Want to make India Brown Ale - Was given Mild Brown Ale Extract Kit

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Atl300zx

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I was given a Mild Brown Ale Extract Kit from morebeer.com and i would like to use this as a base for to make an India Brown Ale (hoppy brown ale).

Here is what comes in the extract kit:

5 lbs English Light LME
8 oz Crystal 60L
4 oz Chocolate Malts
2 oz Williamette Hops

What should i add to this to make it an India Brown Ale? Right now it appears that this will yield a low OG and probably low ABV.

Thanks
 
I'm not sure what an IBA is but I presume you just want more hops and a higher ABV. (I notice Dogfish head do one) I'm not sure if it is an historically correct style or it is a made up style but it sounds good.

So I'd add more malt to give the ABV you want, I'd increase the speciality grain to balance the higher ABV and hops and I'd increase the Hops to give the IBUs you want.

In short increase the ingredients or you can reduce the volume to get the same effect. Although your hop utilisation may go down dependant on your boil size so the IBU may not increase as much.
 
orfy said:
I'm not sure what an IBA is but I presume you just want more hops and a higher ABV. (I notice Dogfish head do one) I'm not sure if it is an historically correct style or it is a made up style but it sounds good.

So I'd add more malt to give the ABV you want, I'd increase the speciality grain to balance the higher ABV and hops and I'd increase increase the Hops to give the IBUs you want.

In short increase the ingredients or you can reduce the volume to get the same effect. Although your hop utilisation may go down dependant on your boil size so the IBU may not increase as much.

It is definately a made up style. Dogfish Head & Terrapin are the only companies i know of that made one. The Dogfish Head one has more body and has more chocolate malts. The Terrapin one is lighter and more hoppy, this is the one i want to mimic.

I figured i would need to add more LME and prob more crystal 60L as well as more hops. I am new to brewing (only 7 batches under my belt) and dont know exactly how much i need of each ingredient.

What i am looking for is something like Newcastle with West Coast Pale Ale hop characteristic. Can anyone help me achieve this?
 
You need about two more pounds of LME and about 3-6 more ounces of west coast hops. You'll need a traditional sort of bittering addition to balance the beer, and some substantial late additions (consider 10 minutes, 5 minutes, maybe 3 minutes, and flamout). A good dry hop addition also will help out.

Back when these beers were called Texas Browns (before they were called American Browns, and now, apparantly, India Brown Ales), that's how we did it (and still do).


TL
 
how does this sound? LME and hops are hard to get right now, so this recipe is making due with what is available.

• 5 lbs English Light LME
• 3 lbs Light DME

• 8 oz Crystal 60L
• 12 oz Crystal 75L
• 4 oz Chocolate Malts
• 2 oz Black Roasted Barley

• 2 oz Amarillo Hops (8.4%)
• 2 oz Williamette Hops (4-7%)

• 8 oz Brown Sugar (Preferably Dark)
 
Leave out the roasted barley and the brown sugar. Cut the 75L crystal to 8 oz.

Since you are somewhat low on hops, consider dropping a pound of that LME, or you might wind up too sweet. Run the numbers through a calculator to see where you really are on that, though, and measure against your taste.

Use the Amarillo for bittering, add 1 oz of that Williamette with 10 minutes in the boil and the other ounce with 5 minutes to go. See if you can hunt up another ounce of good dry hopping hops sometime over the next couple of weeks, so that you can dry hop. It really makes a good difference. If you need to, you can hold back an ounce of the Williamette, but you would be happier to find that other ounce.


TL
 
Alright, I've played with a calculator a bit, and you may want to leave that extra pound of LME in there or cut your Amarillo back to about 1.5 oz, if you want a good balance. :)

With 8 lbs. of extract and 2 oz. of Amarillo, you get OG of 1.062 and 70 IBUs. With 7 lbs. of extract and 1.5 oz. of Amarillo, you get OG of 1.055 and 55 IBUs. The latter is right on the high end of the style, and should be a good balance. The former should be a fairly good balance, but it's also pretty dadgum big (not that there's anything wrong with that! :) )


TL
 
Here are my Hop Options:

• 2 oz Amarillo Hops (8.4%)
• 2 oz Williamette Hops (3.9%)
• 2 oz Nugget Hops (12.1%)
 
Here is what i came up with after playing with a calculator .
i want this to be hoppy, but i dont want to over do it, let me know what you think.

5.5 gallon batch, 3 gallon boil

5 lbs Light LME
2 lbs Light DME

8 oz Crystal 60L
8 oz Crystal 75L
4 oz Chocolate

1.25 oz Nugget (12.1%) - 60 min
1 oz Williamette (3.9%) - 10 min
1 oz Amarillo (8.4%) - 5 min
1 oz Williamette (3.9%) - Dry

I am putting the Amarillo hops in at 5 min to try and get some of citrus flavor from them (similar to Cascade in aroma, but with higher AA%).

According to calculator here are the stats:
ORIGINAL GRAVITY: 1.055 (1.049 to 1.057)
51.8 IBU, 12.1 HBU
 
Just a heads up on this brew. It goes in the keg on saturday. When i added the 1 oz Willamette as a Dry Hop addition to the secondary fermenter, the beer smelled amazing...great hop aroma. I cant wait to taste this brew.

Schedule
1 week at 68F in Fermenter 1
2 weeks at 66F in Fermenter 2
2 weeks in the keg to carb

Ill let you all know if this was a successful brew and worth repeating.
 
Wow is all I have to say. This beer is great, my greatest homebrew yet (this was my 9th batch). The only criticism is I could have bumped up the aroma hops a bit more.
 
I've got a hopped up Honey Brown Ale in the primary as of last night also.

The smells coming from the blow off tube are awesome. I hope the sweetness of the honey malt and the bitterness from the Chinook work well together.
 
Kevin K said:
I've got a hopped up Honey Brown Ale in the primary as of last night also.

The smells coming from the blow off tube are awesome. I hope the sweetness of the honey malt and the bitterness from the Chinook work well together.


I wouldnt mind the recipe if you dont mind sharing. You can post here or PM me.
 
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