British Brown Ale Aberdeen Brown Ale (NewCastle Clone) AG

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Jayhem said:
HELP!

Brewed 11 gallons of this recipe and for some reason it has a nutty and bitter aftertaste that almost makes it undrinkable. I have poured out the last few ounces of the last 2 pints I had! I bottled conditioned for 3 weeks @ 70F.

Mashed at 157F

IBU target of 24

I am always careful on sanitation, never had an issue on 15 batches I've done so far.

I used S04 dry yeast with a 2 Liter starter and pitched the thick yeast slurry from the starter (1/2 cup to each 5.5 gallon fermenter).

I aerated by shaking the fermenter vigorously before and after adding the yeast slurry.

I sanitize using star san and soak anything that will contact my beer in a tub of Starsan.

I really don't think contamination is to blame.

I ferment in a chest freezer using a digital temperature control and the beer temp was in the mid 60's for the entire 21 day fermentation and I didn't bottle until day 28 in primary.

I have no idea what happened or why it tastes like this. I can't really describe the taste but all I can think is that it is very "nutty" and "bitter" with an aftertaste but it is NOT sour at all.

I have 105 bottles of this stuff left and the only thing I can think to do is let it sit in the basement at 70F for another couple months and hope it becomes at least drinkable. I wish I could let an experienced brewer try a taste of this to give an opinion on what it could be.

:confused:

My recipe was:
66% 2-Row pale
11% flaked corn
5% C-20
5% C-60
5% C-80
4% Pale Chocolate malt
3% Cara-Pils

Target Hops @ 60 min and EKG hops @ 15 for 24 IBU based on my calculator for boil volumes.

S-04 yeast with starter

Try throwing some of it in the refrigerator for a couple weeks and see if that helps.
 
New castle is one of my favorite beers hands down. I would love to brew this. I am still a newb when it comes to brewing. I have made 2 batches from a Kit both turned out pretty good. I have a set up for 5 gallons so I guess I would just cut the receipe in half? Also when you talk about this is 2 diffrent beers that are combined I guess I am to new to understand how I would do this. One more thing and this may be part of the answer. When you say to keg it for 5 days is that the second brew? Because I unfortunatly do not have a keg set up I bottle mine. Hopefully this year is the year and I get my keg setup.
 
New castle is one of my favorite beers hands down. I would love to brew this. I am still a newb when it comes to brewing. I have made 2 batches from a Kit both turned out pretty good. I have a set up for 5 gallons so I guess I would just cut the receipe in half? Also when you talk about this is 2 diffrent beers that are combined I guess I am to new to understand how I would do this. One more thing and this may be part of the answer. When you say to keg it for 5 days is that the second brew? Because I unfortunatly do not have a keg set up I bottle mine. Hopefully this year is the year and I get my keg setup.

BM has scaled this so that the "two beers" that original Newcastle is can be made with one all grain batch. To make a 5.5 gallon recipe, simply cut the ingredients in half, but follow the same time tables. If bottling, you will need to condition for at least three weeks, the "5 days" is only for those who keg their beer.
Hope that helps!
 
Brewed this today, BIAB. Went with light chocolate and eliminated the roasted malt. Mashed nice and high - 156-158. Really can't wait to see how this turns out!
 
Does anyone see an issue with using 6-row malt as a base for this recipe? I brew a Cream Ale quite frequently and use the 6-row to convert the adjuncts (corn). I have a 50 lb. sack of 6-row and it would be great if I use it as a base for this beer.

I just brewed this yesterday with the original recipe and ingredients. I hit all my numbers and can't wait to taste. After reading the thread, it seems like I will be needing to brew again.
 
Here's my take on a 5 gallon batch extract recipe.

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
6.12 lb Pale Liquid Extract
0.50 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine
0.41 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L
0.41 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L
0.41 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L
0.25 lb Chocolate Malt (450.0 SRM)


0.50 oz Target [11.00%] (60 min) Hops 21.4 IBU
0.25 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00%] (15 min) Hops 2.4 IBU

1 Pkgs Whitbread Ale (Wyeast Labs #1099) Yeast-Ale


I haven't made this one, so use it at your own peril, but I started with Biermuncher's recipe and converted it in beersmith. I took out the Roasted barley because it came to 0.04 lb. That's like, 4 grains :p

So has Anyone tried this recipe? I dont have the Set up for a BIAB and I have been wanting to make this for awhile. I'm headed to the LHBS this weekend and was going to pick this stuff up. I love Newcastle and just want to know how this turned out if anyone did use it.

Had some more questions on this. Are there any actual grain in this recipe Looks like it is all DME or LME. And if what can I sub out and use for real grain? I like the stepping process of the brewing, don't really want to just stir in the DME/LME. Of cousre I may be reading it wrong as well so any help would be great. But hey if thats what I need to do to get this brew made then alright.
Thanks guys. :rockin:
 
I've done the NB kit and several friends thought I nailed it. It was close, but not "nailed it" by a long shot. Been looking hard at this recipe too. Botched part one of the two-part BYO clone brew by cooking my mash enzymes inadvertently (long time since brewed last and this was the first brew in over a year). Salvaged beer enough to be drinkable but unsuited to blending. Might skip the old ale component, and just brew this up. Also, not a huge fan of old ale to begin with, nor of blending..
Early in the thread (and haven't read whole thing) there was discussion about missing plum flavor. Was wondering if a hint of dark candi syrup into the primary might provide some plum character. Someone had also suggested Special B.

Edit- K now I did read the whole thread. I was wondering since not doing the old ale to get the plum like old ale contribution to flavor, that could omit the flaked corn, and make up the missing gravity with candi sugar, and sub out some of the crystal malts to compensate for color? Dunno how they calculate color of the candi sugar additions. Anyway, I think I'm going to brew the 11gal recipe as posted (it's for a 10 or 11 gal batch? I didn't catch that) very soon! Thanks!

Anyone who has brewed with special B, did they find the plum flavor by adding?

TD
 
Wingnutt73 said:
So has Anyone tried this recipe? I dont have the Set up for a BIAB and I have been wanting to make this for awhile. I'm headed to the LHBS this weekend and was going to pick this stuff up. I love Newcastle and just want to know how this turned out if anyone did use it.

Had some more questions on this. Are there any actual grain in this recipe Looks like it is all DME or LME. And if what can I sub out and use for real grain? I like the stepping process of the brewing, don't really want to just stir in the DME/LME. Of cousre I may be reading it wrong as well so any help would be great. But hey if thats what I need to do to get this brew made then alright.
Thanks guys. :rockin:

So.... This is in the pot as we speak. I'm going to add some vanilla to it to give it a more festive taste. So far it smells great everything is working out perfect. I got the ingredients for another batch with a little different lme. Gonna brew it next weekend. Let y'all know how it turns out.
 
Good job Beermuncher!!! I will brew this one for sure. I have a neighbor that loves this stuff. I made him some Northern Nut brown in hopes that he would like it but we will see if this is closer to the Newcastle.
Same story kinda. Thanks for the recepie!!
 
I've seen some guys asking but I couldn't find the answer.
Is the flaked corn in the recipe the same as Kellog's Corn Flakes or is that another kind of flaked corn?
 
felipefranco said:
I've seen some guys asking but I couldn't find the answer.
Is the flaked corn in the recipe the same as Kellog's Corn Flakes or is that another kind of flaked corn?

It's flaked corn like you'd get at you LHBS. It's a lot thinner than corn flakes. Almost looks like oatmeal.
 
I brewed this recipe and it was very good. Thanks for the recipe. I did my own comparison to Newcastle and my beer was a little darker in color and cocoa flavor really came through...Maybe a little less chocolate next time.

The only thing that was clearly different from the Newcastle is that mine had no hop aroma whatsoever. Although the bitterness was fine there was no hop aroma. Clearly different from the Newcastle.

I was wondering if anyone has noticed this from their results? I'm using hop bags and I'm wondering if the bags are preventing the full flavor and aroma into the wort?

Thanks,

Dan
 
dp2001 said:
The only thing that was clearly different from the Newcastle is that mine had no hop aroma whatsoever. Although the bitterness was fine there was no hop aroma. Clearly different from the Newcastle.

I was wondering if anyone has noticed this from their results?

Mine didn't have much in the way of aroma either. I was chalking it up to the last addition being at 15 minutes. More flavor than aroma with that long to go. Maybe an addition at 5 minutes or at flame out, if you're looking for aroma?
 
Hi BM/All, what is the consensus recipe for a 5.5 gal AG batch? I see a lot of variations with ingredients/temps and such.....

Can someone list the best variation

Thanks ! - cannot wait to try this
 
Brewing this Saturday.


I might toss some EKG the last few minutes for aroma boost.

Are there any suggestions for brewing water on this? I think I'm probably just going to use my fairly soft tap water and add a literal pinch of calcium chloride to the mash and maybe 1-2 tsp gypsum to the kettle (11 gal).

TD
 
Well I made this recipe today, and with some of my silly errors, I hope it comes out ok.

I wanted the more malty version so I figured I would mash at 158. I do BIAB, so I set my strike temperature to 163 which gives me 5 degrees to play with. When I mash at 154 I use a strike temperature of 160 so 5 to 6 degrees seems to work.

By the time I had all of the grain in the temperature was at 162, only one degree drop. so I stirred and waited and stirred until the temperature was at 157 and closed the kettle for the mash. I mashed for 60 minutes plus the time at the higher temperature. When the mas was finished my brewhouse efficiency was at 99%. Something is wrong for sure.

When the boil was complete the og was 1.050. I'm not sure how much of this will be fermentable sugar. We will have to see how it turns out. It smelled awesome and I'm sure it will taste awesome if it isn't too sweet.
 
I brewed this today with a couple tweaks:

69.3% Maris Otter
11.6% Flaked Corn
4.3% CaraPils
4.3% C-15º
2.9% C-60º
2.9% Chocolate
2.9% Special B
1.4% C-90º
0.4% Roasted Barley (UK)

I Mashed for 30 minutes (Full Conversion) at 155º
Did a Mash Out too

Hops
60 min: Target 1 oz 8.5% & EKGoldings .25 oz (5.2%)
15 min: EKGoldings 0.75oz (5.2%)
0 min: EKGoldings .5oz (7.2% but they'd been open since March and in freezer in a mylar bag that I could re-seal..)

Oxygenated, Pitched 2 packs S04. Tried chilling to 68º but could only make it to 70 so. Collected a sample and gonna try using as both a FFT and daily gravity check. slapped an airlock on the hydroflask. Will see how that works...

In fiddling with the recipe, It seemed challenging to get the color from being too dark, the gravity from being too high, and the ABV from being too low. maybe next time I just brew the original post and leave at that. I think mine is going to be too dark. I also hit 1.048 OG shooting for 1.046. Maybe my boil was more vigorous with my new propane regulators and I boiled off more. I forgot to remove the immersion chilled to get an accurate gravity read prior to running off through the Therminator (I swear mine is plugged...) Other possibility is that my sample had a lot of crud in suspension (hot and cold break that didn't get filtered.) Seriously thinking about ditching the Hop Blocker and doing a true recirculation whirlpool with immersion chiller and prechiller and/or Counterflow Chiller like the new SS ChillZilla style that's out.

Thanks for the recipe.

TD

TD
 
I tried a version of this using

Maris Otter 34%
2-row 41%
C-60 13%
Victory 6%
Pale Chocolate 3%

Mashed @156F for 50 minutes. Mash out at 173F and batch sparge.

OG: 1.040
IBU: 15

Nottingham Ale Yeast
Irish Moss in boil

This smells great. I have a feeling it's going to be much more New Castle Like than my last attempt. I wish I had used 2% special B for a bit of raisin.
 
Couple of questions on this:

Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 7 at 69 degrees
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 5 at 69 with gelatin
Additional Fermentation: Kegged and chilled to 37 degrees for 5 days

Is the gelatin necessary if i can just cold crash at the end of secondary?
When it says keg and chill for 5 days, I keep my keg at about 38f so would I not just keg and let it carbonate and enjoy, why the 5 day time frame ?

Thanks just want to clarify this - brewing this Saturday.
 
I will probably give this a go sometime this fall. I'll likely go with something other than EKG.... Maybe even some cascade I pulled off the vines this year. And I'll drop the carapils. My experience is that the 1.5lb Carmel malts will give this beer plenty of head and body. Maybe just mash slightly higher
 
I have one interrogation. As I understand it, flaked corn is mainly used to reduce the body of a beer and carapils is mainly used to increase it. So why are you putting both in your beer?
 
I have one interrogation. As I understand it, flaked corn is mainly used to reduce the body of a beer and carapils is mainly used to increase it. So why are you putting both in your beer?

Flaked corn was part of the original recipe and I didn't want to change the foundation. The Cara was simply to tweak the final product to have what I thought was the appropiate mouthfeel and head retention typical of a Brown Ale...and in my opinion, slightly lacking in the commercial product. :mug:
 
The first time I made this it was incredible! However... the second time it was just so so... The second go round I tried, unsuccessfully, to boost the ABV by adding some brown candi sugar... The mouthfeel was very thin and lacking the malty flavor I had the first time I made it. I didn't add a lot so I'm not sure if it made the difference in the taste or not. I made a 10 gallon batch that has been in the keg for about 8 months now... well some of it has been in the keg that long! I might have a couple gallons left. It tastes very good now compared to how it tasted in March.

I will definitely make this again... using the original BierMuncher recipe. I will just have to drink twice as much to increase the ABV of my blood instead!
 
I just bottled a batch that I made in August before I had surgery on my left hand. It tasted very good and I can't wait to drink some of it. The only problem might be that there isn't enough yeast left for it to carbonate, only time will tell that.

Awesome recipe.
 
Been enjoying this for a while now. I fermented a little higher because my walk out basement is apparently very temperature labile....
Very close to Newcastle without a side by side I'd say mine might be a little maltier.

Thanks for a great recipe. I'll be brewing again.

TD
 
I made this on christmas day (no chill BIAB) and fermented for 5 weeks on primary. Fan-tastic. Came out clear and delicious. I used Maris otter as my base malt and WY1084 (it's what I had on hand and I like it for ales). Really nice maltiness, but not heavy at all as a result of the maize.

Thanks for the great recipe!


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Any 6 gallon all grain versions? I may have missed it


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I brewed the 10 gallon version yesterday with my 13 gallon pot. :eek: It wasn't big enough. :D

1st time using Yeast SuperFood added to the boil! I got the fermenter bubbling within 12 hours! Now I've had very good luck with liquid yeast, yeast starters, and using a stir plate used for 24 hours, but I've never seen any fermentation activity so soon. :)

The wort looked & smelled beautiful being poured into the buckets, I am jazzed! I hope this SuperFood doesn't effect the taste in a bad way. We only used a teaspoon, but it did smell a little funky in the package. Guess I should look that up? :p We'll see.

Scaling recipes? Get Beersmith.................... it was the BEST $20 I ever spent on beer equipment. It's made me a better brewer simply following the directions...................... and following BM's ideas! Check in the Sponsors Showcase forum for a deal. You can typically find it on sale!

Since we brewed 10 gallons we split the wort into 2 buckets to ferment. The 1st one we're going to rack according to BM's original recipe. The 2nd one we're going to just leave in the bucket & original yeast cake for 1 month. Just a little experiment. :ban: So we're doing 2 adjustments, place & time, wish us luck!
 
I brewed a 5 gallon batch of this recipe two months ago had my 1st one last night. I think this is better than Newcastle Brown Ale, it tastes just like a Newcastle Brown , with a added bonus of head retention.
Thanks for sharing.
 
Agreed Denbo,

And:

As I said, there were a few things for which the commercial version is criticized, namely lack of head or lacing in the glass. The addition of Cara took care of this and my version actually has a better “slightly creamier” mouth feel.

All in all, a pretty darn good brown ale and at 4.1%, just right for a few pints without remorse.

Agreed too!

But I need more mouthfeel. How do I get more weight to this beer. Maris Otter? Amber Malt? Flaked Oats? More Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) or other Crystal? ;) Sure................. it won't be the same beer, but that's part of the magic of homebrew. Guess I'll just have to keep reading & experimenting.

Thanks BM for this wonderful recipe! 5 gallons went in 2 weeks with only 2 of us drinking.
Since we brewed 10 gallons we split the wort into 2 buckets to ferment. The 1st one we're going to rack according to BM's original recipe. The 2nd one we're going to just leave in the primary bucket & original yeast cake for 1 month. Just a little experiment. :ban: So we're doing 2 adjustments, place & time, wish us luck!

Conclusion: The beer that was simply left in the primary to age for 1 whole month is better. Deeper brown color, better head, clearer, better nuttier taste. This was simply the additional 5 gallon bucket I had fermenting from that 10 gallon boil. Everything else was exactly the same. The difference in taste wasn't huge............................ but it was there!

Now I don't know about you........................ but I like to drink the best beer I possibly can!! :rockin:
 
its been awhile since the OP reposted the recipe after making some tweaks, I would like to see how he is brewing this bill now. This will be my next brew looking forward to it and yes I read all 28 pages lol. thanks BierMuncher
 
Hi guys. Sorry to ask.. I see this thread is a bit older... Can this recipe be cut back to 2.75 gallons. That would be to divide the ingredients by 4. I just can't get my kitchen electric stove to boil a five gallon batch but I can get a furious boil of 4 gallons
 
Hi guys. Sorry to ask.. I see this thread is a bit older... Can this recipe be cut back to 2.75 gallons. That would be to divide the ingredients by 4. I just can't get my kitchen electric stove to boil a five gallon batch but I can get a furious boil of 4 gallons

All recipes are scalable
 
Has Newcastle changed since this thread was started? I bought a 12-pack tonight (it was on sale) to try it, and it's not something I would ever try to emulate... very little head, and no body. Kind of tastes like seltzer with a little brown coloring added. (at least it wasn't skunky) Maybe Heineken cheapened it and removed all the character, like inBev is doing with everything else?

Or maybe I just drank it too cold. :eek: I'll try another one almost warm.

The recipes posted here look fine, btw.
 
I just made this beer for the second time (first time was a compromise across the board on ingredients and wanted a "true attempt" this time).

I dropped the roasted barely as last time it felt really out of place compared to the commercial example (although tasty I wouldn't have pegged it even close as a clone).

While the beer this time is damn, damn good, it is still so far off from the commercial version that I'm at a loss for how much praise this version gets. It could be I did something wrong but I don't see what.

I did my VERY best to copy this recipe 1:1 (except 5 gallons and dropped the roast barley), same yeast, same mash temp, same hops/malt, everything.

When I taste the commercial example I get crisp, clean flavor with serious stand-out notes of fruit (plum, raisin, etc...). With my clone version I get a "maltier/heavier" version that is still very clean tasting but lacking 100% of the fruit/plum/raisin notes. It's like a very neutral brown ale.

Now don't get me wrong, it's tasty, damn tasty, and my wife even prefers this clone to the original (always like hearing that) but the fruit notes are what MAKE this beer, IMHO.

Any advice on how to get more of that out of this clone or is that just an unfortunate result of not aging and mixing two batches?

Here's what my notes say, in case someone can help me pinpoint the issue if it is just me:

Recipe:

- 7 lbs, 3.8 oz 2-Row
- 14.7 oz flaked corn
- 8.1 oz carared
- 8.1 oz crystal 60
- 8.1 oz crystal 80
- 7.3 oz carapils
- 4 oz chocolate malt
- 0.92 oz willamette (6%) @ 60
- 0.25 oz goldings (5.5%) @ 15
- Proper starter of Whitbread yeast

Mash temp: 156.5 for 60 min

Let sit for 3 weeks then racked to keg.

Any ideas? I'd LOVE to get more fruitiness out of this.
 
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