Critique this APA malt bill

[tiredofbuyingbeer]

Here's an APA recipe.

5 lbs. 5 oz. Maris Otter
2 lbs. 3 oz. Mild Malt
0.5 lbs. Vienna
0.5 lbs. Victory
0.5 lbs. Crystal 60

0.6 oz. Nugget @ 60 (23 IBUs)
0.5 oz. Simcoe @ 20 (12 IBUs)
0.5 oz. Amarillo @ 20 (6.6 IBUs)
0.5 oz. Simcoe @ flameout
0.5 oz. Amarillo @ flameout

1 oz. each Simcoe and Amarillo for dry hop.

I've already made this, so I can't be talked out of it now. But after tasting the first one I bottled, I find that it has too much crystal 60 flavor.

 

[LexusChris]

Perhaps its not so much the Crystal 60, but the Mild , Victory & Vienna malts? A lot of malt flavors going on there, and 1/2# of Crystal 60 in a 5 gallon batch sounds fine to me.

Still, sounds like a tasty beer! Hope you enjoy it more & more as it ages!
--LexusChris

 

[jerbrew]

I agree. I think I would suggest subing in A pound or two of Munich for the mild, Vienna, and victory and bumping your MO up to get your OG.

 

[tiredofbuyingbeer]

The mild malt was kind of a lark. I used the last of the MO bin at the LHBS, and I decided to fill in the difference with some mild malt. I've always heard that mild is a base malt that attenuates slightly less well, so I thought it would give the beer a breadier taste.

The original recipe would have subbed Golden Promise for all of the mild and MO, but the LHBS didn't have any. It would have also used Munich 10 in lieu of Vienna. It would have basically been Palmer's APA recipe in How to Brew, with different hops.

I'm just thinking that there's something about C60 I don't like. It's this fruity, toffee flavor that I only ever detect in beers that I make that I use it in. For a long time, I thought it was an off-flavor. It's strange to me, because I don't usually prefer very pale, all base malt APAs or IPAs. I'd like to find a way to use crystal that's less cloying.