American Brown Ale recipe, thoughts?

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hogwash

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Hello,

I'm planning to brew this one soon. My hope is that it will turnout something similar to Bear Republic's Peter Brown Tribute Ale. The only info they give on the website is IBUs 21, ABV 6.3%, that it's brewed with molasses and brown sugar, and the hops are Centennial and Cascade. I plan to use unsulfured molasses (no blackstrap). Let me know if you see any potential issues.

Type: All Grain
Batch Size (fermenter): 6.00 gal
Mash Temp: 152F for 60 min
Boil Time: 60 min
Brewhouse Efficiency: 80.00 %

Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
9 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 75.8 %
1 lbs 4.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 2 10.5 %
12.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 3 6.3 %
10.0 oz Brown Sugar, Dark (50.0 SRM) Sugar 4 5.3 %
4.0 oz Molasses (80.0 SRM) Sugar 5 2.1 %
14.00 g Centennial [8.70 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 16.3 IBUs
28.00 g Cascade [5.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 7 3.7 IBUs
28.00 g Centennial [8.70 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 8 6.5 IBUs
American Ale II (Wyeast Labs #1272) [124.21 ml] Yeast
28.00 g Cascade [5.50 %] - Dry Hop 6.0 Days Hop 10 0.0 IBUs
28.00 g Centennial [8.70 %] - Dry Hop 6.0 Days Hop 11 0.0 IBUs

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.058 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.011 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.3 %
Bitterness: 26.5 IBUs
Est Color: 24.4 SRM
 
Well if anyone cares, I brewed this on Tuesday (8/27) and it's rolling along quite well in the fermenter. Missed my OG by a few points but other than that everything went well. Will try to remember to post results in a month or two.
 
I did something like that and it was good. I have liked a more complex malt bill better, though. Layer some crystals (I like 80), or use amber/brown. Actually it should be pretty good with the brown sugar and molasses. My favorite BA malt bill uses amber, brown sugar, very little caramel, and chocolate malt.
 
I did something like that and it was good. I have liked a more complex malt bill better, though. Layer some crystals (I like 80), or use amber/brown. Actually it should be pretty good with the brown sugar and molasses. My favorite BA malt bill uses amber, brown sugar, very little caramel, and chocolate malt.

I wanted to keep it fairly simple since it has the sugar & molasses. I just happened to have a good bit of c40 on hand so that's what I used. I like the idea of another crystal for complexity. I'll keep that idea in mind as I tweak this recipe.
 
Brewed something similar that I'm just starting to drink:

3.0 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row)
4.0 lbs Amber LME
0.5 lbs Caramel - 80L
0.25 lbs Chocolate Malt
0.5 lbs Brown Sugar
1.0 oz Kent Goldings [5.20 %] - Boil 60 min
0.5 oz Kent Goldings [5.20 %] - Boil 10 min
Nottingham dry yeast
Fermented at 64F, one week; 68F, two weeks
Bottled and conditioned 4 weeks

May still be a little green but a noticable lack of body. Would like to brew this again using Williamette hops and Carapils. How much Carapils is recommended? 4 oz?
 
One of my best brown ales was just using left overs.

6 lb American two row pale
2 lbs crystal 60
1 lb brown sugar
8 oz. Belgian Caramunich
6 oz. Belgian Special B

1 oz Cascade 30 minutes
1 oz. Centennial 10 minutes
.5 oz. Willamette 10 minutes
1 oz. Centennial dry hop for 7 days

WLP051 California Ale V
 
Brewed something similar that I'm just starting to drink:

3.0 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row)
4.0 lbs Amber LME
0.5 lbs Caramel - 80L
0.25 lbs Chocolate Malt
0.5 lbs Brown Sugar
1.0 oz Kent Goldings [5.20 %] - Boil 60 min
0.5 oz Kent Goldings [5.20 %] - Boil 10 min
Nottingham dry yeast
Fermented at 64F, one week; 68F, two weeks
Bottled and conditioned 4 weeks

May still be a little green but a noticable lack of body. Would like to brew this again using Williamette hops and Carapils. How much Carapils is recommended? 4 oz?

I actually didn't realize that I didn't have as much C40 as listed in my recipe above so I added in some carapils to make up the lost gravity points. I used 8 oz. But most malt extracts, I believe, are made with some carapils in the mash. You might want to look that up though. I do know it needs to be mashed but with the 2 row in your recipe I'm assuming you did a partial so that's no problem. You might try doing your mini mash at a higher temp.
 
Just kegged & dry hopped this. The sample is pretty darn good. There's a chocolate hit to it at first and then a slight molasses flavor comes through but none of the flavors are overpowering or dominating. I would even say they complement each other pretty well. I managed to get a bit of yeast in the sample so it's not the clearest but I think this is going to be a good one.

I'm loving the 1272 American Ale II yeast, btw. I've done a pale ale and an IPA with it and now this and I really like the flavor the yeast adds.
 
any update on this? i'm trying out a few angles with brown ales and i'd love to hear how the developed.
 
Try Denny's 1450 next time. i think it will give you a better mouth feel. I like it better than 1272. I also use pale chocolate as I personally like a less roasty brown. The last one I made I used carabrown malt to get a graham cracker flavor. When mixed with the pale chocolate, it was outstanding.
 
any update on this? i'm trying out a few angles with brown ales and i'd love to hear how the developed.

Turned out real well. There's definitely a flavor in there that can only be the molasses. "rustic"is about the best descriptor I can come up with. I might bump up the bittering a touch and throw in some flameout hops if I were to brew it again but otherwise a tasty brown.

No mouthfeel problems here. Not sure what the above poster is referring to. Though I am thinking about playing with1450 for a few batches.
 
Your first post asked if anyone saw any potential issues. I just suggested a different yeast based on my experience with brown ales and 1272. You asked for an opinion, so I gave mine.
 
Well if anyone cares, I brewed this on Tuesday (8/27) and it's rolling along quite well in the fermenter. Missed my OG by a few points but other than that everything went well. Will try to remember to post results in a month or two.

I care! I've actually started experimenting with brown sugar, hoping to try out molasses, maple syrup, etc. Keep us posted!
 
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