderful idea. Nice, soft hops. Looks like a winner to me. I might go with Pilsner DME instead of light.

EDIT: cutting down the carapils and adding some wheat (or replacing all of it) sounds like a good idea, too.

There's so much going on in that recipe, I don't know where to start! With that many ingredients, the flavors are going to be really muddy. For starters, if you include the special B, caramunich, crystal 10 and the carapil, you're pretty close to 3 pounds of crystal malt. That's way too sweet IMHO. I say cut out the carapils and the crystal 10. That puts you back at ~1pound. If you want it sweeter than that, you can up the caramunich a touch, but I wouldn't use more that a pound.

The hop schedule is curious. I've never really been a fan of mixing more than two types in any addition. Maybe my palate isn't terribly refined, but I've never been able to tell what's going on beyond two hops. I'm a big fan of the styrians and saaz though.

We (collectively) as brewers tend to want to tinker with things, but in my experience, simpler is usually better. Unless you have a tried and true recipe that you want to take to the next level, try to keep your recipes simple. That way if something doesn't work, you'll have a better idea of what went wrong.

I'm a huge fan of blending/mixing hops and I think these all work. The saaz and Styrian are especially appropriate.

Simpler is usually better, but I don't see anything crazy going on with this recipe. I've added 1 lb of caravienne in a belgian pale ale and it came out fantastic. Carapils won't add any sweetness, either, although I don't think it's necessary in this recipe. I think wheat would definitely be better.

The munich malt will add a nice malt background, while the pils and the candi sugar will make it crisp and dry. Making your own invert sugar will be much cheaper and give you a cleaner flavor but the candi sugar will be fine. Aromatic will also add maltiness and complexity.

The caravienne will give it a very nice, crisp sweetness which you can't get from other crystal malts. The caramunich will add a little darker sweetness and the special b will give it a very distinct nutty/raisin characteristic.

I guess I'm saying that you could definitely simplify the recipe, but everything there is very appropriate and will give it's own distinct contribution to the beer.

I agree with both of you, to a certain extent.

Quadruppel is a beer in which it's possible to go a bit too nuts with ingredients. I like it simple, even though all the ingredients listed are appropriate, as DB says.

The best Quad I've ever tasted was brewed from a pretty much even mix of Pale, Vienna and Munich malts (~28% each), with some Special B (5%, no more) for color and flavor. About 10% of the fermentables came from liquid invert sugar. Fermented with Wyeast 3787 to the tune of 12+% ABV.

Two additions are all you need, of Styrian Goldings and Saazer (bittering and flavor, respectively), just on the malty side of balanced. Don't waste your time and hops on an aroma addition. By the time this beer is properly aged, the carefully-added hops aromas will have completely dissipated.

As long as you're properly mashing, you really don't need foam-enhancing grains. I've never once had a problem with foam in a beer containing Munich or Vienna, much less both in the proportions I suggest. Besides, if you're aging this beer properly - like a year - by the time it gets to the brandy snifter the last thing you want is too much foam.

Good luck!

Bob