BeerBorg

Brewed up a new Red, first time I used Special B. Recipe was simple:

6 lbs of Pale LME
1 lb of Crystal 10
3 oz of Special B
2 oz of Roasted Barley

EKG at 60, and 5. S-04 yeast

I like the beer except for a note of what I'd refer to as "Christmas spice". I assume that's the "raisin-like" flavor from Special B? It's not overwhelming, just noticeable and not desirable to me. I guess if I had paid more attention to the words "Belgian" used at various points in the description I wouldn't have tried this (not a fan of Belgians).

How old is the beer? It may settle back with time.

I really like C-120 which is similar to Special B. I think Special B is borderline roasty where the C-120 is not. I like the darker fruit notes... plum, prune, raisins, etc... in moderation. It can really add depth and character to an otherwise ordinary beer. I don't normally think of that as Belgiany, but I guess it can be.

It is 6 weeks. These are bottles that I put in the fridge at 4 weeks, haven't yet tasted any that aged longer.

I use Special B frequently and like it in small amounts. In large amounts it does add a raisiny flavor which is nice in some beers.

Give it some time and that might meld in a little. I probably would have used half of the "B". a little goes goes a long way for me.

By my calculation this was 2% of the grain bill (6lbs of LME converts to 8lbs of grain). Anyway, now I know.

It's not awful, just noticeable. We'll see if it ages smoother.

If you have sugar plums dancing on your head, then that's too much special B for you liking LOL.

One thing to consider is that Special B is all over the place depending on who makes it. I've seen it anywhere from around 150L which is a level some really dark British crystal can get to, all the way up to 240L which is pushing pale chocolate levels. Darker stuff has some roastyness to it and less sweet caramel. The lighter stuff has more caramel. Both have the dried plum/raisin thing.

And honestly Special B isn't used very much in Belgians brewed by real Belgian breweries. Most clones of famous Belgian beers that have Special B in them are doing it wrong and were probably created when the only candi sugar on the market were dark rock candi chunks, which "ain't right" to put it nicely.

I like the stuff, but I use it in small amounts these days and mostly *not* in Belgians - I like it in some English beers as a substitute for dark crystal malt which is sometimes hard to get. In Belgians I use it nowhere near as much as I used to now that D-90 and D-180L is readily available. That's the closest stuff on the market available to what the real brewers use to produce the appropriate flavors.