Dark Scottish 80/- critique please

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I am working on a recipe for a dark 80 shilling ale, wich will be my first venture in to using liquid yeast, and was gonna check if anything in my recipe seems off, looking for a sorta sweet, full and a little chocolatey character, but want no obvious roasty flavour.

The batch is planned to be about 11L after boil.

est OG 1.050
FG 1.014
IBU 20.5
ABV 4.7
EBC 45

Maris otter 1860g 82%
Crystal 150(ebc) 230g 10%
Carabohemian 110g 5%
Carafa 1 special 70g 3%
Fuggles 16.1g/60 min

Mashing at 68c for 75 minutes, boiling 120min
I am gonna make a small starter by boiling 0.7 L of water with 0.5 deciliter of medium malt extract, and decant before pitching to ensure the fermentation kicks off and because the yeast will likely be nearing its expiry date when I come around to brew this.
Beersmith predicts FG at 1.014 with 70.5% attenuation, but i suspect attenuation will be a couple % lower and FG a couple points higher.

Anything look off or is it a decent recipe for this kind of ale? Have never brewed this style before.
 
Are you using the Crystal 150 to get the color you want? I would use invert #3 and maybe a dash of chocolate malt instead.
 
Crystal 150(ebc) 230g 10%
Are you using the Crystal 150 to get the color you want? I would use invert #3 and maybe a dash of chocolate malt instead.
Not sure it was caught by one of you that the Crystal 150 is EBC so about 57 lovi. Chocolate or invert would not be a substitute.

Recipe looks good from a percentage perspective. Plenty of crystal for sweetness and fullness. Carafa 1 at 3% will provide a hint of chocolate.
 
Just wanted to add - Carabohemian is a crystal malt in the 75 lovi range so your recipe is 15% crystal which is on the high side of the usage scale and if you mash at 68c (154.4) you will end up with quite a bit of sweetness with caramel / toffee flavors. If that aligns with your definition of "sorta sweet" then go with it. If not, then you may want to reduce the quantity of both a bit to 10-12% overall.
 
If you end up doing the recipe again and need more chocolate flavor try the pale version first. The darker chocolate malt seems more roasty and less chocolate to me than the pale version.
 
Not sure it was caught by one of you that the Crystal 150 is EBC so about 57 lovi. Chocolate or invert would not be a substitute.

Recipe looks good from a percentage perspective. Plenty of crystal for sweetness and fullness. Carafa 1 at 3% will provide a hint of chocolate.

Invert #3 = 60 - 70 SRM
Invert #4 = 275 - 325 SRM
 
Invert #3 = 60 - 70 SRM
Invert #4 = 275 - 325 SRM
Always thought of invert sugar as being just sucrose that has been cracked into glucose and fructose. Never new it came in colors:). Kind of like the English version of Belgian candy sugars and syrups.

Learned something new today. Thanks.
 
Invert has been a very common ingredient in UK beer since the 1800's. It would be historically accurate to use in a Scottish 80/ (but not wholly necessary).
 
Invert has been a very common ingredient in UK beer since the 1800's. It would be historically accurate to use in a Scottish 80/ (but not wholly necessary).
What I find interesting is how infrequently it is mentioned as an ingredient, and that the caramelized version are absent from many of the largest US online retailers. They all carry Belgian candy syrups and sugars but not the English varieties. I found Becker's brand at AHB. Out of 204,000 recipes on Brewer's friend only 151 have invert syrup as an ingredient, and a majority of those are Belgian styles.

Do you know of any commercial English bitters or Scottish beers that are available in the US that are made with invert? I would be interested in trying one.
 
If you are into English style beers you will find Invert mentioned very frequently. The Becker's invert sugar you found has only recently come to the US market. I believe they have an exclusive deal with Adventures in Homebrewing. As far as I know there are no examples of US made beer using invert sugars.
 
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