Help diagnose my brown ale

I brewed this brown ale at the end of August and bottled on September 17th. Here is the recipe:

6 lbs Munton's Plain Light DME
1 lb Briess Caramel 80L
8 oz Munton's Chocolate Malt

.5 oz Nugget (60 min)
1 oz Kent Golding (30 min)
1 oz Fuggles (15 min)
1 oz Willamette (5 min)

Yeast: Danstar Nottingham

OG: 1.058
FG: 1.016

I carbed using about 3.4 oz of priming (corn) sugar.

I am trying to decide what is "off" with this beer. The carbonation is ok, head retention not so hot. Flavor wise, for lack of a better term seems flat. Not bad, not good...just there. No forward malt flavor, all background. Not hoppy bitter at all (probably the best aspect of it). Kind of drinks more like a 60 shilling scottish ale than a brown ale.

I think next time, I will throw a little roasted barley in there and maybe use a liquid yeast.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Joe

Try using a lb of Munich malt type 2 it goes real well in a brown. I would try using about 70 g of priming sugar (5 gallon) and just see how that works for you .

Yeah white labs liquid yeast works great . Give it a try . And for every 10 viles you get a free one so if you brew a lot its a little bonus

Thanks for the heads up. Munich can be steeped?

Yeah it can be steeped . What do you do?BIAB? Just make sure you crush it. (you probably know that already but thought is throw it out there just in case)

Looks to me like a little more grain variety could give some complexity to your brew!
Depending on the color you want you could try .5lb crystal 40 and maybe .5lb of special B for a little malt flavor or maybe try a darker extract.

My brown uses the following specialty malts and it tastes pretty good. (i do all grain so I mash these)
Victory Malt (25.0 SRM)
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 30L (30.0 SRM)
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (80.0 SRM)
Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)
Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM)

Good luck!

The liquid yeast is a must to me for the character on this brew. Try adding 1/2 lb black patent malt. I tried this on my last batch and it added some serious character. Happy brewing!

solo103 said:

Yeah it can be steeped . What do you do?BIAB? Just make sure you crush it. (you probably know that already but thought is throw it out there just in case)

Click to expand...

My method is extract with grains.

Thanks again everyone for the input. When I go to brew this again, I will definitely try some of the suggestions.

Regular Munich must be mashed; luckily both AHS and Northern Brewer sell Munich LME.

At herrydrezz . So steeping Munich malt in a sac bag at 155 for 45 min wont work ? Just wondering because I do extract with steeping grains where I steep my grain bill at 155 for the desired time and have used Munich a bunch and heard from other brewers (some commercial) that it is fine ?