Now I have decided on my recipe for the 4th Annual Future Champions Beer Festival coming up in November, it is time to get some critism going on, having not used Special B before, does anyone have an indicator as to how intense the caramel flavour actually is? I still have a few months but as this is an all new recipe for me, it needs a trial run first.
I have also got some Sherry Oak chunks from Rob that I will infuse with a Navy dark rum (haven't decided which so suggestions welcome on this also), I have snuck a little Carafa III I have left over in there just to make it nice and dark, I'm contemplating entering this the LAB Black Friday competition (subject to brewday).
I have a beer label that is almost finished, a mock up is here:

And this is the description that will follow it on the 'beer leaflet':
Kyle Townsend:
Smugglers Rum (Dark Mild) 4.3%:
A blend of English, Belgian and German malts creates a deliciously complex Dark Mild balanced with Endeavour & Styrian Goldings hops. Fermented with Wibblers yeast and contains rum infused oak barrel chunks.
We have a limit of about 30 words or so and thats the best I came up with!
This is the point I have reached with the recipe pending the Special B, it was originally at 7% but I lowered it in favour of the chocolate malt, was this a smart move? I have also never used Endeavour and there is limited reviews for it but it sounds like dark fruits in terms of flavour which I'm hoping will pair well with this particular beer.
Smugglers Rum
13A. Dark Mild
Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 23.0
Total Grain (kg): 4.100
Total Hops (g): 40.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.043 (°P): 10.7
Final Gravity (FG): 1.010 (°P): 2.6
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 4.28 %
Colour (SRM): 28.9 (EBC): 56.8
Bitterness (IBU): 20.7 (Tinseth)
Balance (BU:GU): 0.46
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 80
Boil Time (Minutes): 90
Grain Bill
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3.608 kg Pale Malt (88%)
0.205 kg Chocolate (5%)
0.205 kg Special-B (5%)
0.082 kg Carafa III malt (2%)
Hop Bill
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20.0 g Endeavour Leaf (7.3% Alpha) @ 90 Minutes (Boil) (0.9 g/L)
20.0 g Styrian Golding Leaf (4.5% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil) (0.9 g/L)
Misc Bill
----------------
3.0 g Protofloc Tablet @ 15 Minutes (Boil)
20.0 g Oak Chips @ 7 Days (Cask)
Four step mash:
Mash In: 60°C
Step 1: 60°C for 5 Minutes
Step 2: 63°C for 40 Minutes
Step 3: 67°C for 50 Minutes
Step 4: 78°C for 40 Minutes
Fermented at 21°C with Wibblers yeast for 4 days.
Lower to 13°C 24 hours after skimming yeast.
Lower to 10°C 24 hours before racking.
Recipe Generated with BrewMate
I will 'infuse' the oak chunks from Rob in rum for a period of 1 week before they get added to the cask as a starting point, if the flavour is lacking I will change this later.
Please comment if you know any of the answers, the help would be appreciated!
Cheers. :cheers1: