Help with some noobie recipies

[macaronies]

Hey everybody,

I'm getting ready for my 2nd and 3rd all-grain batches. I'm not very familiar with ingredients, but I have a good idea of what I want to brew. I'm trying to make a black ale and a black stout. I want to make an ale that's reminiscent of Unita Brewing's Baba Black Lager, so dark colored but not particularly sweet, with some chocolate and coffee. The stout I'm shooting for just needs to be rich, a little sweet, with lots of coffee/chocolate/honey flavor. I'm planning on using a lot of the same malts and hops in both. I like hoppy beers, but I'm shooting for earthy hops rather than citrusy hops for these beers.

I'd really appreciate any feedback. I'd really like to know if any of these ingredients/proportions don't make sense together or given the beers I'm trying to make. The weird weights are because I'm going to be brewing 3-gallon batches (small apartment & cheaper equipment), so these recipes are adjusted to 5 gallons from that. The parentheses at the end are the actual amounts I'll use in my 3-gal batches.

Black Ale:
5.83# Briess American 2-row (3.5#)
4.17# Briess Bonlander Munich Malt (2.5#)
0.83# Briess Chocolate Malt (0.5#)
0.83# Weyermann Dehusked Carafa III (0.5#)
0.83oz Galena at 60 min (1oz.)
0.83oz Fuggle at 30 min (0.5oz.)
0.83oz Palisade at 5 min (1oz.)
White Labs German Ale/Kolsch Yeast

Honey/Coffee Stout:
8.33# Briess American 2-row (5#)
4.17# Briess Bonlander Munich Malt (2.5#)
0.83# Honey Malt (Gambrinus) (0.5#)
0.83# Briess Chocolate Malt (0.5#)
0.83# Weyermann Carafa III (0.5#)
0.83oz. Galena at 60 min (1oz.)
0.83oz. Palisade at 5 min (1oz.)
White Labs German Ale/Kolsch Yeast

This is all going to be mashed with a single-temp infusion, probably 60min for the ale and 75min for the stout, because I am lazy.

Thanks!

 

[chickypad]

Looks like you've got 7% chocolate and 7% dehusked carafa III on the first one, I think that's going to be pretty roasty for the style but maybe that's what you want. I have a schwarzbier recipe (a modified version from brewing classic styles) that has 4.5% of both chocolate and special carafa II which seems just right to me. It is a little roastier than the commercial German styles I've had like Kostritzer. If you can't do it as a lager I think the kolsch yeast is probably a good sub.

With the stout that is the regular carafa not the special (dehusked), correct? I wouldn't use the debittered in this. If you want a rich sweet stout I don't think you want the kolsch yeast, maybe an English ale yeast.

What are your planned mash temps for these by the way? Do you have the OG and IBU calculations?

 

[Pie_Man]

For the stout, I too would sub the kolsch yeast with an English yeast. I'm guessing you went with the kolsch for fermentation temp reasons. If you have to use the kolsch, it should be fine. I would use roasted barley in place of the Carafa and might add a touch of med to high kilned crystal malt for a more rounded flavor. Looks pretty good though, have fun brewing.

 

[macaronies]

Thanks for the responses!

I've adjusted both recipes a little bit based on your feedback. OG & IBU based on beersmith:

honey/coffee stout
8# Briess American 2-Row
4# Briess Bonlander Munich Malt
1# Honey Malt (Gambrinus)
1# Weyermann Carafa III (with husks)
.5# Briess Chocolate Malt
.5# Briess Caramel Malt 80L
1oz. Galena Hops (60 minutes)
1oz. Cascade Hops (10 minutes)
1oz. Palisade Hops (5 minutes)
White Labs Burton Ale Yeast
OG: 1.077 IBU: 45.0

black ale
6# Briess American 2-Row
4# Briess Bonlander Munich Malt
.5# Weyermann Carafa III (dehusked)
.5# Briess Chocolate Malt
1oz. Galena Hops (30 minutes)
1oz. Palisade Hops (5 minutes)
White Labs German Ale/Kolsch Yeast
OG: 1.056 IBU: 36.7

Mash temp for both will be 156F for an hour.

I'm scaling these to 2.5gal batches rather than 5, so a lot of the ingredient cross-over is to try to avoid wasting half lbs. or ounces of malt or hops. I'm trying to save a couple bucks here and there without making bad compromises, but I think I'm just going to have to buy two different liquid yeasts.

Thanks for all of the input!

 

[chickypad]

I think they look good, let us know how they turn out.