My first Brown Ale recipe. Thoughts?

So I've brewed 3 batches of 5 gallon brews and a few Mr Beers before that. This is my first shot at my own recipe for a Brown(ish) Ale. I was going for something dark brown, roasty/malty, medium bitter and a little hop flavor.

Will do full boil, extract w/ specialty grains:

7lbs pale LME
1lb CaraMunich
1lb Chocolate
1/2lb roasted barley

1oz Cascades (60 mins)
0.5oz Willamette (30 mins)
0.5oz Willamette (10 mins)

White Labs English Ale Yeast

Hope to get ingredients tomorrow and brew on Sunday.

Thanks in advance for any advice, comments!

That won't so much be "brown(ish)" as "black, or pretty close." It'll also come out toward the lower end of the gravities for American brown, but right smack in the middle on hops, for a hoppier balance than many - but if that's what you like, the hop bill looks well-suited to the style. Per BJCP, an American brown could be reminiscent of English browns or of porters, and your grain bill is definitely closer to the porter range.

Let us know how it goes!

With that much roast and chocolate, it is definitely going to be more towards a porter or stout in flavor than a brown.

Maybe I should dial back the chocolate to a half pound and quarter pound roasted barley?

get rid of all the roasted barley and dial back the chocolate to .5lb.

Thanks! Another question while I'm here.. I usually steep at 155F for 30 minutes. Would steeping longer change the character much?

No. You can steep for as long as you want. I would keep it between 30-60 min though. Why spend 2 hrs doing something when it can be done in 15 min?

The only reason you should steep longer is if your grains are not crushed, and even then you shouldn't need to go too much longer to get the same effect.

I think this recipe, with the grist modifications recommended, sounds yummy.

7 lbs LME
1 lb Caramunich
0.5 lb Chocolate

to reiterate. Keeping the same hops schedule, fermented with English ale yeast, it'll be malty yummy goodness.

Er. No it won't. It'll suck. Yeah, positively suck.

Tell you what - brew it and bottle it as a character-building exercise, then ship it all to me for safe, proper disposal.



Cheers!

Bob

Bob said:

I think this recipe, with the grist modifications recommended, sounds yummy.

7 lbs LME
1 lb Caramunich
0.5 lb Chocolate

to reiterate. Keeping the same hops schedule, fermented with English ale yeast, it'll be malty yummy goodness.

Er. No it won't. It'll suck. Yeah, positively suck.

Tell you what - brew it and bottle it as a character-building exercise, then ship it all to me for safe, proper disposal.



Cheers!

Bob

Click to expand...

Haha! That's very close to what I'll probably end up brewing. If indeed it does suck I"ll be sure to send you some! :cross: