traditional English Brown ale

I've been searching for an all-grain recipe for a traditional English Brown ale. One issue is most seem to get their "brown" from chocolate malt, which gives a bitter coffee flavor and doesn't belong.

After talking some with a grizzled old brewmaster, I've settled on the following recipe for now. Still wanting to ask if anyone's seen a good article about the traditional english brown ale style, and the differences between northern and southern.

So, probably brewing this one tomorrow and then will revisit with adjustments later:

Jolly Good Brown Ale (v0.1)

Northern English Brown Ale (11C)

Batch Size 5 gal Boil Size 6.884 gal
Boil Time 60.000 min Efficiency 70%
OG 1.050 FG 1.012
ABV 4.9% Bitterness 26.6 IBU (Tinseth)
Color 25.6 srm (Morey) Calories (per 12 oz.) 164
Fermentables

Total grain: 10.125 lb
Name Amount
Pale Ale Malt Maris Otter 7.000 lb
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L 16.000 oz
Brown Malt (British Chocolate) 16.000 oz
Special B Malt 16.000 oz
Caramel/Crystal Malt Dark 2.000 oz
Hops

Name Alpha Amount Time Form IBU
Goldings, E.K. 5% 1.250 oz 90.000 min Pellet 23.2
Goldings, E.K. 5% 0.250 oz 30.000 min Pellet 3.3
Misc

Name Type Use Amount Time
Irish Moss Fining Boil 0.250 tsp at flame out
Yeast

Name Type Form Amount Stage
Safale S-04 Ale Dry 0.388 oz at flame out
Mash

Name Type Amount Temp Target Temp Time
biab brew Infusion 8.200 gal 165.000 F 154.000 F 90.000 min

Have you checked the AHA website? The BigBrew that was held earlier this month for the national brew day was for both American and N.British Brown Ale. My group did the extract version of the NBBA.. but, there was a recipe for the AG version. Worth a check.

HbgBill said:

Have you checked the AHA website? The BigBrew that was held earlier this month for the national brew day was for both American and N.British Brown Ale. My group did the extract version of the NBBA.. but, there was a recipe for the AG version. Worth a check.

Click to expand...

Hm, all of the english brown ale recipes on the AHA site have chocolate malt in them.

I dunno how "traditional" you're trying to be, but the BJCP guidelines specifically mention chocolate malt in small amounts for NEB as an option for adding color. And I don't imagine special B was traditional? All that said, I'm interested in your results b/c I've not used brown malt before and am curious about it.

jjeremy said:

Pale Ale Malt Maris Otter 7.000 lb
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L 16.000 oz
Brown Malt (British Chocolate) 16.000 oz
Special B Malt 16.000 oz
Caramel/Crystal Malt Dark 2.000 oz

Click to expand...

First, Brown Malt is not "British Chocolate". It's a type of dark-kilned malt that imparts a bitter, roasty flavor. More appropriate for a porter than a brown ale (I've made exactly this mistake before). I'd recommend 1/4 pound chocolate malt instead.

Next, 1 pound is WAY too much Special B. It imparts intense molasses and raisin-like flavors. A little of that might be nice, but don't use more than 1/4 pound.

Finally, I would use less crystal, but that's a matter of taste. Maybe 1/2 pound crystal and half pound of some light, malty kilned malt, like biscuit or aromatic.

The recipe I was talking about is below.. I tried to cut and paste/embed the URL in the word "Here" but.. it came up with a strange forward.. so... See below. Turned out very good...

Yep, it uses a small amount of chocolate.. but, I believe that is per style.

I agree with "corax" that a pound of Special B seems huge.. a few ounces seems more appropriate.. to me.


Ardley Brown Ale – All Grain
Northern English Brown Ale
Recipe for 5.25 gallons (19.8 liters)

4.75 lbs Maris Otter pale malt (2.15 kg)
2.8 lbs Munich I malt (1.28 kg)
1.2 lbs amber malt (539 g)
5 oz wheat malt (142 g)
2.5 oz chocolate malt (71 g)
1.5 oz roast barley (43 g)
1 oz E.K. Golding whole hops, 4.7% a.a. (28 g) (60 min)
0.75 oz Fuggles pellet hops, 5.7% a.a. (21 g) (15 min)
2 oz E.K. Golding pellet hops, 4.7% a.a. (57 g) (knockout)
1 tablet Whirlfloc or 0.75 tsp (3 g) Irish moss (15 min)
2 pkgs Danstar Nottingham ale yeast
Brewers Specifics
Mash grains at 150˚ F (65˚ C) for 1 hour. Sparge at 168˚ F (76˚ C). Bring to a boil. Add hops at specified intervals from end of boil. Chill to 67 °F (19 °C) and pitch yeast. Secure air lock or blow-off tube. Ferment at 67 ⁰F (19 ⁰C). Keg at 2.4 volumes of CO₂ or bottle carbonate with 3.7 oz (105 g) corn sugar.

Boil Time: 60 min
Original Gravity: 1.049
Final Gravity: 1.012
SRM: 16.2
IBU: 24.9
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75%

Yeah, brown malt is not chocolate malt. Nor is that recipe going to produce anything close to an EB, northern or southern. Just way too much dark malt, and caramel IMO.
I love brewing English styles of beer, bitters and browns, mostly. I've found this blogsite to be very helpful. You gotta search for what you're looking for, that link is to the main page. Lots of information on traditional English methods and recipes. I also have a really solid NEB recipe, so if you're interested, drop me a PM and I can help ya turn that recipe into something of a dark English style brew.

Why would you not use chocolate malt? Just use pale chocolate.

Here's the northern brown recipe I came up with, anyone have any critiques? It is next on my list, already bought the stuff.

9 lbs MO
.5 lb c-60
.25 pale chocolate
.25 amber malt
1 oz EKG @60
1 oz EKG @5
WLP002/Wyeast 1968

Base grain 2 row pale malt
10% Crystal
3% Chocolate
I try to keep the hops low on bittering and aroma, addding most for flavoring. Hops in general are low throughout, ie. not very hoppy..

Simple and pretty tasty. Try a batch and make adjustments if you like.

rexbanner said:

Why would you not use chocolate malt? Just use pale chocolate.

Here's the northern brown recipe I came up with, anyone have any critiques? It is next on my list, already bought the stuff.

9 lbs MO
.5 lb c-60
.25 pale chocolate
.25 amber malt
1 oz EKG @60
1 oz EKG @5
WLP002/Wyeast 1968

Click to expand...

Very similar to how I do it, but I prefer the dark fruit flavors that come with just a touch of roasted barley. I've also discovered that I like Halcyon over the Crisp MO in my browns and bitters. Seems a bit dryer than the MO, and if you still want the 'chewier' mouthfeel, you can always as a bit of maltodex. Overall though, Rex, I think that looks like a very tasty NEB recipe. Let us know how it turns out.

Thanks for the response, now I'll know where the "raisin" flavor came from if that's a problem.

I don't enjoy the coffee / bitter flavor of chocolate malt myself. I really DO enjoy the flavor of the English Brown Malt I get from my local brew store. I know it's not "british chocolate" myself, that was the closest listed approximation in BrewTarget. If I could work out the specs I'd just replace it in my database. Haven't figured that out yet.

I wasn't familiar with Special B but I liked the taste of the dry grain. I'll know better next time. I expected the recipe would need some tuning. I hope the third or fourth revision will be a brown ale that's everything I want it to be.

rexbanner said:

Why would you not use chocolate malt? Just use pale chocolate.

Here's the northern brown recipe I came up with, anyone have any critiques? It is next on my list, already bought the stuff.

9 lbs MO
.5 lb c-60
.25 pale chocolate
.25 amber malt
1 oz EKG @60
1 oz EKG @5
WLP002/Wyeast 1968

Click to expand...

"Amber malt" isn't something I see on my btw store's shelf by that name, what's this grain like? What's the lovibond rating? This sounds good over all.