What do you think to this recipe/idea?

[seymour]

What about American red ales? And crystal in porter, stout, mild, barleywine, IPA. You rarely see an American recipe without crystal malt for a British style plus they have the most crystal heavy style in the world in their red. I understand that a lot is to give character to their 2 row, but still it's a lot of crystal. And it often replaces things like amber malt, brown malt, brewers caramel or invert syrup.

Okay, well that's definitely all true. I see your point. Though, technically, historic amber malt and brown malt are forsaken by most modern English brewers too, aren't they?

[orlando]

Though, technically, historic amber malt and brown malt are forsaken by most modern English brewers too, aren't they?

The revival of Porter has seen a lot more use of brown malt, although I don't know of the commercial availability of true blown or snapped malt that would have been cured over oak, hornbeam or even straw, that went out with the invention of coke.

[Matt12398]

I'd agree with what Orlando is saying. Water makes a huge difference.

Also you need to consider the flavour that's imparted by the yeast. A yeast with English character will often give you the bready aromas you might associate with a more malty style but in a lot of cases these are yeasts that won't attenuate as much.

Perhaps lower the crystal, up the munich, mash a little higher and consider if you want to add something to your water.

[will_raymo2000]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I will have a play with the water calculator and also wait to see if the brewer replies to my message asking about hop ratios and water.

From what I remember seeing in the brewery he used Murphy's DWB but that is obviously in conjunction with something to de carbonate the water as it is similar to my own water being very, very hard.

[orlando]

From what I remember seeing in the brewery he used Murphy's DWB but that is obviously in conjunction with something to de carbonate the water as it is similar to my own water being very, very hard.

Probably AMS, which is a one size fits all solution, if you pardon the pun. If you really want to get into water treatment then a good starting point would be to read Martin Brungard's pages at Brunwater. After that you will need to discuss with some English brewers what variations on American ideas you need to make to brew true English styles, but it is a good primer.