Brown Red Something..opinions?

[seatazzz]

So I'm going to brew this tomorrow...throwing the grain bill out there with the hops I currently have to see what yall think. It should turn out as a very roasty dark porter but I'm lost on the hops to use. Tell me what you think.

10 gallon batch

10lbs Maris Otter
8 lbs Brown malt
5 lbs Dark Munich
3 lbs Caramel 40

Mash at 152 for 1 hour (trying for lower mash temp to get as much sugar as possible)

Planning on 90 minute boil. Here's the hops I have on hand:
Columbus (lots)
Centennial (12 oz)
Sterling (2oz)
Perle (2oz)
Simcoe (lots)
Mosaic (8oz)

I'd like this to be a brown IPA if possible but I may be tilting at windmills. Grain is already milled and mixed (except for the MO) so can't change it up. Kind of a kitchen sink thing I got from a friend.

Thoughts?

 

[Staylow]

I'd probably just bitter with Centennial. Maybe toss in the Sterling or Perle around 15 minutes.

 

[seatazzz]

I'd probably just bitter with Centennial. Maybe toss in the Sterling or Perle around 15 minutes.

I was thinking along the same line except using the Columbus to bitter. Might combat the roastiness I'm going to get from the brown a bit more. Hmmmm. Dammit now I'm thinking too much.

 

[Ruint]

Not that my 2 cents matters...but...what about Columbus as bittering, Centennial at 15, then at, or close after flame out, using either the Perle or Sterling....you did say IPA'ish...?

 

[MrPowers]

I'd use columbus to bitter and toss in a small amount of centennial at 15/5.

 

[seatazzz]

Thanks for the input guys! Went with 1oz Centennial for bitter, 1oz Sterling at 15, and 1oz Sterling at flameout. It's brown and roasty as heck but in a good way, in my opinion. Will update in a week or two when it's kegged.

 

[Staylow]

I'd use columbus to bitter and toss in a small amount of centennial at 15/5.

I find Columbus to have a bitterness that's a little too sharp for something like a Porter, at least for me. Also, I'm not sure I'd want the citrus elements from the Centennial late in the boil. Again, just me.

 

[meatcleaver]

does that not seem like a lot of brown malt anybody else? I've only used it at 10% in a brown and 20% in a porter of which I thought was about right..
here's an article in byo about it.
http://byo.com/hops/item/1751-brown-malt
just saying...

 

[seatazzz]

Yep I knew it was a boatload going in. Wanted to brew a 10 gallon batch and that's what we had on hand. Just an exbeeriment really, it will make beer (bubbling away quite happily for 2 days now), whether anyone will want to drink it is another question.

 

[seatazzz]

Here's an update kids. Got an OG of 1.055, it's sitting at 1.028 as of yesterday (4% or thereabouts). Taste is pretty good, very roasty with a good malt backbone. FG hasn't dropped in two days, so added a teensy smidge of amylase to it yesterday and will check it again today. If that doesn't work, will just go ahead and package it. I've got 12 gallons so will fill two kegs and have some left over for bottling. Going to hide the bottles for a couple of months to see what happens. Color didn't come out like I thought, it's a very clear tan/brown/reddish (will post pics when I get home). Made the decision to drop some Perle hops in the bigger part of the batch that will have the bottles come out of it.