summer no more...Thoughts on these 2 please

[Deebee]

The current weather situation in my part of norway is not condusive to making a summer brew, so i thought i would start preparing for the winter

So next up will be the first of 2 juløl ( christmas beers). It will be made in September and then left to mellow until mid to late november. All being well it will turn out to be a monster as the last one was..

Here is what I have.

22 litre brewlength

The fermentables.

5800 pale malt
264 dark crystal
200 torrified wheat
40 patent black

Hoppy things

19 g Northdown 8.7% 60 minutes
19 g Challenger 7,5 % 60 minutes
27 g Challenger 10 minutes
22g Styrian goldings 10 minutes

I will then either dry hop with 9 grams of challenger and 24 grams of styrian goldings for 4-5 days after the initial fermentation has ceased, or steep these for 20-30 minutes at 80degrees. tis is really all dependant on the amount of time i have available ( meaning what time it is when its all finished!!)

I am also looking to use 1 ( maybe 2) packs of nottingham for this one, it lets the hops come out a bit better I think and attenuates better.

According to beersmith this gives the followoing data

Expected OG ( 80%) 1072
Estimated FG 1017
IBU 40.8
EBC 30.9

This gives me an abv of 7.16%

So cometh the obvious questions.

1 Should I really use 2 packs of nottingham due to the OG
2 Does the recipe need any major tweaking.
I am hoping for a relatively hefty brew, that is complex with a nice initial bitterness but with long aftertaste.
3 I am considering using some acid malt as it is supposed to aid head retention. Thoughts?

The second recipe is as follows and will be brewed early in October

Here is what I have

20 litre brew length

4000 Pale
300 Crystal
150 Aromatic malt
500 dark brown sugar

Hops
59 g fuggles 60 minutes
22 g goldings 15 minutes

Will also be using youngs yeast captured from a bottle.

Based on 80% this should give me

OG 1065
FG 1017
EBC 27.9
IBU 34.7

Abv 6.35

Again questions here. The FG seems rather high at 1017 for both of these. I guess these are only guidelines though right?

Secondly this wil be the first time I have used aromatic malt. Max in batch proports to be 10%, my recipe has not more than 3%

Will I notice this or should I up it a little.

Please come with tweaks to these recipes if there any glaring mistakes or things that are just not going to work.. looks like I am providing for the office party…

[Deebee]

A little bump on this as i need to place my malt order.
thanks

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Hi
The malts look O.k, think I'd up the IBU's though with some Challenger hops, I like mine to be around 45 - 50 IBU.

BB

[Deebee]

Hi
The malts look O.k, think I'd up the IBU's though with some Challenger hops, I like mine to be around 45 - 50 IBU.

BB

Thanks. I trust you mean up the IBU on both though?

What about the aromatic malt? Will this be enough to come through of should i up this too.?

[Deebee]

need to order monday. they are a little slow delivering lately. Any more thoughts ontthese. Have decided to up the aromatic malt to 5% as oposed to the 3 % shown here though.

[Spud395]

I'm afraid I cant answer your question re:the malts as I've never used aromatic.
Just on the point of the high FG, I noticed this and ran your figures for brew no.2 in beer engine.
It gave a FG of 1010 which is more like you'd expect, especially with the sugar in there.