Left Hand Brewing, Deep Cover Brown Ale

I am attempting to do somthing similar to this beer. According to their site the information is as follows:

ABV 4.4%
IBU 16
plato: 11.5
malts: pale 2-row, crsytal, munich, brown, chocolate, wheat
hops: kent goldings

I am not looking to clone it persay, but design something similar. I really liked this beer when i got in a beer of the month club and can't get it in Maryland.

Here's what I came up with in BeerSmith. Its the speciality grain part of the bill that I am confused about. it will only be my 3rd AG so I am still learning how to combine grains in the right amounts.

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Ol' Lefty's
Brewer:
Asst Brewer:
Style: American Brown Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste:


Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 6.57 gal
Estimated OG: 1.045 SG
Estimated Color: 20.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 21.1 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
6.50 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 69.89 %
1.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 16.13%
0.45 lb Brown Malt (65.0 SRM) Grain 4.84 %
0.40 lb Munich Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 4.30 %
0.30 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 3.23 %
0.15 lb White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 1.61 %
1.00 oz Goldings, USA Kent [4.50 %] (60 min) Hops 15.5IBU
1.00 oz Goldings, USA Kent [4.50 %] (10 min) Hops 5.6IBU
5.50 gal Baltimore, MD Water
wyest 1056 American Ale Yeast


My mash will be single infusion at probably 152 degrees for 60 minutes.
My primary fermentation temp will be about 68 degrees.

I'm no 10th level beer nerd, and I've not tasted Deep Cover Brown Ale, but I suppose I could lend 2 cents...

Based on the info you got off their site I think your in the ball park, but, like you said, those specialty grains are the tricky part.

If it were me I would use at least a pound, maybe two of the Munich malt. Munich is the lighter of the higher kilned malts that lends a nice malt presence to your beer. I put it in a lot of my beers.

I would lighten up on the crystal to maybe a half pound, and then maybe use 80L rather than 60L. That heavier amount might leave too much residual sweetness, unless that is what you are looking for. The darker the crystal the more dark fruit, raisin and fig notes you'll pick up, if that doesn't sound good, use 60L or 40L, but watch what that does to your color.

I would add a little more wheat, like a half pound. At that amount it's there but not "noticeable" and should benefit your head retention.

As far as the color malts, I would only add a few ounces of chocolate, like 2-4, just enough to get a nice light brown color, between 16L and 18L

The hop schedule might be tricky too. If Deep Cover has any hop aroma then you'll need some late additions, if not so much, then just worry about the bittering addition.
Also your BeerSmith recipe shows about 5 more IBUs than Deep Cover, in lighter beer like this you will taste that difference.

Well, that is more like 3 cents... and again I'm no expert.

So here is round two. I upped my efficiency estimate also because i overshot big time on my last brew and people have told me its because my setup was more efficient that I thought. I know my IBU is higher than the listed one, but I was trying to use the left Hand Brown as a guide more than a clone, so I wanted to keep the numbers to style.

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Ol' Leftys
Brewer:
Asst Brewer:
Style: American Brown Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste:
Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 6.57 gal
Estimated OG: 1.046 SG
Estimated Color: 18.4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 20.1 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 80.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
5.80 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 65.91 %
1.25 lb Munich Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 14.20 %
0.60 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 6.82 %
0.50 lb White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 5.68 %
0.35 lb Brown Malt (65.0 SRM) Grain 3.98 %
0.30 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 3.41 %
0.75 oz Goldings, USA Kent [4.50 %] (60 min) Hops 11.6 IBU
0.25 oz Goldings, USA Kent [4.50 %] (30 min) Hops 3.0 IBU
1.00 oz Goldings, USA Kent [4.50 %] (10 min) Hops 5.6 IBU
5.50 gal Baltimore, MD Water
1 Pkgs Northwest Ale (Wyeast Labs #1332) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: My Mash, single infusion 152 degrees 60 minutes
Total Grain Weight: 8.80 lb

Looks good, I would brew that...

i wanted to cut some of the things you mentioned, but it threw the color off so i had to fool around in beersmith. We shall see...i may brew it this weekend.

I will post the final recipie, but it turned out great. In fact it took 1st place in my homebrew clubs monthly "non-theme" catagory competition. I think the only changes I made was that I used different hops, but with similar AA%

Brewed it again and submitted it to a maryland county fair homebrew contest. We shall see what happens.