Anniversary brew....

Jan 8th I'm coming up on the 1 year anniversary of brewing my first batch--I was thinking about doing the exact same recipe (except AG instead of extract) for ****s and giggles. The only problem is.....who's gonna drink it? I can barely stomach brown ale anymore cause it is soooooo boring!

SO, I'm thinking of amping up a brown ale a bit--more hops or something.

A barleywine is out of the question--my mashtun isn't big enough and plus I have enough barleywine sitting in my closet (Bigfoot, Lakefront brewery).

I still want to do a really nice dry stout--but stouts have my number. I don't have a very good batting average for stout brewing.

Or, I'm up for suggestions.

I think I've still got the recipe for the Big Booty Brown.

ORRELSE said:

Jan 8th I'm coming up on the 1 year anniversary of brewing my first batch--I was thinking about doing the exact same recipe (except AG instead of extract) for ****s and giggles. The only problem is.....who's gonna drink it? I can barely stomach brown ale anymore cause it is soooooo boring!

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On January eighth the stars pretty much mandate a "Three Kings Brown IPA".

Blue Suede Ale might be inorder.

ORRELSE said:

Jan 8th I'm coming up on the 1 year anniversary of brewing my first batch--

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Only one year? Jeez.... what a newbie! *wink*


Just kiddin'... You give hope to us true newbies.... wish I could help you out with the recipe... Maybe just make a small batch of your original brown ale? Hopping it up would work too...

make abrown but throw some brown sugar/candi sugar in for alcohol, more hops, more specialty malts--put some victory, chocolate, biscuit, whatever you think. sounds like a good idea.

What turns out wrong with your stouts? A good dry stout is usually a pretty attainable goal.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I'm still "thinking" about this one.
I want to brew a beer, but a mead for the anniversary one might be in order as well.

Janx said:

What turns out wrong with your stouts? A good dry stout is usually a pretty attainable goal.

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I've done 3. The dry stout had way too much roasted barley and I used an exact recipe from BYO to clone Guinness. I dumped half of that batch to free up a keg. It wasn't good.

I also did a milk stout that I guess turned out pretty drinkable, but it didn't hit the mark for where I wanted it as far as coffee flavor........

Yeah, one can go overboard on the roasted. Try doing one with a blend of roasted/patent/chocolate and 60L Crystal. It'll be a bit more forgiving and round out the flavor a bit so it isn't dominated by that burnt roasted flavor. Or leave out roasted and go with just patent/chocolate/crystal.

This is a great time of year for a tasty stout!

Cheers!

Well, I must be boring because I love a brown ale...it's my go to beer. I do lean towards an American brown with a little more IBU's than the Britishi variant, but I'll drink any of them.

I brewed the Dogfish India Nut Brown courtesy of BYO and really liked it. ~8%abv, very hoppy, and brown. That could be an option.

If you're looking for something dry, why not add a pound of honey to your brown recipe? I've made three ales with honey and really enjoyed all three. Maybe a buckwheat honey?

BeeGee said:

Well, I must be boring because I love a brown ale...it's my go to beer. I do lean towards an American brown with a little more IBU's than the Britishi variant, but I'll drink any of them.

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I like Browns in the sense that I wish more breweries would make them than the invented style "amber". What a boring style amber is! I'm pretty sure it was just created to give lovers of crappy beers something to drink at the brewpub. Not hoppy. Kinda sweet and malty. Dark enough to make them feel like they're really going out on a limb. It's a wonderful marketing gimmick, but not a good beer style, IMHO.

At least Brown ale has a long history. Brown can be a really nice beer to have as a warmup to a couple IPAs

Janx said:

I like Browns in the sense that I wish more breweries would make them than the invented style "amber". What a boring style amber is! I'm pretty sure it was just created to give lovers of crappy beers something to drink at the brewpub. Not hoppy. Kinda sweet and malty. Dark enough to make them feel like they're really going out on a limb. It's a wonderful marketing gimmick, but not a good beer style, IMHO.

At least Brown ale has a long history. Brown can be a really nice beer to have as a warmup to a couple IPAs

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In your opinion, is an amber and a "red" the same thing?

I would classify New Belgium Fat Tire as an amber, and I think it is a straight out awesome beer. Granted, I haven't had it in a few years, but the amber style IMHO is a decent style if you hop it up enough (30-35 IBUs or so).

ORRELSE said:

In your opinion, is an amber and a "red" the same thing?

I would classify New Belgium Fat Tire as an amber, and I think it is a straight out awesome beer. Granted, I haven't had it in a few years, but the amber style IMHO is a decent style if you hop it up enough (30-35 IBUs or so).

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as far as amber ales go fat tire really is the only stuff i can stomach...all the rest are so boring, i think thats because fat tire is completely different than any other american amber with its biscuity and bready flavors. an amber alt can be good. ecspecially when on the high side with the hops. a brewery here made one for post-marathon festivities and had it hopped up to 45 ibus, that was definitely not boring.

orrelse-that india brown beegee speaks of is tasty and not boring.

drengel said:

as far as amber ales go fat tire really is the only stuff i can stomach...all the rest are so boring, i think thats because fat tire is completely different than any other american amber with its biscuity and bready flavors. an amber alt can be good. ecspecially when on the high side with the hops. a brewery here made one for post-marathon festivities and had it hopped up to 45 ibus, that was definitely not boring.

orrelse-that india brown beegee speaks of is tasty and not boring.

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I've actually had a few ambers that were decent. Sprecher makes a darn good one.

How about a Timothy Taylor "Landlord" clone. It's a great English Pale Ale, and I found the recipe on the net today....it's gonna be my first AG batch:-

4.7kg Halycon Pale Malt
28g Goldings Hops (60 min)
50g Fuggles Hops (60 mins)
15g Goldings Hops (last 10 mins)
Yeast lab "British Ale" starter

5 UK gallons
OG 1042
30 IBU

Cheers!

BB