belgian stout

hey out there ,any tips on brewing a belgian stout .im shooting for something like allagash black .this is what i have so far:note this is for 11gal batch.
23#maris otter
3#roast barley
2#tor wheat
1.5#special "B"
1.5 crystal 40
1#dark candi syrup
first gold bittering
east kent flavor
og 1.072
the roasted barley is at 10% seems like alot, maybe i should substitute some black patent or maybe some chocalate ...,,,,,any thoughts
59 ibu
7.7 abv
belgian strong ale yeast

That is high, unless you want a dry stout/belgian stout.  If so, sounds good. 

I would agree with cutting it with some other roasted flavors:  choc, pale choc, brown malt. 

well , i want something that will age well in bottles.i heard you should have a high abv for that, if its true i dont know.i didnt want a well attenuated yeast to dry it out ,but i want the phenolics .i guess it would be classified as a belgian special or foreign stout .i was thinking about cutting the gravity down as well .thanks for the reply,if you have any  thoughts on yeast selection let me know .i may try to get over to goose island and see if the brewer can spare some of their house strain they use for matilda /sophie,.etc

Generally, higher ABV ages better.  If you go with a Belgian strain, I would personally [definitely] swap out some roasted barley to give the yeast some other malt flavors to work with.  I personally think it is difficult to blend styles well, such as Belgian with stout, so the more subtle malt complexity you give it the more "Belgian-y" it might be rather than just a funked up dry stout.  My two cents.

MaltLicker said:

  I personally think it is difficult to blend styles well, such as Belgian with stout, so the more subtle malt complexity you give it the more "Belgian-y" it might be rather than just a funked up dry stout.  My two cents.

Click to expand...

I agree sounds like your going to have a stout with some funk off flavors that may just not be what your looking for . Go for a Belgium Strong instead .

Then again give it a shot see what happens either way you will end up with beer .