Brown Ale Advice - Page 2

DanOmite · 07-02-2009, 06:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NQ3X

That's a damned huge brown ale. 1.085 OG, ~54 IBU. If you insist on brewing it that strong, it'll take that much IBU to balance it (I think). It's also going to be black as the ace of spades with the original grist.

Also, depending on the source of your extract and the yeast strain you select, you could end up with a very sweet, underattenuated beer.

I'd knock back the Crystal to a pound, the Victory and Chocolate to a half-pound each. Delete the Roasted Barley entirely. Keep the hops where you had them in the original. Your BU:GU ratio at that point will be approximately 0.7:1, and that's going to be necessary to balance a beer that has little hope of finishing below 1.020.

Choose a yeast that will attenuate to 75% or more, and when managing the ferment provide optimum circumstances for the yeast to reach that point: Aerate well, pitch a little over the average rate, and keep the ferment temperature under control.

To figure out how much yeast to pitch, use The Mr Malty Calculator. It's easy! I figured an OG of 1.077 (given my adjustments). That means ~15 grams of dry yeast. Good dry yeasts, from companies like Fermentis and Danstar, come in 11g sachets. You can pitch two 11g packets of yeast and not worry about overpitching. If you use a yeast like US-05, you should have a very successful ferment and an excellent beer.

If you still intend to use a yeast like S-04, pitch one 11g packet. Then it's best to use a yeast nutrient. There are a variety of yeast nutrients on the market. The easiest to use is an old, out-of-date packet of yeast added to the boil. Often your LHBS guys will give you a couple packets of old yeast just to be rid of it; it can't hurt to ask the guy behind the counter if he's got any old yeast!

If you've got a micro or brewpub in your area, it can't hurt to ask them for some yeast, either. Don't be a pest; just ask if you can bring a sanitized container to collect a pint or so of harvested yeast. It helps if you're a known, regular customer of the brewery, of course. When I brewed for a living I gave away excess yeast all the time; if I didn't I'd have to find a way to rid myself of it in an environmentally-friendly manner - the local water people had NO sense of humor about increased bioload!

Cheers!

Bob

Thanks for all that advice! You think I should keep the original hop sequence? According the beer tools and their algorithms I would be within the American Brown Ale category if I reduced my hops to:

• 3⁄4 oz Centennial 10% AA (60 minutes)
• 1⁄2 oz Cascade 5% AA (20 minutes)
• 1⁄2 oz Cascade 5% AA (0 minutes)

and even then, I am at the top of the scale. Would that be enough to balance out the malts? I am going to stick with what you said and others keep suggesting.

Malt
• 9 lb Light LME (half mashing and half at 15)
Specialty Grains
• 1 lb Crystal 60L (~9%)
• 1⁄2 lb Chocolate (~5%)
• 1⁄2 lb Victory (~5%)

I always find myself at stone and know a few people working there and I buy all my brewing stuff at ballast point. So, I think I will start asking about left over yeast! Never thought about that. How much of their yeast would I use? Would I just store it until its time to pitch the yeast?

If that doesn't work, how much old yeast should I throw into the boil and when?

Thanks

eschatz · 07-02-2009, 06:47 PM

I'm brewing an american brown ale right now. It's great. Here's the recipe:

8.5 # Light DME
1 # Wheat DME
1.25# Dextrine Malt (Carapils)
1.25# Crystal 40
.5# Chocolate Malt

2 oz Northern Brewer at 60
1 oz Northern Brewer at 15
1.5 oz Cascade at 10
1.5 oz Cascade at 0
Dry Hop with 2 oz Centennial

Use WLP001 or similar neutral strain

I'm doing it AG so I replace the extract with 12 # 2row and 1 # wheat mashing at 155.

**Bob** · 07-02-2009, 08:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DanOmite

Thanks for all that advice! You think I should keep the original hop sequence? According the beer tools and their algorithms I would be within the American Brown Ale category if I reduced my hops to:

• 3⁄4 oz Centennial 10% AA (60 minutes)
• 1⁄2 oz Cascade 5% AA (20 minutes)
• 1⁄2 oz Cascade 5% AA (0 minutes)

and even then, I am at the top of the scale. Would that be enough to balance out the malts?

Okay, your OG is waaaaaay outside the category, so forget style. The important thing here is to brew a well-balanced beer with the flavors you want, not peg a style. You want an OG 1.077 Brown Ale? Cool. Keep the bittering rate where it's going to balance the malt.

Quote:

I always find myself at stone and know a few people working there and I buy all my brewing stuff at ballast point. So, I think I will start asking about left over yeast! Never thought about that. How much of their yeast would I use? Would I just store it until its time to pitch the yeast?

The Mr Malty tool has a tab for "Slurry". Use that to figure out how much to pitch. You can store it in the 'fridge until you're ready to pitch, but don't wait too long - one week (7 days), tops. I prefer to use slurry the day after it's harvested.

Quote:

If that doesn't work, how much old yeast should I throw into the boil and when?

A packet or two of old, dead yeast is sufficient, and adding it the same time you add Irish Moss will do for boiling time.

Cheers,

Bob

DanOmite · 07-02-2009, 09:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NQ3X

Okay, your OG is waaaaaay outside the category, so forget style. The important thing here is to brew a well-balanced beer with the flavors you want, not peg a style. You want an OG 1.077 Brown Ale? Cool. Keep the bittering rate where it's going to balance the malt.Bob

Will that amount hops do the balancing? How do I calculate the ratio between hops and grains?

Thanks again

DanOmite · 07-02-2009, 09:22 PM

NVM, I found a nice graph and scale ha.

Ingredients

Malt
• 7 lb Light DME (half mashing and half at 15)
Specialty Grains
• 1 lb Crystal 60L (~9%)
• ½ lb Chocolate (~5%)
• ½ lb Victory (~5%)
Extra Stuff
• ½ lb Dark Molasses (first boil)
• 1 tablespoon Irish Moss
Hops
• ½ oz Centennial 10-12% AA (60 minutes)
• ½ oz Cascade 5% AA (20 minutes)
• ½ oz Cascade 5% AA (0 minutes)
Yeast
• Safale US-04
• Nutrients

So, I am at approximately 28-30 IBU’s with an approximated OG of 1.064 (my brew house efficiency has been calculated so I assumed 72%). Based on these readings I have a pretty balanced beer. I just don’t know how reliable these sights are for these approximations.

**McGarnigle** · 07-02-2009, 09:59 PM

You could always go back to big hop amounts and call it a Brown Ale or Indian Brown. 30 IBUs for 1.064 is pretty low bitterness, but this is a brown ale.

For comparison, I think Rogue Hazelnut Nectar is ~1.050 and 28 IBUs. That's probably higher IBUs than lots of British browns, but not outrageous.

I think the main advance so far has been reducing the specialty grains, as you did.

**Ryno** · 07-03-2009, 03:57 AM

Imperial Brown Ale territory

DanOmite · 07-10-2009, 12:13 AM

Ingredients

Malt
• 7 lb Light DME (half mashing and half at 15 minutes)
Specialty Grains
• 1 lb Crystal 60L (~9%)
• ½ lb Chocolate (~5%)
• ½ lb Victory (~5%)
Extra Stuff
• ½ lb Molasses (add with DME)
• 1 tablespoon Irish Moss
Hops
• ¾ oz Chinook 13% AA (60 minutes)
• ½ oz Mt. Hood 5% AA (20 minutes)
• ½ oz Mt. Hood 5% AA (10 minutes)
Yeast
• Safale US-04
• Nutrients

Ok, so I have been playing around with the hops to malt ratio for a while now, and so for this recipe has looked the best. Online calculators estimate my O.G from 1.07-1.074 and my IBU’s ranging from 35-40 (using Tinseth’s formula). According to the gravity / hops ratio graph (I found it on this site) I have a pretty balanced beer. Even taking into account the possible standard deviations I would still fall within the balanced category. I should mention also, that I have been assuming 70% efficiency since I am still a newbie when it comes to home brewing.

I added the molasses for an extra alcohol content boost. An extra lb or so of DME is too much extra money when I have molasses and dark brown sugar already. Also, as you can see I dropped the hop amount, because I want non-hop lovers to be able to enjoy it too (its still gonna be a lil hoppy)!

What you think? Go for it?

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