How much is too much biscuit?

[PhelanKA7]

I am designing a recipe for an imperial amber/red ale and I am wondering about the amount of biscuit I have in the recipe as it stands. Is there such thing as "too much" biscuit malt? 5 pounds is what I have in it now. Here is the recipe in full (Any other comments on the recipe are welcome):

[size=+2]Recipe: Red Shift Ale[/size]
Brewer: Kyle
Asst Brewer:
Style: American Amber Ale
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications

Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 7.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.095 SG
Estimated Color: 15.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 114.5 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:

Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU         
10 lbs                Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)           Grain         1        54.8 %        
5 lbs                 Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM)                  Grain         2        27.4 %        
1 lbs                 Melanoiden Malt (20.0 SRM)               Grain         3        5.5 %         
1 lbs                 Rye, Flaked (2.0 SRM)                    Grain         4        5.5 %         
12.0 oz               Carafoam (2.0 SRM)                       Grain         5        4.1 %         
8.0 oz                Acid Malt (3.0 SRM)                      Grain         6        2.7 %         
1.00 oz               Galaxy [14.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min         Hop           7        41.9 IBUs     
2.00 oz               Galaxy [14.00 %] - Boil 30.0 min         Hop           8        64.3 IBUs     
1.00 Items            Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins)        Fining        9        -             
1.00 oz               Galaxy [14.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min          Hop           10       8.3 IBUs      
4.0 pkg               Scottish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1728) [124.21 Yeast         11       -             
2.00 oz               Galaxy [14.00 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days      Hop           12       0.0 IBUs

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 18 lbs 4.0 oz

Name              Description                             Step Temperature Step Time     
Mash In           Add 23.81 qt of water at 161.6 F        152.0 F          60 min

 

[Yooper]

Oh, yes, it's easy to get too much biscuit malt!

Biscuit malt is intensely "dry" feeling. It sort of makes your mouth go dry. A little is great. I typically would use .5 pound in the beers I use it in.

I would say 10% is about the absolute max to use, and even that might be too much for me.

 

[PhelanKA7]

Thank you. I was wondering what the result might be from too much biscuit. I figured it had an upper limit due to the low diastatic power but wasn't sure what ill effects it might have on the mouth. Here's my reworked recipe which takes my biscuit down to 5% grist. And I changed the US pale malt to Maris Otter to give me a little more color to make up for taking a lot of the biscuit out and I also added amber candi syrup.

[size=+2]Recipe: Red Shift Ale[/size]
Brewer: Kyle
Asst Brewer:
Style: Imperial American Amber Ale
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications

Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 7.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.106 SG
Estimated FG: 1.017 SG
Estimated Color: 14.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 106.2 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:

Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU         
12 lbs                Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM)         Grain         1        64.0 %        
1 lbs                 Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM)                  Grain         2        5.3 %         
1 lbs                 Rye, Flaked (2.0 SRM)                    Grain         3        5.3 %         
12.0 oz               Carafoam (2.0 SRM)                       Grain         4        4.0 %         
8.0 oz                Acid Malt (3.0 SRM)                      Grain         5        2.7 %         
8.0 oz                Melanoiden Malt (20.0 SRM)               Grain         6        2.7 %         
2 lbs                 Candi Sugar, Clear (0.5 SRM)             Sugar         7        10.7 %        
1 lbs                 Candi Sugar, Amber (75.0 SRM)            Sugar         8        5.3 %         
1.00 oz               Galaxy [14.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min         Hop           9        38.8 IBUs     
2.00 oz               Galaxy [14.00 %] - Boil 30.0 min         Hop           10       59.6 IBUs     
1.00 Items            Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins)        Fining        11       -             
1.00 oz               Galaxy [14.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min          Hop           12       7.7 IBUs      
4.0 pkg               Scottish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1728) [124.21 Yeast         13       -             
2.00 oz               Galaxy [14.00 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days      Hop           14       0.0 IBUs

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 18 lbs 12.0 oz

Name              Description                             Step Temperature Step Time     
Mash In           Add 20.69 qt of water at 161.5 F        152.0 F          60 min

 

[SavoryChef]

I use .5# in my ESB and it takes 8 weeks before I really enjoy it. Before that its like drinking a dry saltine cracker.