Almond Brown Ale

[Lumberg1]

Hey everyone. This is my first post on here. I pretty new to brewing, I've done about 6 brews.

I've tried a few of my own recipes but they never quite come out like I imagined or my LHBS suggests that I add or change something. I just want to see what you guys think about this recipe. This is for a 5.5 gallon batch.

6lbs pale ale
4lbs victory
1.5lbs Munich (light)
1lb. Honey malt
4oz. Chocolate
3oz. Amber

FWH- 2 AAU Saaz
60min 5 AAU Willamette
30min 4 AAU Saaz
5min 2 AAU Saaz

WhiteLabs P001 California Ale

Then I'm planning on putting 8oz dark brown sugar in when I rack to secondary and then after about a week "dry hopping" with 8oz of sliced almonds.

I'm open to any suggestions.

 

[storunner13]

Welcome to HBT! I'd say that that's a lot of victory malt. I would cut it back to 2lbs at the most. Maybe replace it with some brown malt, caramel malt, and add some 2-row? How many IBUs are you shooting for?

Also, straight up nuts in a beer isn't necessarily the best way to go about getting an almond flavor. Extract is easy, but if you want to use real almonds, people here have had success infusing some vodka (or grain alcohol, or bourbon) with almonds, and adding some of that to taste. It's essentially the same thing as extract, except you make it yourself.

 

[Lumberg1]

Hey thanks for the response! I'm going for about 30 IBUs. I like the Idea of using almond infused vodka instead of straight almonds. I wasn't sure of the best way to add the flavor to it. Would I still add it around the same time? Or wait until I bottle?

 

[storunner13]

Either would be appropriate. It would probably be best to sample it after additions to get the right flavor. Check out what KingBrianI has to say in this thread. He roasts the nuts (I suggest that you do too) and keeps them in vodka for a month.