[quote=“Pietro”]I see your options as:
-ESB (as noted above)
-American Brown (catch-all style that you hop up to your heart’s content)
-grab some de-bittered black malt and make a stout (American, if you want to hop it up as you say). If you do this, consider toasting the oats in your oven, storing in a sealed container for two weeks to de-bitter…however, if your malts are already crushed, don’t do this, as the malts will start to denature after this much time)
-IBA - The trick with IBA’s (aka CDA’s) is to get color and the suggestion of roast, but not astringent puckering bitterness from the dark malts, which is a risk with the chocolate UNLESS you add it at sparge, a process which some people swear by for their IBA’s.
-winter warmer is always an option with these grains as well. If I had these lying around, I would maybe add some molasses or REALLY wild funky honey (such as meadowfoam…if you can find this, goddamn it, use it), use a mid-ester belgian strain, ferment in the high-60’s, ramp up to low 70’s with a monster starter. However, that does not satisfy your hop craving, as you want the malts/fermentables to shine more so in this style with some residual sweetness. Hops are playing rhythm guitar, not lead, with a warmer. Consider adding the honey/adjunct fermentable after primary fermentation.
If you aren’t sure about the flavor profile, taste your malts![/quote]
Good suggestions, all. I think this would make a good ESB, but I’ve got one on tap and I want something a little bigger for the coming cold months.
What’s throwing me off about aiming for a style with these grains is that there’s just too much chocolate to make anything other than a stout or porter. I think maybe I should dial that chocolate back and balance it with the other crystal malts. I was also thinking of just skipping the chocolate (though i hate to waste good chocolate malt) and making a malty DIPA with the crystal. I’ve got enough time to squeeze in one other brew session within the next few weeks before my workload increases substantially.
I like the idea of a stout, but I’ve already got an American stout in the keg that I haven’t tapped yet.
What about dialing the chocolate back to .25 or or .5 # and making a winter warmer/cold-weather-something-or-other with american yeast? Or maybe WLP 007 (I’ll have some harvested within the next couple of days)?
I really appreciate the help so far.
