American Brown Ale Barbarian's End – A Nomadic Brown Ale

Not quite English. Not quite American.

This recipe delivers round, mouth-filling brown ale nuttiness and chocolate notes with a clean American hop finish. At 4.9% ABV, it's super drinkable and clean on the palette. This is a favorite year-round brew and it smells incredible! If you are looking for a brown ale that is less sweet and more complex (and right on the edge of a Porter), then this is for you.



WATER PROFILE
Ca 110.0 ppm, Mg 18.0 ppm, Na 17.0 ppm, SO4 350.0 ppm, Cl 50.0 ppm.

GRIST
6lb - Pale 2-Row
2lb - Maris Otter Pale
0.75lb - Brown Malt (UK)
0.75lb - Carafa II
0.75lb - Caramel/Crystal 80L

MASH - Efficiency: 75%
Saccharification Rest - 154 F for 45 minutes
Mash-Out - 170 F for 15 minutes
Sparge - Batch or Fly @ 170 F

BOIL - 60 Minutes
1oz Cascade @ 60
1 Whirlfloc Tablet @ 15
1oz Cascade @ 10
1oz Centennial @ Whirlpool (20min prior to cooling, can sub Cascade)

PRIMARY
Ferment with Wyeast 1272 American Ale II for 2 weeks @ 68F (or until gravity stabilizes)

SECONDARY
Optional Gelatin fining, but this beer is SO DARK that it doesn't matter much.

CARB
Carb to 2.4 Volumes (4.57oz corn sugar if bottle conditioning)

Brewtoad link (use to scale up/down):
https://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/barbarians-end

Looks interesting. How did this turn out? I am looking for something different to brew as I have 2 starters going from washed WLP 002 & 005. Think I'll give this a go tomorrow. Thanks for the recipe.

As Forrest Gump once said, "I'm not a smart man". lol I doubled everything but the hops. DOH! I recently made the Bass Ale clone and for 11 gallons it called for 3 oz of hops, guess that was stuck in my mind. I'm not a real hop head, so suspect this will be just fine.
Anywho, due to some unintended circumstances, here is what I used:

13 lbs 2 row
4 lbs Maris
2 lbs Brown Crisp (UK)
1.5 lbs Carafa II
1.5 lbs Caramel 80
2 oz Ahtanum (LHBS was out of Cascade and recommended these hops)
1 oz Columbus (LHBS out of centenial, recommended Columbus).

Mashed at 155 as I stirred my arse off to get it down that far from 156.5, even in 40 Deg F temps outside. I didn't take the final temp reading after 60 min, but it usually drops 2 to 3 deg in 1 hr in my setup.
Boiled 60 min. 1 Oz Ahtanum @ 60 min, 1 oz @ 10 min and 1 oz Columbus at Flame out.
I ended up with about 11.5 gallons between my 2 fermenters. Used washed WLP 002 starter in 1 and washed WLP 005 starter in the other. SG was 1.054, which puts me about 78% efficiency. I really liked both the color and the smell. Looking forward to trying this one out. Will report back once it's in a glass.

The recipe is very 'American' in its hoppiness, so something tells me you may have helped yourself quite a bit by halving the hop additions, as you're not a huge fan of the hop. That said, you should have a slightly smoky, super chocolatey malty brown Ale on your hands. Please let us know how it worked out and post pics!!!!

I was just looking for an American Brown recipe to build upon when I came across yours. Looks like the ticket.

The only 3 modifications I have in mind are adding a pound of oats for mouthfeel, increasing the brown malt to 1#, a little bit more aggressive on the acridness, and moving the late hop additions around a bit. That brings the OG to 1.060, the top of the style range and the IBUs to 1.040. I know it's going to be different from yours.

When I entered it as such in BS, I suddenly noticed the (new) 2015 style guide has dropped the maximum IBUs for American Browns (19C) from 1.040 to 1.030. Now that, I cannot reconcile with. Even an American Amber (19A) goes to 40 IBU.

Brewing tomorrow with WY1098.

Sounds good, let us know how it turns out. I agree that the new standard is a bit low for my liking.
I just checked my fermenter with the washed WLP 002 and it's still around 1.018. I'm going to swirl it a bit and give it another week. I tasted it, as I do all my samples, and wow, this one is going to be complex. Very dark, almost coffee flavor. But not overly heavy. Can't wait to carb this up.

I'm so excited for you guys!

Re: adjustments to the recipe - bring it on! Oats are always welcome, and increased mouthfeel is going to be nice is a brew this warm and chocolatey. The brown malt is a bit out if left field, but hey, go nuts! The special sauce of this recipe comes from the American hop selection and the Carafa II. Carafa II is a really delectable grain.

Re: FG - mine levels out between 1.014 and 1.012 with American II from a smack pack. The beer can sit in secondary for extended periods and only become smoother, so take your time if you need to! It's a sturdy recipe, especially with your low dose of hops.

Re: your hop substitutions - they sound great! The Columbus should be nice and earthy and the Ahtanum should add the lemony character that plays off the tartness of the brown malt.

Thanks for giving it a go! I hope your brews turn out great!

I'm excited too! Thank you for this excellent American Brown Ale recipe.
The Brown Malt surely works here. Just had a sample, it's already down to 1.015 in 5 days. Been slow and steady. There's a good solid bitterness, I'd say around 40 as calculated, that helps to accentuate that dark chocolate flavor, which really stands out. I hope it to drop another 2-3 points over the next week.

Here's what I used:
5 lbs 10.2 oz - Pale Malt (US) (2.0 SRM) 49.0 %
2 lbs 1.1 oz - Maris Otter (Crisp) (4.0 SRM) 18.0 %
1 lbs 2.4 oz - Brown Malt (Crisp) (65.0 SRM) 10.0 %
1 lbs 2.4 oz - Oats, Flaked* (1.0 SRM) 10.0 %
12.0 oz - Carafa Special II** (Weyermann) (415.0 SRM) 6.5 %
12.0 oz - Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) 6.5 %
1 oz - Cascade [8.80 %] - First Wort 60 min 30.6 IBUs
1 oz - Cascade [8.80 %] - Boil 10.0 min 10.1 IBUs
1 oz - Centennial [9.90 %] - Aroma Steep 30.0 min 0.0 IBUs

British Ale Yeast (Wyeast Labs #1098) @ 66°F for 2 days then 68°F for 3 days and 72°F for a week, until done.
A 2 liter starter should suffice. I pitched a harvested (trubby) slurry that had been in the fridge since August, the equivalent of 1/4 of a yeast cake. No starter.

Batch Size (Gallons): 5.5
Original Gravity: 1.061
SRM: 29.9
IBU: 40.4

*Oats were lightly toasted in the oven.
**Using Carafa "Special" II, made from dehusked barley, contributes to low astringency. Steeped on the side, separately from the mash, at 150°F using 3rd runnings, sparged 2x, also with 3rd runnings. The Jet Black potion was added to the wort after flameout when it had dropped to 190°F. That way it never got boiled. I always do that with dark roasts for a fresher taste and prevents cooked coffee flavors.

That's a very interesting method to using the Carafa II. I'll have to write that down!

Anyone's carbed up and tasted yet?

Superdown said:

Anyone's carbed up and tasted yet?

Click to expand...

Yup!
Following is not a report on your recipe per se as I had altered it significantly. Chances are yours is better!

Brewed on 01/09. Cold crashed on 01/17, then kegged and force carbonated last Monday (01/18). I entered it in our club's monthly competition the following Wednesday (1/20) among 14 others, being British Dark Milds (13A), Browns (13B) and American Browns (19C). Mine placed low, but keep in mind, most judging there is done on the fly and semi-hedonistically, not strictly BJCP. However, I did get some useful feedback.

I think the beer tastes great, although my version may not qualify as an American Brown, more like a good (dry) Porter, as someone in the club pointed out.

Color is very dark brown, almost black, clear but very low transparency. Medium roasty and dark flavors dominate a solid malty backbone followed by a pleasant dry bitterness. Medium dark chocolate flavors without any astringency (as far as I can detect).

Given the short time schedule I was on, I had sampled quite a bit toward the end of the fermentation to see how it was coming along, and while it was carbonating. At the club competition I could not pick out my own entry(!) but I had placed this beer in my personal top 5 of the evening's lineup, 4th. Some of the notes I made were: "Interesting flavor profile, was this possibly oaked?" When I had talked to a few other club members during the tasting, they didn't think it had been oaked at all as they couldn't detect any tannins, and attributed the flavor to a strong dry roastiness from very dark malts. Others I talked to mentioned it had pronounced coffee flavors. Palates differ, what tastes like chocolate to one may taste like coffee to another. To skew the palate even more, there were also a few very hoppy ones in the mix, leaning toward "Brown Session IPAs."

I would likely brew this beer again and if I were to make it more of a Brown Ale, I'd consider notching down the Carafa Special II and the Brown Malt. The oats also help in giving it more of that thicker Porter mouthfeel, so maybe I should get rid of those too. I also think it has more IBUs (~40) than needed in a Brown, which lets the bitterness stand out emphasized by the dark malts. I do like the bitterness but understand it's not for everyone. My wife calls it a "man's beer" but generally she's is not crazy about malty and roasty beers anyway, although she's slowly allowing herself to enjoy them. As is, it's quite unique and does not fit well in the style guide (I find that a good thing). Perhaps it could classify as an American Porter (20A) with a few tweaks in the other direction.

Update: Keg kicked 2 days ago. Time to brew it again.