Brown malt

After reading the article about brown malt in BYO or Zymurgy (can't remember which), I've been thinking about trying a brew that uses it. The article suggested at at one time, brown malt was used as 100% of the grain in some recipes, but any recipes I see have relatively little, 5%-20% of the grain bill. Is there some reason why it isn't used for 50%+ in any recipes?

The only thing I can imagine is that it has a bold flavor, of which a little goes a long way, and too much would be overpowering. Against that, though, I weigh the fact that it was previously used sometimes in these high percentages.

I would be interested in trying this as well. It was BYO, by the way, last month.

I've heard of someone doing a "historical" porter that was 50% brown malt and 50% pale malt, a single bittering addition of EKGs, and using a classic english strain like WLP005. I haven't tried it yet, but it's on my list of brews to do.

Brown malt doesn't have the diastatic power to convert itself (none, in fact). What they called brown malt in the 19th century was very different. I've made this, which is an approximation to the 1850 Whitbread Porter, and it turned out exceptional.

I made a dark beer as follows:
7 lbs Marris Otter
3 lbs brown
1 lb amber
1 lb rye malt
1 lb toasted oatmeal
1 lb turbinado
1 star anise
EKG hops
WLP023
additional color development from 2.5 hour boil and essentia bina

Original gravity was 1.083. Very dark, opaque brown. Very aromatic and flavorful like dutch-processed cocoa. That said, it's still in the fermenter for a little bulk aging... I'm planning on bottling it around the end of the month.

EDIT: The smells that come out of your mash tun make brown malt worth it if nothing else!

Freezeblade said:

I've heard of someone doing a "historical" porter that was 50% brown malt and 50% pale malt, a single bittering addition of EKGs, and using a classic english strain like WLP005. I haven't tried it yet, but it's on my list of brews to do.

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This is almost exactly what I was working out, if I got satisfactory replies to my question. Hopefully, this is a "great minds think alike" rather than a "fools seldom differ" situation.

I did BYO's 1822 porter from a few years ago and was very disappointed with the results.
Modern brown malt does not have enzymes, so you must use it with 2-row to convert. The recipe I used had 33% Pale, 33% Brown and 33% Amber. The result was astringent and not really drinkable. However it was one of my first AG beers and I may have done something incorrect.

I wouldn't use more than 5 or 10% brown malt in a beer.

Craig

CBBaron said:

I did BYO's 1822 porter from a few years ago and was very disappointed with the results.
Modern brown malt does not have enzymes, so you must use it with 2-row to convert. The recipe I used had 33% Pale, 33% Brown and 33% Amber. The result was astringent and not really drinkable. However it was one of my first AG beers and I may have done something incorrect.

I wouldn't use more than 5 or 10% brown malt in a beer.

Craig

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I don't think the brown malt made it astringent. There are numerous examples on the internet of people making "velvety smooth" beers using 50% brown malt.

Also, in my batch described above, there were no astringency problems. I'll let you know about drinkability when it's finished, but that can be a factor of dryness (low mash temperatures and attenuation), good fermentation (proper pitching rate, appropriate fermentation temperatures), in addition to the grain bill.

Brown malt was the major base malt before pale malt was widely available. Once they figured out that you got more sugars extracted out of lower kilned malt they developed black patent to get similar flavors from pale malt and a little balck patent instead of all brown malt.

One of these days I'm going to do a brown malt beer to see what it tastes like.

my experience was the same as CB's. i made the brown malt myself and that may have had something to do with it though. i was flying blind.

NorthernBrewer carries brown malt.

westerntrout said:

my experience was the same as CB's. i made the brown malt myself and that may have had something to do with it though. i was flying blind.

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Did you let it sit in a porous container (i.e. a paper bag) for 2+ weeks after making it?

Jack said:

Did you let it sit in a porous container (i.e. a paper bag) for 2+ weeks after making it?

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i let it rest in a paper bag for several weeks. still have it in a ziplock, i think i will see how it is......... back and yep still pretty strong. kind of like 3/4 biscuit and 1/4 black patent. a lot of it was my own ignorance i think though. a little bit goes a long way. i used 1/3 of the malt bill in a porter(it was all the rage a couple of years ago) and it was a case of too much of a good thing. 1/4# good 4# bad
it has been over a year now and here are the specs so someone more knowledgeable can tell me where i went wrong
great western 2 row 350* for 60 min. turned it every 10 min

So to follow up on my question/idea.

I essentially went for a Robust Porter. Just racked it from the primary after 3 weeks. I'm sure it'll be even better with some more age, chilling, and carbonation. It's marginally darker than style guidelines (but can the average judge tell a 38 from a 35? probably not), but it's pretty nice. Hopefully when I get it into some competitions, the judges will think so as well!

Waterfront Porter

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: WLP002 English Ale
Batch Size (Gallons): 5.5
Original Gravity: 1.056
Final Gravity: 1.017
IBU: 38.5 IBU
Boiling Time (Minutes): 90
Brewhouse Efficiency: 80.0%
Color: 38.8 SRM
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 21 @ 62F
Secondary Fermentation: 2 Weeks at 62F
Tasting Notes: Coffee in the nose and on the palate, with a chocolate finish. Very tasty, not astringent or overly bitter.

6.0 lb Maris Otter
6.0 lb Brown Malt
0.5 lb Crystal 90
0.25 lb Pale Chocolate
1.75 oz EKG @ 60 (4.2% AA)
0.5 oz EKG @ 15 (4.2% AA)

Mash @ 153 for 60 min. Boil for 90 min. Ferment at 62-65.

My buddy tried this. He used nothing but brown and amber malts to make a traditional porter. It was quite tasty, very full, with a bit of a molasses flavor. I drank a lot of it.

I mad ea lb of brown malt by soaking it in water for 30 minutes then toasting it at 350 for 2 hrs. The resulting malt was then left in a paper bag for 2 weeks, then used in a brown ale. The gravity sample I took a few days ago from the beer tasted wonderful!