My First Recipe and First Shot at a smoked brown ale (AG)

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TVarmy

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7.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 62.22 %
2.00 lb Smoked Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 17.78 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 8.89 %
1.00 lb Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) Grain 8.89 %
0.25 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 2.22 %
0.75 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (60 min) Hops 10.8 IBU
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (60 min) Hops 16.0 IBU
0.25 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (5 min) Hops 0.7 IBU
1 Pkgs American Ale II (Wyeast Labs #1272) Yeast-Ale

I came up with it using advice from Designing Great Beers, following the guideline for a brown ale, as I figured that would compliment the smoked malt. It's beechwood-smoked malt, not peat-smoked malt. Is 17.78% too much or too little for a beer I hope most people will like?

Also, are those hops good with smoke, or should I choose different ones? Again, I followed what was suggested by DGB for a brown ale. I'm also debating adding chilies, possibly chipotles, to add some mild heat.

I haven't worked out the mashing procedure yet, but BeerSmith says it should have an OG of 1.055, and an FG of 1.014. 19.6 SRM, 27.4 IBU.

It's very rough right now, and this is my first time making my own recipe, so please be gentle on me for any glaring errors I have made.
 
Looks pretty good to me, smoke should be on the subtle side (but malt freshness plays a big roll in smoked beers). I just did a similar batch, a smoked dunkel with 3 lbs of smoked malt, lagering currently.

Hops look fine, earthy/herbal/spicy European varieties tend to mesh better with smoke than the citrus tones of American hops. Your late boil addition is small enough that it will stay out of the way anyway.

The only change I would make would be to back down on the cara/crystal malt. There are certainly people who like that much sweetness in their beer, but I’m not one of them.

Maybe split the batch and add chilies to half?

Good luck, hope it turns out well.
 
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