General help with recipe: also trying BRRR!

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davepeds

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Hey there, I'm trying a shot at a clone for the first time. I love Widmer's Brrr! seasonal winter warmer (with HOPS). I live in Oklahoma, which is like you might imagine is like living in Oklahoma. They aren't shipping Brrr here this year, just Coors. So I'm going to clone it. I've checked out a few other Brrr threads like this one.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/widmer-brrr-like-hoppy-red-133917/
They all have recipes without discussion on their results. Also, the widmer site describes the beer thusly.
50 IBU 7.2%
ORIGINAL GRAVITY: 17 PLATO
Malts: PALE, CARAMEL 10L & 80L, CARAPILS, DARK CHOCOLATE HOPS: ALCHEMY, SIMCOE, CASCADE

Someone out there, and beeradvocate, report SRM of 23. But I don't know - maybe a little dark for this beer. People also let Munich 10L get into their thinking - not currently on Widmer's site, and it seems like they've no reason to lie.

Ok - so I'm trying to put a recipe together and I'm making three 1 gallon batches tomorrow. I have a few questions not answered in How to Brew.
How to Brew suggests Crystal Malts comprising 5-25% of the total grain bill. To get to an SRM of 23, or even >20, I have to use around 30% in my trial recipes. I'm experimenting with differing ratios of 80L and 10L to hone in on the sweet taste. I could up the Dark Chocolate, but right now it's at 0.7% of the total grain bill. I looked at other recipes for stouts and porter, and Chocolate usually didn't take up as much as 0.5%.

My question: does it seem that I'm using either way too much crystal, way too much/little chocolate?
How would you correct this? I'm stumped, mathematically.

Here's one of 3 recipes for tomorrow:

Ingredient Amount % MCU When
US 2-Row Malt 2lb 4oz 67.3 % 3.5 In Mash/Steeped
US Caramel 80L Malt 8.00 oz 15.0 % 34.4 In Mash/Steeped
US Caramel 10L Malt 8.00 oz 15.0 % 4.3 In Mash/Steeped
US Carapils Malt 1.00 oz 1.9 % 0.1 In Mash/Steeped
US Dark Chocolate Malt 0.46 oz 0.9 % 10.4 In Mash/Steeped


Hops
Variety Alpha Amount IBU When
US Milleniu15.9 % 0.05 oz 10.2 Bagged Pellet Hops 60 Min From End
US Warrior 16.7 % 0.05 oz 9.9 Bagged Pellet Hops 60 Min From End
US Horizon 13.5 % 0.01 oz 1.7 Bagged Pellet Hops 60 Min From End
US Simcoe 13.0 % 0.20 oz 25.6 Bagged Pellet Hops 30 Min From End
US Cascade 4.5 % 0.20 oz 2.3 Bagged Pellet Hops 5 Min From End

Yeast
White Labs WLP051-California Ale V
 
Too much crystal not enough dark chocolate. If you are worried about the chocolate being too roasty sub it out for english pale chocolate which is a smoother roasted malt.
 
Thank you for the feedback, Krapht. I've re-tooled it based on your response. Also, I checked into some other recipes for other beers (ambers, mostly) and saw a much higher proportion of the dextrin. Generally, I upped the 2 row, carapils and dark chocolate so I could drop the crystal. If I'm remembering right from How to Brew, Crystals are exactly fermentable, so I'm not sure why Beer Alchemy thought with that much of them I'd make my ABV of 7.2%

Here it is - if anyone else would like to jump in, I'd appreciate it. I'm going to be brewing 1 gallon batches all DAY it seems.

Fermentables
Ingredient Amount % MCU When
US 2-Row Malt 12lb 11oz 76.4 % 3.9 In Mash/Steeped
US Caramel 80L Malt 1lb 15oz 11.8 % 26.9 In Mash/Steeped
US Caramel 10L Malt 1lb 0oz 5.9 % 1.7 In Mash/Steeped
US Carapils Malt 11.71 oz 4.4 % 0.2 In Mash/Steeped
US Dark Chocolate Malt 4.21 oz 1.6 % 19.0 In Mash/Steeped
 
Thank Bacchus I posted this when I did. I just tried to back up my Beer Alchemy files and the damn program erased my recipes. I. am. not. currently. pleased. I got back a bunch of old ones, but not this clone or the 3 batches that I've made. What a super crappy deal. Hopefully, all three batches will be waaaaayyyy off - if one is a clone, I'm going to drink the whole gallon immediately in anger. At least I have this single post to remind me of a waypoint.
 
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