Belgian Dark Strong and Flander's Red Recipe Critique

I am going to be brewing up a double batch here soon and wanted some feedback, mostly on the BSDA recipe; so here it is:

8 gallons
82% Efficiency
60 Minute Mash @ 149*F

12.5# Vienna Malt (61%)
1.5# MFB Caramunich 120L (7.25%)
1.5# MFB Caravienne (7.25%)
1.0# Special B (5%)
1.0# Aromatic (5%)
1.0# Carahell (5%)
2.0# Flaked Maize (9.75%)

60 min boil
FW 2.0oz Sterling ~6.0 AA%
5min 1.0oz Sterling ~6.0 AA%

Once the boil is done the Est OG is 1.068, split 4 gals each into 2 fermenters. Add 3/4 gallon of water to one bringing OG to 1.057. To the other add 1.75# table sugar boiled in 1 pint water @ high krausen bringing OG to ~ 1.085.

Ferment the BSDA for 4 days @ 68, then 24 days @ 78*F with 3724 Farmhouse Ale, adding Oak in last 2 weeks (maybe blend of Sherry, Brandy, and Bourbons soaked French and American?)
Ferment Flanders Red on French Oak with house sour culture & 1056 for 6 months.

SRM 20
IBU 22
Est FG 1.015
Est ABV 9%

Big questions are on the BSDA. Will that much character malt leave this finishing super sweet? The 3724 is fairly powerful, finishing between 1.003-1.008 on smaller beers so far, but not with any character malts. Will that much sugar and corn in the beer leave it super thin and lifeless? Or help to balance out the character malts? I'm hoping for a malty, rich, complex, fruity and spicy, dark fruits, drinkable, yet big, spicy and warm finish w/o fusels, characterful Belgian, with a dry to semi-dry finish, and some complex oak/barrel qualities. Thanks for the feedback.

 

Good call on D2, that was part of the original thought.

 

Yeah, Ryan's sugar sounds nice, but also way too time consuming for me to do... I think I'll do some D2 and look at making syrup some other time. One issue that I saw from his syrup method is how do I know what my PPG contribution is and how much sugar, water, etc is in a #, or 2, or 3, as opposed to a cup, pint, quart, etc. Def worth looking into in the future.

 

@Tebuken, thanks for the feedback. The lower OG for the second batch is for the Flander's Red so that it will be more along the 6.5-7% ABV opposed to the 9.5% that a 1.079 OG would get me. Would boiling the brown sugar on the stove with water for a little while give me some of the same caramelization as if it were in the boil? I would add cold water every so often and continually stir to keep from scorching the sugar. Thoughts?

 

Thanks for all the feedback so far. For those in the Brown Sugar camp, dark or light? I'm assuming dark since from what I've read light doesn't contribute much flavor.