critique my chili beer recipe?

[stirlingtrent]

Hello all, I wanted to get some opinions and suggestions for a chili beer I'm trying to design. I've brewed 7 or 8 AG batches so far, but this would be my first 'ground up' design.

I'm imagining a chili beer that has a good bit of sweet maltiness to contrast with a chili 'bite'. I really don't want any vegetal flavor from the chili, just a bit of heat, so I was thinking of using something like habanero. I'll worry more about the chili later though, I just want to make sure I get the base beer where it needs to be.

This would also be the strongest brew for me yet, at around 9%.

Here's what I've got so far:

OG: 1.086
FG: 1.019
ABV: 9.0%
SRM: 16.7
IBUs: 44
VOL: 5 Gal

FERMENTABLES
11.25 lb Maris Otter
3.25 lb Crystal 20L
1 lb Crystal 60L
.75 lb Aromatic

HOPS
1 oz. Chinook @ 60 min.
.5 oz. Willamette @ 10 min.
.5 oz. Willamette @ flameout

YEAST
1 gal. starter of WLP007 Dry English Ale yeast

MASH
60 minutes @ 152-3

90 minutes boil

I aerate by shaking the heck out of my carboy, have never had a problem with good fermentation, but the strongest brew I've done so far was probably around 7%.

Thanks for chiming in!

 

[BigRedHopHead]

Couple of ideas come to mind. Maybe a couple lbs of Munich or Vienna in place of MO for added malt flavor. Mash higher for some residual sweetness, I.e 156-158 range. Use a lower attenuating yeast like WLP002 instead of 007. This will also leave some more sweetness behind.

 

[BigRedHopHead]

That is a lot of C20! Too much IMO. Maybe 10lbs MO, 2lbs Munich, 0.5lb C60, 0.5lb aromatic. Could also throw in maybe 0.5lb or victory malt or biscuit malt.