Nut Brown Ale Recipe?

[TheH2]

Anyone want to critique this Nut Brown Ale recipe?

5 gal Partial Mash
OG: 1.049
IBU: 23.5

Wyeast: American Ale II

3lb DME
3lb Maris Otter Pale Malt
12 oz. Victory Malt
10 oz. Crystal Malt 60L
6 oz. Cara-pils/Dextrine
6 oz. British Chocolate Malt

.75 oz Chinook bittering (60 min)
.5 oz Styrian Goldings (10 min)

My critique/questions:
1. Seems like a lot of specialty malt when comparing to Clone Brews, but not when comparing to the recipe database. Will this result in a taste that is too malty for the hops?

2. I added carapils for head retention, is it enough?

3. I was going to use 1oz. of Brewers Gold but then realized I had Chinook so I used Beer Smith to figure out how much Chinook to give the same IBU. I'm not a fan of IPAs although I do like ESBs, should I just go ahead and purchase Brewers Gold and save the Chinook for and ESB, or is the difference minimal?

4. Will the chocolate malt result in a taste closer to a stout than an English Brown? I figured 6oz wouldn't but just wanted to ask.

Thanks for the help.

 

[DeathBrewer]

looks good to me

 

[mrkristofo]

Here's my thoughts...

1. looks good to me. Victory will give a nice nutty/biscuity character to it.
2. I usually do between 1/2lb and 1lb.
3. Chinooks will be fine for bittering. I don't know if you could get your hands on Brewer's Gold right now anyway.
4. I agree that the chocolate might give too much acidic/burnt character. Use a pale chocolate (225˚L) and maybe only 4oz of it. Plug that into beersmith and see what you get. If you're using it for color, one of the things that Jamil suggested was pulverizing a very small amount of chocolate malt to a powder (like 1oz) and adding that in. It's kind of like poor-man's Sinamar.

That's just being nitpicky though.

 

[big supper]

looks tasty

 

[DeathBrewer]

for the chocolate malt, i think 6 oz would be ok, but agree with mr. kristofo that cutting it back to 4 would be better for taste.

 

[avidhomebrewer]

Just my thoughts, but I like the way Special Roast adds another dimension to a Nut Brown. I made many nut browns with this grain and it turns out great. Shoot for about 6 oz max.

 

[TheH2]

Thanks a lot for the input. I will go with 4oz on the chocolate malt. I went to the brew store before getting the last message so I guess I'll have to try the special roast next time and compare.

He was out of Styrian so I plan on using something I have in my freezer instead, probably Williamette or Fuggle.

Thanks again for all the input, much appreciated.

 

[TheH2]

Oh, and I decided to up the Carapills to 1/2 pound. I'll update in about 2 months when I'm actually drinking....

 

[Revvy]

My brown ales uses fuggles for flavor and aroma so you're good with that.