British Brown Ale Nut Brown AG

Williams 728
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subbed willamette for fuggles, its very nice.

edit... I used s-04 yeast fermented at a steady 60 degrees.
 
What yeast did most people use with the recipe? I know notty is recommended but I won't use that yeast now after my bad experiences with it! I used 1335 and got this funky banana ester that I had never got from this yeast. I fermented at 64 deg. I let it bulk age for 5 weeks before bottling at that time it still had that ester, though slightly less. Now it is 8 weeks old and the ester is gone. It is not carbed very well yet but is crystal clear, looks beautiful in the glass and smells great. I will reserve my taste judgement until I can tasted a fully carbed version. Mine ended up at 1.016 and the mouthfeel is lacking, I hope the carbonation picks that up a notch. Anyway, I was thinking that my yeast choice would have worked out well but now I am thinking other options for next go round. Any recommendations?
 
I'll brewing this on Saturday. I'm pretty stoked about it. I transferred my DFH60 clone to secondary last night. I bought both ingredient kits at once. My hope is to have them both flowing around Christmas time!!

I changed out the Nottingham in my order though. I went with the White Labs British Ale (or London Ale?). I can't remember which one as it was about 3-4 weeks ago.
 
I just brewed this yesterday. I'm excited to see how it turns out. For some reason, I got an OG of 1.058 (I'm so used to undershooting my OG, that I don't know how to feel about this. Ehh, whatever, it'll be beer regardless).

The only hiccup that during the brew was a boilover. I put the lid on slightly to guard against any divebombing birds outside (or and scurrying squirrels, considering its a nut brown...) and went in to take care of something. When I came out the ground was wet, and there was hop sediment on the lid and on the ground. I scraped whatever sediment was on the lid and walls of the BK back in, and poured some out for my dead homies on the ground. I'm sure I'll get some loss in bitterness/aroma from this (it was the 15 min. addition of EK Goldings), but hopefully not too much.

It smelled great and was a fun brew day. Thanks for the recipe, Lil Sparky!
 
Brewed 10 gallon of this a couple of weeks ago. Pitched 1099 Whitbread into 5 gal and 1028 London Ale into 5 gal.

Racking to keg this week. Both are holding at 1.016 and tasted great.

Thanks for the recipe, Sparky:mug:
 
Lil I brewed your Nut Brown it was a hit!!! Everyone loved it the keg only lasted 1 week!!! I had to brew a 9.5 gallon batch!! I bumped the grain bill up some though SG is 1.056! Should make it last longer around here, or so I hope!!!:drunk:
 
Lil' Sparky said:
You guys report back on what you think after it's carbed up!
Click to expand...

I brewed this again 2 weeks ago. I dialed back from the 1.065 I did the first time (first time using my barley crusher) to a 1.060. I have to tell you that the first batch was the best beer have ever brewed. If I can duplicate those results I will dance for joy:rockin:

This could very well be the best beer I have ever tasted :mug:
 
Lil Sparky,

I noticed your sparge water is "Sparge Water: 4.21 gal" for a 5 gallon batch. I am new to AG and am going to ask a stupid question. How do you get 5+ gallons of beer with only 4.21 gallons of water. How much is your initial "strike" water that you add to the grains before sparging?

Thanks...sorry for the dumb questions.

I'd like to make this but in a 10 gallon version.

Thanks
Joe
 
Joe, the strike/sparge volumes are what I used based on my system and it's losses, and the water/grain ratio that I was using. Software programs like Beersmith can really help you get your system dialed in, where you can take any grain bill and hit the final volume you're shooting for.

The bottom line of the recipe had the strike volume, strike temp, and target mash temp:
Mash In Add 14.69 qt of water at 165.9 F 154.0 F 60 min

Combine that 3.5 gals with the 4.2 gals sparge, factor in the grain absorbtion (~ 1.2 gal) and boil-off during the boil (~ 1 gal) and you end up with ~ 5.5 gals post boil.

Like I said, though - get some brewing software. It's cheap (some even have trial versions) and worth every penny IMO!
 
Mine is all carbed up been sitting 9 weeks. It is a pretty beer to look at that is for sure. Clear and a nice deep color with a dense creamy head and great lacing. Smell is unmistakably nut brown- then I taste it and I get a whole lot of nothing. It is a super clean beer (no off flavors) and very balanced leaning toward the sweet end. But what is up with getting very little flavor? I get the flavor right at the end and it is subtle, so subtle you have to really look for it. The mouthfeel is great however. I've had many people taste the beer in a ceramic mug to give me there impression (without seeing the color). Most had no clue it was a nut brown ale. Everyone loved it, but they all were shocked when it came back as a nut brown ale. What could I have done wrong? Color is right on so I assume the LHBS didn't screw up the order. The yeast was WY1335 fermented mid to low 60's. Finished at 1.016. Modified my water. Hit all my temps, got the usual efficiency. I only changed the original recipe to include williamette hops and the yeast as stated before. Could my yeast have given me such a bland beer? Any suggestions or tips?
 
Man, I don't know what happened. Every time I've brewed this the result was a full-flavored, hearty beer. The IBUs are pretty low in the recipe so there shouldn't be a strong hop presence - like you said, balanced toward the sweet side. But it sounds like something cleaned out all of the good flavor, leaving only the mouthfeel, which is really weird. 1 lb crystal 60L, 1/2 lb victory, and 1/4 lb of chocolate usually result in a lot of flavor for a 5 gal recipe. I guess it could be the yeast, though I've never tried that strain. I wish is would've turned out better for you!
 
Yeah me too- it isn't the recipe obviously. There is nothing, besides the yeast that I can think of that would have killed it. I have used this yeast a number of times and never really had this experience. It always was a very clean yeast that let malt and hops come through. I always thought of the yeast an under used yeast by most people because it always seemed to work so well for me. Perhaps I need to english it up a little with another strain.

I am going to try to brew this again later and change up the yeast and pull my water even more towards the malt side. Unless the recipe got screwed up by the LHBS putting something else in there instead of the correct grains, but again hard to figure that since the thing is right on in color. It is a funny beer really- its one of those that you give to people and they cannot believe something with color being so balanced and almost flavorless. Obviously something I did wrong somewhere that caused this. Live but apparently not learn because I have no clue really what caused it. I drank another one last night and must have had this stupid look on my face..LOL
 
Brewed this about a month ago but pitched 1099. Man, it's fruity. I wouldn't pitch that strain again.
I split the batch with a friend. He pitched 1028, and though I have not tried it, he says it turned out very well.

This is my second time with this recipe. Save for my pitching error, it is a very good recipe.

Thanks Lil'Spark
 
Thanks for the feedback on the yeast, guys. I usually stick to tried-and-true strains for most of my brews. I wish I brewed more often to try some different yeasts, but I just don't.
 
Pulled my first pint off of the keg of this tonight. Absolutely delicious! Thanks for the great recipe!!
 
jlpred55 said:
Mine is all carbed up been sitting 9 weeks. It is a pretty beer to look at that is for sure. Clear and a nice deep color with a dense creamy head and great lacing. Smell is unmistakably nut brown- then I taste it and I get a whole lot of nothing. It is a super clean beer (no off flavors) and very balanced leaning toward the sweet end. But what is up with getting very little flavor? I get the flavor right at the end and it is subtle, so subtle you have to really look for it. The mouthfeel is great however. I've had many people taste the beer in a ceramic mug to give me there impression (without seeing the color). Most had no clue it was a nut brown ale. Everyone loved it, but they all were shocked when it came back as a nut brown ale. What could I have done wrong? Color is right on so I assume the LHBS didn't screw up the order. The yeast was WY1335 fermented mid to low 60's. Finished at 1.016. Modified my water. Hit all my temps, got the usual efficiency. I only changed the original recipe to include williamette hops and the yeast as stated before. Could my yeast have given me such a bland beer? Any suggestions or tips?
Click to expand...


I got the same thing going at the two week mark. Obviously still young so we shall see. Tastes great, like a mild right now though.

I can't think of anything wrong either. In fact one of the few 'nailed it' AG brew sessions. Is there a pH issue with dark malts not giving out the proper flavor? Maybe not a good crush? Different systems, different results? Otherwise maybe it's a taste vs. expectation thing. Will have to see how this develops. If nothing changes, next time I am going to up the victory or change to crystal 80.
 
This thread was started on 5-22-2007 and still going strong. With all the great reviews I'm going to have to give the Partial a shot. This being only my 6th batch ever I'm not sure I'm ready to do my first AG just yet. But it could be the second time around if its as good as everyone says it is . . .
Thanks for everyone sharing a ton of great info.:mug:
 
jlpred55 said:
Mine is all carbed up been sitting 9 weeks. It is a pretty beer to look at that is for sure. Clear and a nice deep color with a dense creamy head and great lacing. Smell is unmistakably nut brown- then I taste it and I get a whole lot of nothing. It is a super clean beer (no off flavors) and very balanced leaning toward the sweet end. But what is up with getting very little flavor? I get the flavor right at the end and it is subtle, so subtle you have to really look for it. The mouthfeel is great however. I've had many people taste the beer in a ceramic mug to give me there impression (without seeing the color). Most had no clue it was a nut brown ale. Everyone loved it, but they all were shocked when it came back as a nut brown ale. What could I have done wrong? Color is right on so I assume the LHBS didn't screw up the order. The yeast was WY1335 fermented mid to low 60's. Finished at 1.016. Modified my water. Hit all my temps, got the usual efficiency. I only changed the original recipe to include williamette hops and the yeast as stated before. Could my yeast have given me such a bland beer? Any suggestions or tips?
Click to expand...

Mine also has very little taste. I get a little nut brown taste right at the end.

I used barley flakes instead of oat and Safale 05 yeast instead of Notty. OG was 1.055 and FG was 1.018. Fermented at about 65 degrees. Mash temp was same as recipe.

It's been in the keg for about three weeks.

It looks good, smells good, but not much flavor. It has the same exact description as above.
 
Brewed on the 2nd and pulled 6 gallons at 1.060. Pithched Nottingham dry with a 1 quart starter. Fermenting at about 70°. Had to put a blowoff tube on it by the next morning, it went nuts! Thanks so much for the recipe, can't wait to taste this in about a month, well, month and a half if I can make it:)
 
andysim said:
Mine also has very little taste. I get a little nut brown taste right at the end.

I used barley flakes instead of oat and Safale 05 yeast instead of Notty. OG was 1.055 and FG was 1.018. Fermented at about 65 degrees. Mash temp was same as recipe.

It's been in the keg for about three weeks.

It looks good, smells good, but not much flavor. It has the same exact description as above.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info Andy. Mine is now around 16 weeks old (i think) and has changed very little other than being a little more malty now since the hop balance is fading with the age. Still very clean so no issue with infection or anything else so far as I can tell. I can detect no off flavors or weird esters. It has a little more taste now than before but not much. It is very very subtle. I actually could drink it all night but it still doesn't hit my idea of a nut brown. I am wondering if a pound or so of brown malt might take it there for me? I still am not faulting the recipe if anyone is getting that indication- it just confounds me that mine appears to be left of center with others results.
 
This was my first AG brew. I kegged mine at 38 degrees. Carbed at about 1.8 voumes. I've found that serving at this temperature leaves a lot to be desired for flavor. Try a pull, let it warm to around 50 degrees, or a good "cellar" temperature, and serve. It made a world of difference in taste for me.
 
just threw one in the fermenter. it was my first AG, so I added an extra pound of base malt to be sure. Well, I hit 1.066 OG, oops. So it's going to be a little potent; hope that doesn't wreck the choice flavor everyone is raving about.
 
I just brewed this today. Did an 11 gal batch so I doubled the recipe and split the wort into two fermenters. I am very excited for this beer as the hydrometer sample tasted great. The first sip was a little harsh but I imagine that it mellows out with a few weeks of age.

Btw, I have never used the Nottingham yeast before. I'm fermenting at 66 for 8 days. I figure it's good enough but suggestions would be welcome.

Also, how long did you guys age this for before it balanced out. I'm planning on letting mine sit for 2 weeks or so, after it's been kegged, to taste it.

Thanks for the recipe!
 
when i first brewed this it started out very harsh. Since i was brewing a lot i let it sit in a closet for a while. After a month or two i found a bottle and chilled it. Even the wife liked it and she doesn't drink beer. It took a bit for the harshness of the hops to mellow but once that happened it was great.
 
I thought mine hydrometer sample tasted great too, but the hop smell coming from the fermenter seemed very strong for the small amount of hops in the brew. I used a hop sock and therefore didn't leave any material in the fermenter.

i was a llittle surprised by that, but hopefully they mellow as donner mentioned.
 
This was one of the weirder conditionings I have had with a beer. At first I thought something had gone wrong but after about 6 weeks it's really a good beer. Still maybe want it a bit more chunky next time, but still this is a beer worth making!

But well balanced, with some roastiness in the back.
 
Just brewed this up as my first AG recipe. I got 70% efficiency but missed the OG with a 1.050 since my electric stove didnt cause enough boil-off, so I ended up with like 6 gallons in the fermentor. . .I'm not complaining.
 
Duff Man says Oh Yeah!!!

I'm about a pint away from kicking my keg of this wonderful wonderful beer. I'll need to brew it again real soon!!
 

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