My 1st beer - Mutt's Nuts - questions for next time

[Makintrax73]

Guys I've done a few ciders, JOAM. Just put my first beer in the fridge - Northern Brewer Mutt's Nuts Brown Porter. It turned out very nice - to my taste close to a Newcastle more than a porter - but a nice enjoyable ale.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/beerkits/MuttsNutsBrownPorter.pdf

It was brewed MOSTLY by the book with Safale SO4.

I say mostly by the book because I added a little too much water - a bit over 5 gallons, but my OG was still a little over 1.040 (1.042ish maybe).

I'm sorry making this so long - here is my question:

If you wanted to do a 5.5gal batch - AND perhaps have a slightly darker color and a slightly bolder flavor do I have any options to tweak this recipe such as:

1) "sparge" the specialty grains with hot water after they soak
2) Add more specialty grains? How much to make up for the extra 1/2 gal? A pound? of what?
3) Something else entirely?

I really like this beer, just a slight tweak and add a bit more wort to make up for racking losses. Sorry so long. Thanks folks!

 

[Aristotelian]

Just boil for a bit longer and you will boil off the water and hit your numbers.

 

[Atlmustang]

I would think a half pound of munich malt might get more dark color and a bolder taste. I would leave the crystal where it is at in the recipe. Too much crystal will make it too sweet and caramelish. If you like chocolate, then chocolate wheat might be nice in there.

Not sure about sparging for extra wort on an extract.

 

[daksin]

One thing you could do for a "bolder" flavor and darker color would be to swap the pale chocolate for regular UK chocolate malt. Half a pound in a 5g batch will be very tasty. Upping the crystal malt will give you more of that flavor, and additional color. In an extract batch, it will contribute a fair bit more sweetness and body as well.

If you just want to buy the kit again, and add stuff, then I would add a bit more chocolate malt (pale or otherwise), say another 0.25-0.5lbs, and a bit more crystal malt. Sparging won't give you any additional color in this case.

 

[Makintrax73]

Thanks for the advice guys. I think I can make this a bit better next time.