Mixing beers vs averaging recipes

I have discovered I love the taste of stouts mixed with IPAs. My question is... Has anyone ever tried averaging two recipes? Will an IPA recipe averaged with a stout recipe taste similar to the two mixed?

I know I should just suck it up, brew both and maybe bottle some half and half or something, but I am just curious about this, I guess.

 

Mixing recipes wouldn't give you the same flavors. They need to develop separately to give them the distinct IPA/Stout flavor each one has. If you want to brew just one beer and depending what flavor profiles you like in each, you should be able to find a recipe that matches what you're looking for. Try a black IPA or heavily hop a stout. That might get you on the right track without brewing two separate beers.

 

I understand Newcastle blends their brown ale. If that's true, it seems that there must a difference, otherwise they would make only one recipe. But I do like the idea of experiementing and discovering the difference on my system.

 

Closest I've done to blending the two styles was adding a pound of C60 and 5oz of roasted barley to 12lbs of 2-Row and making a "red IPA". I hopped it generously with Apollo, Simcoe, Amarillo, and Mosaic, and it was one of the best beers I have made. Bright red color and a hint of spiciness from the roasted barley.

However in your case, the closest thing to this is a Black IPA, using debittered malts and chocolate wheat to get the color but no flavor, then use your favorite IPA hop schedule.

 

Well, I think I will just end up brewing both. I like black IPA's, but they aren't the same as mixing a stout and an IPA, for sure.

I think I will brew both, mix half of each wort and ferment together, and ferment the other half of each and mix them, and see the difference. If I can do two half-sized mashes and boils and get a similar flavor, I think I'll do it. I'm thinking S-04 will give me the type of flavor I'm looking for. You guys think so?