Invert Sugar to combat crystal malt?

[Coontail]

Coming up with a new Brown ale recipe and I'm not a fan of sweet beers but I was wondering if I used, say, a pound of special b which would be extremely sweet but added a half pound of invert Sugar would this help balance out the sweetness?

 

[bucketnative]

Isn't that like pumping the brakes while also hitting the gas?

Why are you using the 1 lb Special B? That's an awful lot of Special B if you don't like sweet beers.

 

[Oginme]

Extract recipe or all-grain? For an extract recipe, cutting back on the Special B would help and adding some simple sugars can help to dry out the finish of the beer. For all-grain, you can mash at a lower temperature to break down the sugars to attain a more fermentable wort which will also serve to dry out the beer.

As with bucketnative above, I am wondering why you would be adding so much Special B if you don't want the body and dextrins which come with it.

 

[Coontail]

My bad, it's an all grain

I was more so using that amount as an example. My thoughts are keeping the flavors of the malt but cutting down the sweetness. I've tried mashing at different temperatures before and I've never really noticed a difference, I've only had luck drying out beers by adding either juices or sugars

 

[pdxal]

Sugar won't cause the FG to be lower, but will up the alcohol without adding FG, which might give the perception of the beer being drier.
If you're looking for a Newcastle-ish beer I doubt you want to be adding a bunch of crystal like special B. While crystal malts will add color they will also add sweetness/body. Perhaps some brown malt, a little chocolate malt, or something like victory to add color and flavor without sweetness?