Brown Ale Grains

BrewSwag 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
eanmcnulty

eanmcnulty

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2009
Messages
784
Reaction score
13
Location
Addison
I noticed that many brown ales use chocolate malt. Some do not. I have been brewing APAs recently with 83% American 2-row and 17% crystal 20L. I would like to swap the crystal 20L with crystal 40L and add some use Special B. Roughly 80% 2-row, 16% crystal 40L, and 4% Special B. For a brown ale I am at the low end of the color range.
What does Special B impart flavor-wise? I have never used it.
For hops I am at the high end with 43 IBUs. I am using Chinook and Centennial, because that is what I have on hand. I could change those though.
I guess what I want to know is if this is just going to taste like a pale ale but look darker or of it will be a brown ale.
 
It'll be something... I guess you could call it an American brown? Special b is malty raisins to me. Could be an interesting beer, but I've never used special b in anything that wasn't more malt forward.
 
That's close to a Texas-brown called Tumbleweed. At 4%, the Special B will give you more of a sweet, nutty flavor. It's good in browns.
 
carnevoodoo said:
It'll be something...

That's funny! I know it will be something too.
Thanks guys. I have some Moose Drool here and some Bell's Best Brown. I like the Bell's better than the Moose Drool, and I'm not sure why. I still don't know how to describe what I am tasting. I think it is less nutty? I don't know. I am going to try this one with the Special B and no chocolate.
Click to expand...
 
I know special b is almost an essential part of most dark abbeys. It is suppose to give a very solid caramel flavor. However, as you look at the posts above, you will notice the flavors can significantly differ anywhere from oxidized raisins (favorite flavor of mine in strong darks and ports), or a very nice slight roast/nutty flavor (favorite of mine in brown ale). If you don't have a site with grain info, a helpful one is here, http://***********/resources/grains.

Special B is under Belgian grains.

Beersmith cites Special B as being "extreme caramel flavor" used in most trappists. I didn't use special B in my brown, instead I used a mixture of Caraamber and Special Roast (I wanted the nuttiness over the caramel), but in all reality, I think the special B might have been the better choice.

Good luck, let us know how it turns out.
 
Thanks, Kyle. I will. My experiences with Brown ale, other than those I mentioned, are New Castle and Sam Smith's. I have a feeling that the English ales my be out of date, and not represent their true flavor. I want something brown, malty, and slightly hoppy, but I also want to fit it into the guidelines. I think I will brew it as is, and perhaps go for a nutty on the next brew. I can't brew it until after June 3rd, because I won't have a fermenter ready until then. I'm sure I am going to mess with the recipe a few time before then.
I'll keep you updated.
 
I think for your next one you'd want to cut the Special B (I generally agree on the raisin thing; one reason I don't particularly like Dubbels), add some Victory/Biscuit and Chocolate to it, which also gives a nutty flavor. Love a good nut brown.
 
Made a Honey-Brown last month. Loving It.
OG= 1.052 SRM=17 IBU=23

Pale/M.O. (80%)
Caramel 60L (4%)
120L (1%)
Chocolate (2-3%)
Victory (3-4%)
flaked oats (7-8%)
Honey MALT (2-3%)
Fuggles (60min)
EKG (15 min)
LONDON Ale yeast



If you're looking for flavor (sweetness) via the honey then don't use honey, use honey malt SPARINGLY. I've read EKG can also seem sweet if used too much. Only change i would've done is drop the Honey Malt a little (2 or 3 oz. instead of the 4 i used). Everything was great though. Sweet, sticky, but also refreshing. great hop taste with mild bitterness. Best thing though is a few tweaks based on what you want. Less sweet, more bready/biscuity then drop an oz or two of honey malt and add same of victory.
 
joex444 said:
I think for your next one you'd want to cut the Special B (I generally agree on the raisin thing; one reason I don't particularly like Dubbels), add some Victory/Biscuit and Chocolate to it, which also gives a nutty flavor. Love a good nut brown.
Click to expand...

I think you are right. First go with Special B, then drop it and add the others in the second one. Thanks.
 
Chocolate malt will give you a rich smooth flavor, while using crystal will give you more a of a caramel flavor that IMO is better for making a hoppier brown ale.
 
I say best of luck with the special B, looks like a clever move. Depending on the gravity you are aiming for the 16% crystal could get a little overpowering.

Wont tell you what I would do as this isnt my beer, just commenting on a potential complication since your recipe is in percentage and not weight.
 
KyleWolf said:
I say best of luck with the special B, looks like a clever move. Depending on the gravity you are aiming for the 16% crystal could get a little overpowering.

Wont tell you what I would do as this isnt my beer, just commenting on a potential complication since your recipe is in percentage and not weight.
Click to expand...

Well, I'm making 2.5g batches. 5# 2-row, 1# crystal 40L, and .25# Special B. I have been using crystal 20L for the recent APAs, so I just upped it to 40L to get into the brown ale style color. It just makes it. The nice thing about the 2.5g batch is that I can brew it in about 3.5 hours, and then do it again the next day, which is probably what ill do.
I'm just waiting to bottle my last APAs. I will most likely brew the browns after June 3.
I'm really enjoying HBT. You guys are very helpful. I think I am going to fork over some money for a membership.
 
I have two brown ales in fermenters. I mashed at 158F. I want a good mouth-feel for my browns. These are 2.5 gallon batches. For the first one, I was trying to get a less hoppy brown, and the second one, I added some more hops near the end. I’ll let you know how these turn out in a month or so.

Brown Ale 1
5.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US 78.62 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L 15.72 %
0.36 lb Special B Malt 5.66 %
0.25 oz Chinook [11.40 %] (60 min) 20.0 IBU
0.25 oz Centennial [9.90 %] (20 min) 10.5 IBU
.5 Pkgs SafAle American Ale US-05
Est OG: 1.054 SG
Est FG: 1.016 SG
IBUs: 30.6 IBU
Color: 18.1 SRM

Brown Ale 2
5.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US 78.62 %
1.00 lb Crystal Malt - 20L 15.72 %
0.36 lb Special B Malt 5.66 %
0.25 oz Chinook [11.40 %] (50 min) 19.0 IBU
0.25 oz Centennial [9.90 %] (50 min) 16.5 IBU
0.25 oz Centennial [9.90 %] (5 min) 3.5 IBU
0.25 oz Chinook [11.40 %] (5 min) 4.0 IBU
.5 Pkgs SafAle American Ale US-05
Est OG: 1.054 SG
Est FG: 1.016 SG
IBUs: 43.0 IBU
Color: 18.1 SRM
 
The special B is nothing more than another crystal malt, maybe in the C180 range, it will give you sweet raisiny plum lake flavors. IMO a brown ale needs a roasty/toasty component to fit my tastes anyways.

I really am a huge fan of special B and I htink your IBU will really work with all the caramel, but I think you should go for some pale choco or choco malt. I brew a nice brown with .25# choco and .25# pale choco along with victory and C80....itsa nice.
 
permo said:
The special B is nothing more than another crystal malt, maybe in the C180 range, it will give you sweet raisiny plum lake flavors. IMO a brown ale needs a roasty/toasty component to fit my tastes anyways.

I really am a huge fan of special B and I htink your IBU will really work with all the caramel, but I think you should go for some pale choco or choco malt. I brew a nice brown with .25# choco and .25# pale choco along with victory and C80....itsa nice.
Click to expand...

There seem to be so many ways to get to a brown ale. I'm looking for the nutty/roasty to be subdued. My next brown will probably skip the special B. I brew 2.5 gallon batches, so I had rest of the special B to use.
Half Acre in Chicago has a beer called Over Ale. It seems brown, but it is really mellow. I had a thread looking for that recipe. It is really good.
 
My first Brown recipe was this:
10lb British Pale (Maris Otter)
2lb Biscuit Malt
11oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L
3oz Chocolate Malt (US)
2oz Roasted Barley
2oz Belgian Special B
Too much special B. Too Sweet for me even at just 2oz but lots of people liked it.

Current batch dropped the Special B to 1oz, upped the Roast to 3oz, added 8oz Oats and it is just right.
If you like Belgan style beers, Special B is ok. I don't so I use it in the background.
 
northernlad said:
My first Brown recipe was this:
10lb British Pale (Maris Otter)
2lb Biscuit Malt
11oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L
3oz Chocolate Malt (US)
2oz Roasted Barley
2oz Belgian Special B
Too much special B. Too Sweet for me even at just 2oz but lots of people liked it.

Current batch dropped the Special B to 1oz, upped the Roast to 3oz, added 8oz Oats and it is just right.
If you like Belgan style beers, Special B is ok. I don't so I use it in the background.
Click to expand...

What was your yeast on this?
 
The one that I liked:
10lb British Pale (Maris Otter)
2lb Biscuit Malt
8oz Oats
12oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L
3oz Chocolate Malt (US)
3oz Roasted Barley
1oz Belgian Special B

1oz Northern Brewer (8.5) @ 60
.75oz NB @ 15
1oz NB @ Flameout

Safale 04
 
These have been bottled. They are 2.5 gallon batches.

Brown Ale 1
5.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US 78.62 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L 15.72 %
0.36 lb Special B Malt 5.66 %
0.25 oz Chinook [11.40 %] (60 min) 20.0 IBU
0.25 oz Centennial [9.90 %] (20 min) 10.5 IBU
.5 Pkgs SafAle American Ale US-05
OG: 1.054 SG
FG: 1.020 SG
IBUs: 30.6 IBU
Color: 18.1 SRM
Very mild and malty. I think the mash was a little high. I have some people who are going to love this beer.

Brown Ale 2
5.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US 78.62 %
1.00 lb Crystal Malt - 20L 15.72 %
0.36 lb Special B Malt 5.66 %
0.25 oz Chinook [11.40 %] (50 min) 19.0 IBU
0.25 oz Centennial [9.90 %] (50 min) 16.5 IBU
0.25 oz Centennial [9.90 %] (5 min) 3.5 IBU
0.25 oz Chinook [11.40 %] (5 min) 4.0 IBU
.5 Pkgs SafAle American Ale US-05
OG: 1.054 SG
FG: 1.014 SG
IBUs: 43.0 IBU
Color: 18.1 SRM
I tasted this at bottling, so it was flat, but it is going to be awesome. The hops were coming through in the taste and the aroma. It wasn't too much at all. This is going to be good! How can I wait the the next couple of weeks?
 
Okay, it seems that both of those browns I brewed are nothing more than very dark pale ales. The Special B maybe added a hint of something different, but not really noticeable. I think if you blindfolded me and gave it too me I would think it was a pale. They aren't bad, just not what you would expect. As a matter of fact they are pretty tasty dark pale ales.

Here is the third one still in the fermenter. Probably a real brown ale. 2.5gal batch.
5.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L
0.25 lb Barley, Flaked
0.25 lb Victory Malt
0.15 lb Chocolate Malt
.50 oz Centennial [9.90 %] (60 min)
.25 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 min)
.25 oz Centennial [9.90 %] (5 min)
.25 oz Centennial [9.90 %] (0 min)
US-05 Yeast
We'll know in about to weeks.

Two Browns.jpg
 
for a brown ale (IMHO of course), I think that a very important part of the flavor component is Chocolate malt, with less important being Brown Malt. Without Chocolate malt, and with such a high percentage of crystal, I really feel like you'll get an Amber ale, even if it's darker amber. browns need some forms of toasty/bready/nuttyness with a little roast, from chocolate malt.

My Standard grain bill for a Brown ale (it's patterned in more of a UK fashion though):
85% Pale malt (UK)
5% Brown Malt (UK)
5% Crystal 55L (UK)
3% Chocolate (UK)
2% Crystal 135L (UK)

I shoot for about 1.050 OG.

That may or may not be relevant, as you don't seem to be going towards the UK side of the style, but I still think Chocolate malt is an important part of the style.
 
Thanks Freezeblade. Actually, I like most browns, but I wanted to back off the nuttiness a little. I obviously had no nuttiness in the first two.
There is a brewery in Chicago called Half Acre that has an ale called Over Ale. I didn't know what the style was, because it was so dark. I was trying for that beer. Now, thanks to Beer Advocate, I know it is an ESB. I didn't realize an ESB was, or could be, so dark in color. I guess I don't know much about ESBs.
Anyway, I am going to keep working with the brown ales, so thank you for the percentages in yours. I'm going to add that to the queue. I like the American taste more than the English taste. English beers have a fruity/sourness that is not generally in American styles. At least that is my take on it. My favorite American brown is New Glarus Fat Squirrel. I'll be try that one too eventually.
 
I'm making my Fat Squirrel clone next week. It's a good beer, but I'd call it closer to a Northern English Brown than an American brown. So many American browns are hopped up, and Fat Squirrel is much more like a nut brown in my opinion. (I won a comp in that category with the FS clone, by the way- so the judges must have agreed :D)
 
Thanks Yooper! That's the same one on your recipe list? I'm going to go with that for my next brown.
I was at New Glarus this summer. Beautiful brewery on the hill...
 
eanmcnulty said:
Thanks Yooper! That's the same one on your recipe list? I'm going to go with that for my next brown.
I was at New Glarus this summer. Beautiful brewery on the hill...
Click to expand...

Yes, that's the recipe I was going to do again. I found most of it via a google search, and then Bernie Brewer made it first. He really liked it (he's a fan of NG FG) and I brewed it, and we really liked it. I entered it in the HBT comp and scored pretty well, although it definitely had some age on it by the time the comp came around.
 

Similar threads

R
Pliny the Elder to an APA
Replies
14
Views
1K
redrocker652002
R
R
2 Row Malt
Replies
8
Views
1K
shavy
shavy
luckybeagle
Pumpkin beer with lutra Kveik? Anyone done it?
Replies
2
Views
597
leedspointbrew
leedspointbrew
parks1031
Brown Ale Recipe Scaled Down
Replies
17
Views
1K
IslandLizard
IslandLizard
msa8967
Looking for input of specialty malts for higher gravity stouts
Replies
8
Views
983
AlexKay
A
Williams Brewing 300

Latest posts

Back
Top