Looking for VERY hoppy Brown Ale

My Brother loves hoppy beer. He really loves strong IPA's and is getting back into home brewing. He has little interest in doing AG at this point, so please stick to extract + steeping grains + extra hops.

My taste likes hops that balance the flavor, but he likes the amount of hops that stay on your tongue and make you "remember" that last gulp.

So, having never made anything with the stronger Hops, I've found a IBU chart and noticed some that I remember seeing at the LHBS: Chinook and Warrior.

Any experience brewing with these types of hops, especially in a brown ale please chime in. I may end up persuading him just to do an IPA. Love to hear what you guys have to say.

search around for India Brown Ales....

they tend to use normal brown ale grains with some IPA hops....

I made one with Warrior hops for bittering and it came out quite good...

You should try Mike McDole's Janet's Brown Ale - its friggin delicious and sounds right up your alley.

6 Gallon batch:
OG: 1.066
FG: 1.016
ABV: 6.6%
IBU: 63
SRM: 21

8.4 # Light LME
1# Wheat LME

steep:
1.25# Carapils
1.25# Crystal 40
8oz Chocolate Malt

60 minute boil

2 oz Northern Brewer (6.5% aa) @ 60
1 oz Northern Brewer @ 15
1.5 oz Cascade @ 10
1.5 oz Cascade @ 0

Dry hop with 2 oz Centennial when fermentation is about to finish.

Use any clean fermenting neutral yeast (like WLP001 or S-05)

Dogfish Head has an India Brown Ale, I've never made one myself but they are quite tasty.

I brewed an Imperial India Brown Ale a while ago. It turned out quite stellar. Here is the thread on it. I brewed this back in august and I will say I was really impressed with how it turned out. I actually submitted this to competition. Had to put it into cat. 23 with the base beer being IIPA (it was a "stong brew" competition and all cat. 23s had to have a "base beer" group that was able to hit 8% ABV by BJCP guidelines) after it had been sitting on the keg for a few MONTHS. Still scored in the mid 30's.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/last-minute-thoughts-recipe-imperial-india-brown-ale-191793/
For extract....

13.16 lb pale malt extract
00.73 lb brown malt
00.55 lb crystal 60L
00.75 lb Special Roast
00.58 lb Flaked Oat (toasted at 350 for 25min)
00.28 lb Chocolate Malt

I think the brown malt and special roast may have to be mashed though... If so, you can still steep em to get flavor and color and then just add more extract.

1.50 oz Columbus 60min
0.50 oz Columbus 35min
2.00 oz Willamette 20min
1.50 oz Willamette 5 min
1.00 oz Amarillo 5min
0.75 oz Chinook dry hop
1.00 oz Willamette dry hop
1.00 oz Amarillo dry hop

WLP 001, used the trub from a small american pale ale I brewed for the occassion .

Estimated OG- 1.097 Actual OG- 1.092
Estimated FG- 1.022 Actual FG- 1.016
Estimated SRM- 25
Estimated IBU- 107

+1 for Janet's Brown. Super hoppy and wonderful brown.

+2 for Janet's Brown. Awesome brew.

Janets Brown looks like something he would definitely be into, looks hoppy enough for his taste. Thanks guys I'll definitely pass this recipe on

Personally, I'm so tired of hearing about janets brown ale. It's like no one wants to try their own recipe.

I'll give you my recipe, but with options so you can tweak it without losing the jist of it.

Partial mash (converted from all grain)

3lb extra light dme
3lb maris otter
1lb flaked oats (could also use flaked barley)
1lb crystal 60 (any medium from 40-80 would work)
.75lb crystal 120 (120, 135, or special b would work)
.25 chocolate malt (either British or American, carafa or roasted barley could work too)

.5oz summit 60 min
.5oz summit 30 min
1oz simcoe 10 min
2oz citra KO
.5oz citra dry hop
.5oz simcoe dry hop

You can sub warrior for summit. Chinook or columbus would be nice for bittering, or as a replacement for simcoe here. You can replace the citra with cascade, centennial, athanum, or Amarillo.

Yeast s-04 fermented at 66-68 (us-05/Cali ale/am ale pr any decent attenuating british ale would work)

SG 1.055
FG 1.014
IBU 60-65

Often, I adjust my recipe based on what's available at the LHBS. I taste the grains to figure out what fits at that moment. I just like one medium crystal, one dark crystal, and one dark roasted grain here. Hops can be played with as well. It's your beer. You don't have to follow any one recipe. Use it as a guideline. Tweak to your tastebuds.

I for one love the satisfaction of brewing a recipe I myself made up when it comes out great, but I've had a few originals that weren't so successful. This is why I recommend brewing a tried and true recipe for a style that you've never made before and are unsure where to begin. From there the brewer can tweak the recipe to more their liking. Janet's Brown sounded like a great fit for the OP, hence our recommendations. Once the OP brews it, they can determine if they want to tweak it or leave it alone. Either way, they now have brewed a hoppy brown that tastes great.

dirty_martini said:

Personally, I'm so tired of hearing about janets brown ale.

Click to expand...

I apologize for ever making it.

Tasty.

TastyMcD said:

I apologize for ever making it.

Tasty.

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Hah! +1

That made my crappy day a bit less crappy!

Of course I was just kidding. That beer has been amazing fun to drink and share.

Tasty.

Hillarious, I saw the thread title and was going to come on here and suggest Janet's Brown, but I see that has already been covered!!! Surprisingly, I may be the only homebrewer I know who has NOT brewed it. I suppose I'll have to remedy that soon.

EDIT: Just added it to Future Brews in my profile, tee hee!

TastyMcD said:

Of course I was just kidding. That beer has been amazing fun to drink and share.

Tasty.

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Of course! The "+1" was for the LOL I got from reading that post. :fro: Brew on!

Well, add me to the list of Janet's Brown Ale supporters.

I brewed that one up last year and what a treat!

But hey, if you brew it and want to change it, then go right ahead! It's hard to pick a good recipe if everyone just posts their own different recipes. With Janets, you know you have a winner and a well liked beer.

Tasty,

Don't ever apologize for making a great beer that inspires people. I didn't mean it that way. I am just disappointed with the lack of creativity and inspiration people show. I fel that instead of giving advice, people just say "make janets brown". Breaking down what makes janets brown great is more important. Do they learn anything by just making someone elses recipes. If tasty just made other peoples recipes, janets would have never existed. I just wish people would post informative advice instead of just saying "make someone elses beer.

For the record, I have used some of yours and jamils recipes for inspiration, but tweaked the recipes to my tastes.

Well, he asked for a recipe so we suggested one. Judging by what he's said he sounds like he is pretty new to homebrewing - I believe for someone in that stage, it is a good idea to brew others proven recipes, not only to better hone their homebrewing skills but to show themselves that they can make a kickass beer.

I personally went that route - I brewed 5 or so proven batches before I felt that I had a firm enough grasp on what it takes to make a great beer, how to get the balance, know the ingredients, etc.

Hey, anyone mention Janet's Brown yet?