Help tweaking a recipe

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deafcone

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I recently entered a sweet stout into a contest. It didn't place but scored well enough to want to tweak.
Here are the judges score cards and the recipe itself:

Comments basically said to increase body through grain bill and possibly use a different yeast. Though about going with Irish ale yeast next time
Any ideas in tweaking are appreciated. I soaked the specialty grains in 155 degree water for one hour. Then removed grain and added DME,
added lactose, molasses last 15 minutes.
Recipe:
0.75 lbsAmerican Black Patent
0.75 lbsEnglish Chocolate Malt
0.75 lbsAmerican Caramel 80°L
0.5 lbsHoney Malt
0.5 lbsAmerican Victory
0.5 lbsCrystal Malt 20°L
4 lbsDark Dry; Brewferm
.5 lbsWheat Dry; Brewferm
1 lbsAmber Dry; Brewferm
0.125 lbsMolasses
1 lbsLactose
2 ozFuggle - 4.5 AA% pellets; boiled 60 min
 
First, I think that you could swap out all of the dark DME. You are already getting plenty of roasty flavor from your steeped chocolate and black patent - more is probably overkill.
Small tweak Trade the dark DME for Vienna or Munich DME. You should get a less roasty, but richer, toastier flavor.
Bigger tweak Trade the dark DME for amber DME. Since amber DME is a mixture of pale, Munich, and C60L (at least Briess is), that would let you drop your crystal steeping amounts to maybe 4 oz. each. And you could trade the C80L up to C110L, if you want. And if you go with 5 lbs. of amber and 1 lb. of wheat, you get to work in whole-package amounts.
Small, but unusual, tweak Trade the wheat DME for rye DME. Deep Ellum Brewing (Dallas) uses rye to good effect in many of their beers.

Second, you can smooth out your bittering, and could aim for maybe 25 IBU to get closer to balanced.
Small tweak Spread out your hops additions - Maybe 60-, 45-, and 30-minute additions. You might have to add another ounce of Fuggles. Also, I am not fond of non-UK Fuggles, so if you cannot obtain UK Fuggles, you might switch to Willamette.
Bigger tweak For most of your bittering, you could use a higher alpha hop boiled for less time. Maybe something like Galena or Nugget - 0.5 oz. for 45 and 30 minutes, each. Then a low alpha flavor hop, like UK Fuggles, Willamette, or Glacier, to finish - 0.5 oz. in two additions in the 30-to-15 minute window.

For yeast, I like Danstar Windsor for stouts - a little lower attenuating than US-05, S-04, or Nottingham (leaving you with more mouthfeel), with a little more fruitiness to complement the sweetness. If you are set on liquid, however, my favorite is probably Wyeast 1450 Denny's - maltiness, good mouthfeel.

Post what you do and how it turns out.
 
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