Wynonas Got a Big Brown Bitter

Looking for some feedback on the following kitchen sink recipe. The grainbill is based mostly what I have left over, with some inspiration from the DFH India Brown Ale recipes I have seen. Its quite a bit higher gravity than the original IBA, and the hops are what I have in the freezer. Not tied to them by any means. Just figured I would float it out there and see if anyone had any ideas for me. Bonus points for naming the band/song that inspired the name of this one.



Wynonas Got a Big Brown Bitter
Imperial IBA

Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Brewhouse Efficiency: 78.00

Ingredients
10 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row)
4 lbs Pilsner (2 Row)
12.0 oz Amber Malt
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L
8.0 oz Chocolate Malt
8.0 oz Flaked Barley
2.0 oz Carafa III
2.0 oz Amarillo [8.50 %] (90 min) 55.7 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (15 min) 8.4 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (3 min) 2.1 IBU
.5 lbs Molasses (80.0 SRM) Sugar 6.01 %

Est Original Gravity: 1.086 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.018 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: ~9 %
Bitterness: 68.2 IBU
Est Color: 28.6 SRM

Mash Profile
Double Batch Sparge - No Mash out Step Time Name Description Step Temp
90 min Dough In Add 19.54 qt of water at 161.9 F 150.0 F
10 min Sparge 1 Add 11.16 qt of water at 185.1 F 163.0 F
10 min Sparge2 Add 11.16 qt of water at 183.0 F 168.0 F

Well being a Noob - I dont have much input here but I just have to know one thing -

Does Wynona like to show her big brown bitter off to all her friends? Has that bitter ever bit her?

Primus! But... no real input on the recipe =)

great name and the that dogfish is a good beer for inspiration. No comment on your recipie, but I like the OG.
Jason

Glad I am not the only Primus fan out there.

Any suggestions on the hops? How do the Citrusy hops go in a big malty-roasty brew? Good? Bad? I have some Styrian Goldings, a little Amarillo, maybe some Northern Brewer as well. Shopping is always an option too. Thanks in advance.

This thread smells like 7 layers...

If this one turns out anything remotely like taco bell, I may have to sacrifice it to the septic gods.

I sure do love that big brown bitter and I wish I did have a pair....

Sorry I don't have anything to contribute to the recipe, but the name is awesome!

s3n8 said:

Glad I am not the only Primus fan out there.

Any suggestions on the hops? How do the Citrusy hops go in a big malty-roasty brew? Good? Bad? I have some Styrian Goldings, a little Amarillo, maybe some Northern Brewer as well. Shopping is always an option too. Thanks in advance.

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That would be my only concern, I cannot think of a malty-roasty brew that had any citrusy character to it. Not saying there isnt one, I just cannot think of one that I have had. I think this would give you a pretty decent chocolatey/malty flavor (and the molasses will be good I think!). Either way, I am very interested in how this turns out!!

My only worry here is the full pound of molasses. That will pervade everything and may even overwhelm your hops as well as your malt character. Molasses also takes a long, long time to mellow and integrate with the other flavors of a brew, too. I've added molasses to a few brews and always felt like it would have been better off without the molasses. So I would proceed with caution & consider using less.

Thanks for the feedback on the Molasses. I think I will cut it in half, as the last time I used it in a big porter it was pretty apparent for 6 months. That's about how long I think its gonna take this one to get good anyway, but yeah... I think its gonna be less than a full lb. Recipe edited.

KillerKellers said:

That would be my only concern, I cannot think of a malty-roasty brew that had any citrusy character to it. Not saying there isnt one, I just cannot think of one that I have had. I think this would give you a pretty decent chocolatey/malty flavor (and the molasses will be good I think!). Either way, I am very interested in how this turns out!!

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I think I am going to use something else. Once I take inventory of the freezer I am going to decide whether I need to go shopping or not. The more I read, citrusy and roasty seems to be a bad combo.

Nice! There is a local brewery in my area that makes a similarly named brew. Check out this link and click on the label for a large pic of it:

http://www.voodoobrewery.com/beers.php?a=view_item&i=690

It is one of my favorites from Voodoo. Their Pilzilla and Big Black Voodoo Daddy round out my favorite three from them.

Good luck with the brew!

mkling said:

My only worry here is the full pound of molasses. That will pervade everything and may even overwhelm your hops as well as your malt character. Molasses also takes a long, long time to mellow and integrate with the other flavors of a brew, too. I've added molasses to a few brews and always felt like it would have been better off without the molasses. So I would proceed with caution & consider using less.

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I disagree. When used in larger proportions, or in lighter recipes, molasses can overwhelm. But in this recipe - where even a full pound is only 6% of the grist - it's nowhere near enough to do anything other than ferment pretty completely. With Chocolate malt and 120L crystal in there, it's going to be a faint background note if anything.

I've used up to 10% molasses in beers before and never had it overwhelm - even when the only other grist is pale malt. Does it have a flavor impact? Yes. But it mellowed and melded in normal bottle-conditioning time.

That said, I don't advocate going much above 10%. I brewed an all-molasses, no malt Colonial recipe once. Once. That stuff was perfectly foul, only drinkable for the experience, even after several years in the bottle.

Bob

sleepystevenson said:

Nice! There is a local brewery in my area that makes a similarly named brew. Check out this link and click on the label for a large pic of it:

http://www.voodoobrewery.com/beers.php?a=view_item&i=690

It is one of my favorites from Voodoo. Their Pilzilla and Big Black Voodoo Daddy round out my favorite three from them.

Good luck with the brew!

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Never heard of that, and the label is awesome! Where in NW PA? I grew up in Elk County. Might have to find some voodoo brew at thanksgiving.

Never heard the primus one, but CCR does a sweet cover.

NQ3X said:

I disagree. When used in larger proportions, or in lighter recipes, molasses can overwhelm. But in this recipe - where even a full pound is only 6% of the grist - it's nowhere near enough to do anything other than ferment pretty completely. With Chocolate malt and 120L crystal in there, it's going to be a faint background note if anything.

I've used up to 10% molasses in beers before and never had it overwhelm - even when the only other grist is pale malt. Does it have a flavor impact? Yes. But it mellowed and melded in normal bottle-conditioning time.

That said, I don't advocate going much above 10%. I brewed an all-molasses, no malt Colonial recipe once. Once. That stuff was perfectly foul, only drinkable for the experience, even after several years in the bottle.

Bob

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Thanks for your input Bob. I think this one is probably going to be a keeper, so I might just dump the whole lb in there. I kinda liked the molasses in the oatmeal stout I did before, although some others thought it was a bit much. It has mellowed considerably since.

I live in Mercer Co, Pa. Voodoo is located in Meadville, PA. You can get their stuff at distributors around the area. ( I don't know about Elk Co, but you could probably e-mail the brewery) It ain't cheap, but its really flavor heavy stuff!

I wouldn't shy away from the citrusy hops in a brew like this. I just finished off a keg of the Janet's Brown Ale from BCS that was excellent. Big late additions of cascade with a centennial dry hop. I say go for it.

Just make sure you don't candy up the nose.

A brewery around my parts does an Imperial Brown with big hop character and it tastes like it is either Cascade or Centennial that is dominant. The beer is excellent. As long as you don't go overboard (and I don't think you have) I think it will be a fairly nice match. My only concern with your recipe is what you have your efficiency at. Anytime I try to g0 beyond 1.055-1.060 my efficiency drops, so unless you're in the 80s on a usual brew I recommend lowering that for your recipe calculations. Overall I think that looks awesome, especially for a beer made of leftover ingredients. Rock it!

Oh yeah, and Primus Sucks!

I think I am finally going to get around to brewing this one tomorrow. Decreased the molasses to .5 lb from the original, and added .5 lb flaked barley. I bought a lb a while back, and figured this would be a good one to try it out. To compensate for the added body, I decreased the mash temp a bit. I plan on pitching 2 packets of rehydrated US-05. Oh, and I think I am going to go with Amarillo for bittering, and Cascade for aroma and flavor. As far as the 78% efficiency comment, I am doing a 90 minute boil, and will keep a vigorous boil the entire time. My last brew, I got 80 on a 1.100, so it should be in the ballpark. Not really like I am trying to clone anything, so ill be happy with whatever I get.

s3n8 said:

I think I am finally going to get around to brewing this one tomorrow. Decreased the molasses to .5 lb from the original, and added .5 lb flaked barley. I bought a lb a while back, and figured this would be a good one to try it out. To compensate for the added body, I decreased the mash temp a bit. I plan on pitching 2 packets of rehydrated US-05. Oh, and I think I am going to go with Amarillo for bittering, and Cascade for aroma and flavor. As far as the 78% efficiency comment, I am doing a 90 minute boil, and will keep a vigorous boil the entire time. My last brew, I got 80 on a 1.100, so it should be in the ballpark. Not really like I am trying to clone anything, so ill be happy with whatever I get.

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I am sure you will.. post up how this turns out, I am quite interested!

Ended up at 1.084. Drizzly rainy weather kept me from boiling off as much as normal I guess. Still not too shabby.

Bottled on 11/24, FG 1.014. Pretty not bad.

Just cracked the first one, and I have to say, this is probably the best beer I have ever made. Very balanced, very drinkable, great flavor, both hops and malt.

If I werent on my way to being sh!tfaced I would post this to the recipe db right now.