Legend Brown Ale Clone? (extract)

I'm grasping here, but if anyone of you have had Legend Brewery's Brown Ale (Richmond, VA), then you would understand. Legend Brown Ale is an English style brown ale. It is fairly bitter, with a subtle hop taste. Sorry I can't describe it any better, but I just know that I like it a lot.

Does anyone have a clone recipe for Legend Brown Ale? If anyone has a good recipe for a bitter English brown ale and cares to share, then that would be good, too.

Legend Brown is my favorite brew. I wish that I were at the brewpub now, sipping from my mug, which I haven't visited in far too long.

I do not have a recipe, but would like one. Legend Brown is unlike the Nut Brown Ale I have on tap now. It is a much less robust beer; not sweet and less body. And about 6% alcohol, so strong by brown ale standards.

Unfortunately, the website isn't much help: it only lists the ingredients as "Caramel and Roasted malts...with Tettnang and Mt. Hood [hops]." But at least that is a starting point, if you wanted to try an extract brew using specialty grains.

It may be a couple months before I get a chance to try this, but here is my attempt at an extract recipe that could be close. I think with a little tweaking and some additional specialty grains for taste and color, this might work:

Legend Brown Ale Clone (First Attempt)

6.0 lbs Light Malt Extract Syrup
1.0 lb Light Dry Malt Extract
1.0 lb Crystal 60L Malt
0.5 lb Chocolate Malt
1.5 ounces Mt. Hood hops
1.5 ounces Tettnanger hops

Steep the specialty grains in 2 gallons of water at 155 degrees for 40 minutes
Add LME and DME and boil for 60 minutes.
Add hops in equal amounts (0.5 ounces of each at each increment) at 60 min, 30 min, and 2 min.
Add 1 Irish Moss tablet at 15 min.
Add water up to 5 gallons, cool and pitch Wyeast 1056 American Ale.
Ferment at around 68 degrees.

The target mesurements are:

OG: 1.053
FG: 1.013
IBU: 33
SRM: 22
ABV: 5.2

If you wanted to duplicate the 6% ABV, I would add 0.5 lbs corn sugar, at the start of the boil.

I think this will be close, but in future batches I will probably adjust the hop balance and maybe add some of the following (in 2 ounce increments):

Crystal 120L Malt (for burnt caramel notes and darker color)
Roasted Barley (for coffee notes and darker color)
Black Patent Malt (more sparingly, for charcoal notes and darker color)

I may also substitute some of the Crystal 60L for some Crystal 10L, if necessary, for lighter color and some honey notes.

I hope this helps. I would love for someone familiar with Legend Brown Ale (a.k.a. the nectar of the gods) to try this and help me tweak the recipe.

I elaborated on my very rough recipe to clarify it a bit, so I thought that I would bump this up in the queue. I would love any input that you all have. I LOVE Legend Brown, and could never hope to duplicate a fresh batch (has anyone else noticed that the bottles often disappoint; the kegs are so much fresher). But a reasonable facsimile would be very nice to have.

I called the beer supply store yesterday and they didn't have a recipe, but the dude said he could probably whip something up that is similar. He mentioned that it is a typical English brown ale with a smoke flavor.

I think I will try to make something like this in my next brew.

I have been working on a beer that I hope will taste like Legend Brown Ale. I have gone throught a bunch of iterations and what I have settled on so far is the following:

about 85-90% Maris Otter
about 10% Briess Extra Special Malt
about 1-2% Black Patent Malt (mostly for color)
about 1.055 - 1.060 OG
somewhere around 18 SRM

about 25-30 IBU's (I use Tett and Mount Hood). Pretty much no hop aroma, and just a little hop flavor. More malt flavor than hop flavor.

Haven't settled on a yeast yet. My next try will be safale s-04 to try to get a little bit of the english fruity undertones. I have tried to culture some of their ale yeast from a bottle, but no luck. I think they must filter the beer before it is bottled.

I'm pretty close, but haven't quite nailed it yet - probably won't be able to get it just right without knowing what they do to their water and without their yeast. Makes a pretty tasty brown ale though. Would love to hear if anyone has had any luck with a different approach.

Bill

Legend Brown Ale is a fantastic beer. I took the brewery tour about a month ago while in Richmond and the brewer guiding the tour couldn't (wouldn't) give me any hints at all. I guess I can understand not wanting to give away trade secrets - but in all the BYO articles I read they make it seem easy to get a brewer to talk. All he could tell me was that it's loaded with malt. He said it was one of the bigger malt bills they use. Sounds like the previous post has something good to start with. I am interested in trying it.

Looks like this was a few months ago -- any luck on fine-tuning the recipe? Was thinking an AG version of this with MO and S-04 could be spot on.

Can't always get to Richmond to see my family (let alone make a beer run) and availability up north is inconsistent.

Here's what I did, and I was extremely happy with it:

(5-gallon, all-grain)
10.5lbs Maris Otter 2-row
1lb 60L crystal malt
0.25lb chocolate malt (412 SRM)
0.25lb cara-munich malt (56 SRM)

1oz Tettnanger (5.2%AA, 60 min)
1oz Mt. Hood (4.0%AA, 60 min)

Wyeast #1098 British Ale yeast (125ml smack-pack with no starter)

90min mash at 152F
60min boil

OG was 1.056 (was aiming for 1.060)

Fermented a little high at 72F.

I will do this exactly the same again. I couldn't keep my friends and family away from it.

Thanks much! If this tastes anything like Legend's, I won't be able to keep my sister and her housemates away from it.

Not sure I trust myself with liquid yeast yet, what do you think about using S-04?

I have never used dry yeast, but I imagine it would do the job just fine. Liquid yeast really isn't that bad though. I didn't make a yeast starter for the above batch and it was a very vigorous fermentation when I checked the next day (~12 hrs). Just warm up the yeast pack to room temp, then activate ~6 hrs prior to pitching.

Finally got to the LHBS. I elected to go the liquid route, but they didn't have Wyeast, so I ended up with WLP013. Will see how it works out.

I'm sure it will be good. Where did you get your ingredients? Falls Church? I hate driving out there from Warrenton, but there really isn't anywhere else around if you need something in a pinch.

No, went to Clifton since I was already in Centreville. Taking 66 to Falls Church is too much of a battle for me.

Also, the proprietor's really into UK ales, so he had the WLP equivalent to the original Wyeast strain, but suggested the substitution to London ale yeast.

We're just now getting around to brewing this. Had a mishap with a few pounds of MO (may it rest in peace), but was able to squeeze out an OG of 1.054. We also ended up using 1318 instead of the WLP, so I'm looking forward to the result in about 6 weeks.

BTW, did you know we're getting an LHBS in Manassas? SO excited. My husband fears this will spell doom for our bank account.

I just brewed this again last month on my new electric system. I am actually transferring to the keg tonight. I can't wait!

Where is the LHBS going in Manassas? And when? That will be awesome.

Oh the jealousy...both on having this kegged AND the electric system. I hope to make a run to the brewery since I'll be in town and my pipeline is dry. Sure wish they did keg fills....

Anyway, the brew store will be in the shopping area across the street from Southern States on Rt. 28, easy access from 234. Opens on Feb 29th. Looks like they'll be open 10-6, M-Sa which is super awesome.

Tapped the keg today. It tastes great. I fermented a little lower this time (66-67F) and I saved some of the Mt Hood for late hopping at 5 min boil. You can definitely taste the difference. I think I was a little happier with the first batch, but this one might be a bit closer to the commercial brew. I think the higher ferment temp of the first attempt added a little dark fruit flavor in the finish (prune). This one is a bit more dry. It's also higher in ABV (6.7%) because I underestimated my efficiency (not a terrible thing). Last batch was a little low (5.6%).

Thanks for the tasting notes. For the first few days of vigorous fermentation it was at 66F, but based on your feedback, we'll move it to the laundry closet, which is closer to 70F ambient. I'd like to preserve the fruity flavors as they should go with the 1318 (from what I've read).

Congrats on the bump in efficiency. You think the new system helped?

It may be a bit far for you, but there is a LHBS in Fredericksburg too. See my sig for details.
I love Legends brown, and am very interested in your feedback on this recipe.

We have started making beer-related side trips to Fredericksburg on the way to/from RVA. Your shop is actually on my list of places. I just have to catch my husband in a good mood!

As for Legend. They also have a killer Oktoberfest and Lager. The cask conditioned Vanilla port is to die for, but it was on available in the brewpub.

I brewed another batch and used the yeast cake that started from a culture of bells ale yeast and it was really good. I think that is the California V or 1272 strain. I'd recommend it.

I don't know if this helps but I took the brewery tour there a month or so ago and the brewmaster said they used White Labs for all there stuff but he wouldn't say the number

The Cali V is wlp051

Aludwig, you're a hero!

Racked this to keg yesterday, and it is delicious!! We actually like it better than the original Legend Brown. For the curious, here are the substitutions (mostly my screw-ups) that were made:


We'll definitely be keeping this on tap.

<-Also a Legend Brown Fan here!

Was at Beerfest down in NC this past weekend and was able to talk to one of the Brewers at legend, He mentioned that Legend uses roasted barley, and hop additions were made at 60min/30min for the Brown. Sounds like you guys have this recipe hammered out to your liking but if you were looking for a little something extra.

Also to echo LBA4ME, Cali V from White Labs is awesome! Its great for when you still want a clean american profile, but with a hint of fruitiness/esters.

Welcome to the club!

Funny you should mention that. Just last night my husband commented that he wanted to use this as a base for a heavier brew with a hint of roast.

Also wondering if the brewer mentioned anything about changes going on at Legend? I was in town hoping to pick up a case of Maibock, but ended up not getting it because of off-flavors in the Lager and Doppelbock on tap.