Kit hack advice

[Padraich]

Hi guys,

I'm going to hack a Christmas brew in the next week or so; so I was wondering if what I'm proposing makes sense or will end up a mess.

My base kit is a Muntons Connoisseur Bock Bier; but I washed the yeast I used from a Craft Range IPA kit so I'm going to use that as the yeast.  Anyone ever do this or similar?  A bock with West Coast IPA yeast?  Not sure if it'll give off/odd flavours? 

Next part will be adding some Christmas flavour - I'm going with star anise and orange peel this year.

I have some Progress hops and some Palisade hops knocking around. Would either / both be a good idea in the brew?

Finally want to get the abv % up so I'm going to use 1kg DME and 1.5kg LME...

So verdicts? Chrsitmassy or a big ol mess?

All advice welcome 

[LordEoin]

it wouldn't be my kinda beer, but if they're the flavors you're going for then knock yourself out.
I'd probably add some steeping grains to it, otherwise it probably won't have much body to balance against all the additions.
Maybe some crystal and biscuit.

[Bubbles]

Biscuit malt needs to be mashed afaik.

[LordEoin]

oops, i actually meant chocolate..
but yeah biscuit needs mashing

[Padraich]

Chocolate malt... hadn't thought of that.  I am going to use crystal malt but chocolate malt, now that it's been called out, would  be a great addition.

LordEoin, how much would you typically steep for a 23l batch?  Would a 50/50 split between the two work ok? 

Thanks all for the input so far.

[Bubbles]

Chocolate malt is a great grain to use when you're doing extract beers and hacking kits. Gives a great colour and flavour. Normally I used it when I wanted to make a pale/amber beer into something dark. That beer kit you're using looks pretty dark already, so factor that in.

You could try some dark crystal to give you a raisin-dried fruit vibe. That'd be quite nice in a Xmas beer.

[molc]

Actually, does anyone have a link to a nice chart of info page on the flavours all the various grains will give your beer.

For instance, I use this one for my hops: http://www.twistedhops.com/beer-infographics/hops-infographic-chart/

[irish_goat]

Actually, does anyone have a link to a nice chart of info page on the flavours all the various grains will give your beer.

For instance, I use this one for my hops: http://www.twistedhops.com/beer-infographics/hops-infographic-chart/

How about?

http://byo.com/resources/grains

[molc]

That's exactly what I was looking for. Cheers.