Special Dark

[Beatty Brewer]

Straub Special Dark has been our commercial beer of choice recently and I am planning a home brew version. It is all grain, 5 gal. batch.

5# 6 row pale
1# victory
1# cara-Munich
1# crystal 60L
1# flaked corn

.5 oz spalt pellet 60 min.
1 oz spalt pellet 10 min.

W-2112 California common yeast ( no laggerator yet )

Is there too much specialty grain?
Is victory a good choice for "toasted malt" flavor?

 

[The Blow Leprechaun]

I've not had this beer, so I can't comment on it specifically, but 5 pounds of base malt doesn't seem like very much. Also, why 6 row instead of 2?

It does seem like a lot of caramunich and crystal, but again, I don't know what this beer actually tastes like.

Victory is a great choice for a toasty flavor, or you can just toast your own pale malt in the oven at 350 degrees.

 

[david_42]

This seems overly complicated for a Dark lager. Corn adds a very specific flavor, so unless you are certain Straub uses that much, you might want to reduce it to 1/2 lb. Victory is more nutty than toasty. I'd cut all of the specialty grains in half and maybe switch to a C90L to make it a bit darker.

 

[DeathBrewer]

/agree

cut all the specialty grains and the sugar to 1/2 lb and raise your base malt up to 8 or more pounds. add a small amount of carafa II if you want it dark.