Your Input: American Brown

Hi guys and gals.....

I'm throwing together a recipe for an American brown ale. I haven't made a beer like this before, so I'll be using a couple ingredients I either haven't used or haven't used in these proportions. I'm going for a nice malty, a little nutty brown ale with a moderate hop bitterness and a light hop aroma. Let me know if you think something is out of whack.

Style: American Brown
Type: Partial mash
Size: 5.4 gallons
Color: 66 HCU (~26 SRM)
Bitterness: 39 IBUs (calculated for higher utilization b/c of late extract addition)
OG: 1.056 FG: 1.014
Alcohol: 5.5% v/v (4.3% w/w)
Grain: 4 lb. British pale
.5 lb. American victory
.5 lb. American crystal 90L
.75 lb. American chocolate
Mash: 60% efficiency
Boil: 60 mins
4 lb. Light dry malt extract (20 mins remaining)
Hops: 2 oz. Cascade (6% AA, 60 min.)
1 oz. Willamette (5% AA, 5 min.)

I'm thinking of actually using a British yeast despite calling this an American Brown Ale. Probably Wyeast 1098 since I used that in an ESB and like the results.

Any comments?

Personally I might back the chocolate off a little and up the Victory, but that is just me. I like the nuttier flavors to come through in the browns rather than the chocolate tones. I used Willamette in my Nutbrown as a finishing hop and like it lots.

I have this strange aversion to Biscuit and Victory malt, for some reason. Maybe I'm missing out. But I definitely agree, Williamette is a great finishing hop for anything in the brown ale area. You could consider Fuggles or EKG for bittering. Everything else looks great.

zoebisch01 said:

Personally I might back the chocolate off a little and up the Victory, but that is just me. I like the nuttier flavors to come through in the browns rather than the chocolate tones. I used Willamette in my Nutbrown as a finishing hop and like it lots.

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Whoa that's right. Way too much chocolate. 1/4 lb is plenty for 5 gallons. I would back off on that and perhaps use 60L crystal instead of 90, and bump it (the crystal) up to say 1 1/2 to 2 lb. Just my 2 cents worth.

Bernie Brewer said:

Whoa that's right. Way too much chocolate. 1/4 lb is plenty for 5 gallons.

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I've seen recipes with up to a pound, but whether they're good or not is a completely different question. This is probably a question of personal preference, and maybe I shouldn't ask it, but how much chocolate is too much in a recipe? I'm guessing 3 people will tell me 3 different amounts.

Is that 1/4 lb. your taste preference......have any horror stories over chocolating a batch?

I'm thinking uping the crystal is a good idea, maybe spilting it 2/3, 1/3 between 60 and 90 L. I also haven't decided what to do with the Victory, I want it nutty, but not too nutty.....maybe I'll go 0.75 lb.

I think building a recipe is almost as fun actually brewing it. But nothing beats tasting it.

That would be my taste preference

uwmgdman said:

I've seen recipes with up to a pound, but whether they're good or not is a completely different question. This is probably a question of personal preference, and maybe I shouldn't ask it, but how much chocolate is too much in a recipe? I'm guessing 3 people will tell me 3 different amounts.

Is that 1/4 lb. your taste preference......have any horror stories over chocolating a batch?

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I used 1lb of chocolate malt on my last porter, came out great.