My Best Brown Ale critique...

So I have been brewing mostly IPA's and I figured with winter setting in here in Ohio I would brew a brown ale for the winter months. Here is my version, I am attempting a nutty, roasty, malt forward ale.

Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal
Est Original Gravity: 1.061 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.017 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.7 %
Bitterness: 36.6 IBUs
Est Color: 21.3 SRM
70% efficieny

Mash In Add 16.56 qt of water at 165.4 F 152.0 F 60 min
Mash Out Add 9.27 qt of water at 200.7 F 168.0 F 10 min

Sparge Step: Batch sparge with 1 steps (2.84gal) of 168.0 F water


11 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 83.0 %
12.0 oz Victory Malt (biscuit) (Briess) (28.0 SRM) Grain 2 5.7 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 3 3.8 %
8.0 oz Chocolate (420.0 SRM) Grain 4 3.8 %
4.0 oz Special Roast (Briess) (50.0 SRM) Grain 5 1.9 %
4.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 6 1.9 %
0.75 oz Horizon [13.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 7 29.8 IBUs
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 8 6.8 IBUs
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] - Aroma Steep 60.0 min Hop 9 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg London ESB Ale (Wyeast Labs #1968) [124.21 ml] Yeast 10 -

Any thoughts or suggestions are welcomed.

I decided to mash at 152 that is up for debate. I want a fuller bodied beer with this, but with this particular yeast strain I have heard that I may not get that great attenuation with it (I plan on using a starter per mr. malty).

So I worry if I mash higher will the beer turn out to sweet? Am I right for thinking this?

This is my third ag batch as well, and my efficiency has kinda been all over the place.

Thanks in advance.

I think I'd do crystal 80 and 120 instead of 40 and 60 because you can really take advantage of the toasted character and sweetness of those in dark beers without throwing your color out of whack like you would with a light beer. I think a medium body brown is the way to go, my preference for the style. It wouldn't necessarily turn out sweeter but would have a heavier body. I can tell you from experience that 1028 finishes drier than 1.017 with a starting gravity of 1.061. Coincidently that's the same numbers as I got for my last bitter. But I have a couple years worth of notes that say it finishes around 1.010 when fermented in the upper 60's. So if you're going for something lighter in alcohol or have a target I'd scale it down a little.

@double d, did you mean 1968 instead of 1028?

and what do you mean by "So if you're going for something lighter in alcohol or have a target I'd scale it down a little."

i was hoping for a beer in 5.5 to 6.0% range.

thanks!

Sorry. Read that wrong. I've used the 1968 and the 1028 interchangeably. But I they finish in the same range. The couple I did with 1968 were actually a point or two lower than the 1028. But what is the general range of your efficiency? And your set up? I don't want to have you cut the recipe back if you're in the 50's or 60's.

If you are looking for a "nutty, roasty, malt forward ale" I would consider changing your base malt to something with a bit more character than Pale 2-row. Perhaps a Marris Otter. You can also split your base malt between MO and Pale 2-row.

Special Roast may lend a little raiseny flavors if I am not mistaken, if that's what you are going for then cool. if not, then maybe drop it from the grist.

I like to mash my Brown's at around 154. Also, in my last batch I added 8 oz of flaked barley to the mash and it made a huge difference in body and mouth feel.

Just my 2 cents. Brew what you think you will like and see what happens. Only one way to find out and hey, its still,beer in the end.

I have a brown ale recipe in my drop down if you you want to compare. That's my older one, the new one has the flaked barley I mentioned.

@double d, with the few ag's i have done my eff. has been between the 60-70% range

@bferullo, I am def not going for a raiseny flavor so I think i will leave out the special roast, def going to throw in some barley and bump my mash temp to 154. And I love the idead of marris otter as opposed to the straight 2 row.

Thanks for the suggestions

there is also some good podcasts on beersmith.com and also the brewers network on browns. If you have some time to kill you may be able to get some good pointers from them.

Also, do you use an online store or a local homebrew store? If you use a local one, then go crunch on some grains. It will give you an idea of what they may lend to the brew (i,e the special B...you may find that its exactly what you were looking for)

I use a local store and the owner recommended pale chocolate malt.

bferullo said:

Special Roast may lend a little raiseny flavors if I am not mistaken, if that's what you are going for then cool. if not, then maybe drop it from the grist.

Click to expand...

You are mistaken. Special Roast is very appropropriate when shooting for a nutty flavor. Chew on a few kernels of grain, it tastes like grape nuts. Good for a great nutty/toast flavor.

Special B (dark belgian crystal malt) is known for it's raisiny character if used in large amounts with out other malts to compliment it. Personally, a little special b is nice in a brown ale, but its not for everybody.

here is the revised grain bill:
70% eff.

10 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 80.0 %
12.0 oz Caramel Malt - 60L (Briess) (60.0 SRM) Grain 2 6.0 %
12.0 oz crisp pale choclate malt (225.0 SRM) Grain 3 6.0 %
8.0 oz Special Roast (Briess) (50.0 SRM) Grain 4 4.0 %
8.0 oz Victory Malt (biscuit) (Briess) (28.0 SRM) Grain 5 4.0 %
0.75 oz Horizon [13.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 30.1 IBUs
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 7 6.9 IBUs
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] - Aroma Steep 60.0 min Hop 8 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg London ESB Ale (Wyeast Labs #1968) [124.21 ml] Yeast 9 -

how's that look?

I like Lil' Sparkey's Nut Brown; https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f67/nut-brown-ag-30187/. Maybe it can be scaled up a bit.

Keying off of this, I brewed a 'double' nut brown on Sunday by scaling this up 50%. I didn't have any C60 so I substituted belgium biscuit, hope I like it.

bmock79 said:

here is the revised grain bill:
70% eff.

10 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 80.0 %
12.0 oz Caramel Malt - 60L (Briess) (60.0 SRM) Grain 2 6.0 %
12.0 oz crisp pale choclate malt (225.0 SRM) Grain 3 6.0 %
8.0 oz Special Roast (Briess) (50.0 SRM) Grain 4 4.0 %
8.0 oz Victory Malt (biscuit) (Briess) (28.0 SRM) Grain 5 4.0 %
0.75 oz Horizon [13.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 30.1 IBUs
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 7 6.9 IBUs
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] - Aroma Steep 60.0 min Hop 8 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg London ESB Ale (Wyeast Labs #1968) [124.21 ml] Yeast 9 -

how's that look?

Click to expand...

Mash Temp? I would go 153-154 personally.. If you mash higher this looks great, if you mash lower I would up the crystal.

You know what would be crazy good in this? Some oats:rockin:

im going to mash at 154 you dont think it will turn out to sweet?

and i will def add a half or whole pound of oats?

bmock79 said:

im going to mash at 154 you dont think it will turn out to sweet?

and i will def add a half or whole pound of oats?

Click to expand...

1 pound of oats is in Lil' Sparkey's. I've been using golden naked oats.

You really don't need victory malt and special roast together, especially if your using a quality maris otter. In fact, I try to avoid using biscuit-type malts with MO as it can distort the wonderful honey-biscuit flavor of the grain.

If I were brewing this, I'd drop the victory malt for 6oz of dark crystal (120) and sub the special roast for flaked oats or barley. Golden naked oats are nice too.

Great input, so bierhaus15, would you keep the cyrstal 60 that is already in the recipe?

What will the 120 do? I have never used it before?

sorry for the noobness!

also curious how thick of a mash should i do?

i have a 15 gallon cooler with a ss braid i use to mash in.

thanks

permo said:

You are mistaken. Special Roast is very appropropriate when shooting for a nutty flavor. Chew on a few kernels of grain, it tastes like grape nuts. Good for a great nutty/toast flavor.

Special B (dark belgian crystal malt) is known for it's raisiny character if used in large amounts with out other malts to compliment it. Personally, a little special b is nice in a brown ale, but its t for everybody.

Click to expand...

Thank you for the clarification. I see where I was mistaken. I had made a red based off of hop head red by green flash and used "special B".

all right, here she is final grain bill:

10 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 76.9 %
1 lbs Oats, Flaked (Briess) (1.4 SRM) Grain 2 7.7 %
12.0 oz Caramel Malt - 60L (Briess) (60.0 SRM) Grain 3 5.8 %
12.0 oz crisp pale choclate malt (225.0 SRM) Grain 4 5.8 %
8.0 oz Special Roast (Briess) (50.0 SRM) Grain 5 3.8 %
0.75 oz Horizon [13.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 29.5 IBUs
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 7 6.8 IBUs
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] - Aroma Steep 60.0 min Hop 8 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg London ESB Ale (Wyeast Labs #1968) [124.21 ml] Yeast 9 -

Ill update on the progress if anyone is interested. Ill be brewing friday afternoon.

SO I brewed this one up today, my mash efficiency was 77% and brewhouse efficiency was 73% The og was 1.064, the estimate was 1.062.

I used the wyeast 1968, I am hoping that it attenuates at the high end of its range, and gets down to 1.018-1.017 range.

I will keep the water in my swamp cooler at 60 deg for the initial fermentation then bump it up after it is done.

All in all a good brewday.

Cheers..

So I couldn't wait any longer I popped the lid on my bucket and stole a sample to take a reading. It's been nine days and if my hydrometer is right it's reading 1.018 which I am very pleased with. I gave it a swirl and I am going to try to bump it up to 70ish..

It tasted pretty good for being so young, definitely getting some toasted bread and nutty notes coming through. Stoked to try this one when she's all the way finished.

Cheers!!!

Well I got busy and didn't keg until the 20th of december. I pulled my first pint last night and surprised myself, in a good way. Weighing in at about 6%,the beer is super cloudy, I guess that is due to the pound of flaked oats. It has a very nice malty smell and a malty taste to match. With a nice creamy off white head and some decent lacing..

I was shooting for a nuttier brown than what this is, but still mighty pleased with the turnout. It has a very nice smooth non astringent sweet chocolate taste to it. I feel the sweetness balances nicely with the pale chocolate. And this was my first time using flaked oats but they seem to have imparted a very silky and smooth finish to the beer.

I am planning a rebrew very soon and the two changes I think I'll make is to sub victory for the special roast, and if I can find some golden naked oats in time I will sub those for the flaked oats.

There is a local homebrew competition and I thought about entering this beer, I am just not sure what category it belongs. The O.G. is to high for any of the english categories, and the english yeast and hops kind of kill the american brown cat. I was leaning with putting it in the amercian brown 10c cat. and seeing what the judges have to say. Anyone have an opinion on that?

Cheers!!!

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