British Brown Ale The Kings Nutz Imperial Nut Brown Ale

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Suthrncomfrt1884

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2009
Messages
4,069
Reaction score
39
Location
Rockford
Recipe Type
Extract
Yeast
Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale
Yeast Starter
1000mL
Batch Size (Gallons)
5
Original Gravity
1.081
Final Gravity
1.016
Boiling Time (Minutes)
60
IBU
46.8
Color
21.23 SRM
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
21 days @72F
Tasting Notes
This is a great recipe. Very sweet, mapley, nutty, roasty flavor.
This is the only extract recipe of mine that I still do. I've converted all of my old recipes over to all-grain, but this was so good I didn't want to touch it. It's a family favorite, even for non-beer drinkers. I wasn't sure about the yeast since it's an English beer, but it worked out great. Has a slight alcohol warmth, so it's a great winter beer. Alcohol flavor settles out with plenty of age (which this beer needs anyways to hit it's full potential).


Fermentables:
2.25 lbs. Dry Extra Light Extract
1 lbs. German Light Munich
.5 lbs. American Caramel 40°L
.5 lbs. Crystal Malt 20°L
.5 lbs. American Chocolate Malt
6.6 lbs. Liquid Light Extract Late Edition

Adjuncts:
.6875 lbs. Maple Syrup boiled <1 min.
1 teaspoons Irish Moss boiled 15 min.

Hops:
1 oz. Saaz (Pellets, 5.8 %AA) boiled 60 min.
.75 oz. Mt. Hood (Pellets, 5.00 %AA) boiled 60 min.
.75 oz. Cascade (Pellets, 3.5 %AA) boiled 60 min.

Yeast:
WYeast 1728 Scottish Ale 1000ml Starter


Steep grains in 4.8qts of water@154F for 45minutes. Rinse with 3.6qts of 170F water. Add enough water to make 4 gallons. Boil for 60 minutes adding hops and DME at the beginning of boil. Add LME at the last 15 minutes of boil. Add Maple Syrup in the last minute of boil. Cool wort and add water to make 5 gallons. Aerate and Ferment at 72 degrees.

This needs to be aged for awhile before it really hits it's peak. I have so much in my cellar that I'm able to age new batches for 9 months to a year. It's not absolutely necessary to age for that long, but at least a few months will be needed to get rid of the alcohol flavor left over from high fermentation temps. After 3 months = good. After 6 months = great After 1 year = amazing.
 
Love the name! I've never brewed with maple syrup - I imagine the sugars ferment out but that it leaves a maple flavor?
 
Yes, at that point in the boil, it will lend a bit of flavor to the final beer. It comes through greatly after 6 months.
 
What do you mean by rinse with 3.6qts? After steeping, move to another kettle with that water at 170deg?

Just learning and trying to understand...sounds like a great recipe and something I would like to try.

Thanks in advance for the lesson!
 
What do you mean by rinse with 3.6qts? After steeping, move to another kettle with that water at 170deg?

Just learning and trying to understand...sounds like a great recipe and something I would like to try.

Thanks in advance for the lesson!

Rinsing in this recipe is basically done as a mini-sparge. Because you're not supposed to squeeze grain bags, what I did here was steep the grains in a bag. Then to rinse all the converted sugars off of the grains, I put the grain bag in a strainer and gently poured 170 degree water over it, into the pot that it was steeping in. You should have a little over 2 gallons of water/wort in your kettle at this point.
 
Thanks, I was reading on DeathBrewers posts how he was doing a partial mash on the stove and he mentions moving his grains to another kettle for X amount of minutes to sparge in of 170deg water, and keep that water to add to the wort, so that was it sounded like, or something similar. Thanks for claryfing, I think I might try it out!
 
It's similar, but an actual partial mash will get you more efficiency and a higher gravity. These grains were mostly for color and flavor. They probably only added around 10 points to the gravity. 45 minutes is cutting it somewhat close for a full conversion on grains, especially the munich. Actually, I doubt the Munich converted at all.
 
I like the looks of this. I have a friend coming to visit and brown ales are his go to. I may brew this up for his visit. Thanks for explaining the rinsing.
 
this sounds excellent, i have done an IPA with orange zest and maple , the maple really lends itself to 'mouthfeel' more than anything.
 
What happens if you reduce the amount of water for the boil and the "sparge" I don't have a pot that will hold that much, usually after 5 liters ( 4 mash + 1 rinse ) I am about half way up, and once I add my extracts I am within 2 inches from the top of my pot. Would that have a major affect on this beer, because it looks fantastic.
 
The only thing it should effect would be the hops. You'd need to adjust the amount of hops so you'd get the same amount of IBUs.
 
This looks great I just picked up a 6 1/2 gallon secondary carboy this will be my next recipe. Thanks for the great recipe !!!! I let everyone know in appx 7 months how it turns out.
 
I'm thinking about giving this recipe a try, but I've heard a lot of bad things about Argentine cascade... I noticed that the recipe calls for very little and only for bittering in comparison to recipes others have used who consider the hops to be horrible ie. IPA hop-bombs. To me, this recipe looks great...
Can anyone who's brewed it give me some feedback?

Also, the Argentine is kind of hard to come by... Where can I get some?
 
I'm thinking about giving this recipe a try, but I've heard a lot of bad things about Argentine cascade... I noticed that the recipe calls for very little and only for bittering in comparison to recipes others have used who consider the hops to be horrible ie. IPA hop-bombs. To me, this recipe looks great...
Can anyone who's brewed it give me some feedback?

Also, the Argentine is kind of hard to come by... Where can I get some?

It's a bittering hop. It could be subbed out for just about anything else. Actually, if I brew this again, I'm going to brew it with all noble hops and see how I like it. Theres hardly any flavor in this as far as hops go though.
 
That's what I figured. It seems the ones who strongly dislike the Argentines used them for flavor and aroma in addition to bittering. I'm going to go ahead and give it a try: the recipe looks nice.

BTW, since my last post I was able to locate a couple sources for them. Neither of my LHBSs carry them and none of the bigger online companies do either, but one place on ebay does and a couple other lesser known (to me) websites. Just hope they're fresh, given the seemingly limited supply...
I may just substitute them...
 
Just pulled some Hallertau that's been sitting in my freezer for a while, probably sub these. Even though bittering hops don't add much flavor, I'd still like to retain some similar characteristics of the Argentine Cascades. The descriptions seems pretty close...
 
Going to try this as my second extract brew this weekend.

I've got a couple of questions though. What type of Maple Syrup did you use for the brew? Would there be any serious or adverse effects to the taste and alcohol warmth fermenting this at 74 degrees?

This would be perfect to brew now and let sit until winter finally hits in Texas.
 
74 degrees is going to change the flavor a little bit. I've actually been fermenting it at around 65F lately and it's a lot better. I'd say just let it age a little longer and you'll be fine. As for the Maple Syrup, it was grade B, but I'm not sure which brand I used...I'll have to check my notes when I get off work. As long as it's a good quality syrup, you'll be fine.
 
Just got done brewing this and getting ready to pitch the yeast. OG came in at 1.086, a little higher than your version. Tasting the syrup was the best part about making this beer!
 
Since it needs aging for at least 3 months, (and probably longer due to the fermentation temp) what are your thoughts of aging it in the bucket for 3 months? I have read a few times on here that beer ages better in higher volumes.
 
Beer doesn't necessarily age "better" in larger volumes, but it will age faster and more consistently. I wouldn't suggest aging it in a bucket for 3 months, but if you have a carboy, that would be fine.
 
Thanks for the help Suthrncomfrt. In that case, I'll transfer to a secondary after the 3 week intial period and just let that baby sit in my closet for a few months.
 
Just transfered this into a secondary last night to age for a few months, and my gravity reading was at 1.020. I know it may drop a little after the transfer, but any suggestions on what I can do if it gets stuck there? I screwed up and forgot to make a starter, so that may have been my biggest issue as to why it didn't break down more of the sugar.
 
Personally, I wouldn't even mess with it if your gravity is at 1.020. A lot of extract beers tend to finish higher, and depending on the brand of extract you used, that could yield more or less fermentables. A difference of .004 isn't going to be too noticeable.
 
For some reason, I was thinking it was supposed to finish at 008. Thanks for the help Suthrncomfrt, I'll post a pick here this week of what it looks like in the secondary.
 
I brewed a smaller test batch of this a year ago. Fantastic. This will be my new go to beer in my cellar. I now have a 12 gallon batch aging. Thanks for the great recipe.:mug:
 
I'll be trying out this recipe this weekend - it will be my second ever batch, and my first recipe (batch #1 was a kit from AHS).

Can't wait to see how it does!

Many thanks to the OP for the recipe.
 
I'll be trying out this recipe this weekend - it will be my second ever batch, and my first recipe (batch #1 was a kit from AHS).

Can't wait to see how it does!

Many thanks to the OP for the recipe.

Just make sure you can ferment this on the cool side. I fermented at 72 ambient temperature and you can clearly taste the esters from fermenting that warm.
 
Just make sure you can ferment this on the cool side. I fermented at 72 ambient temperature and you can clearly taste the esters from fermenting that warm.

Thanks for the tip. The closet I ferment in typically stays at about 65 ambient - I would expect that would work (especially since the OP did specify 72 degrees?).

Thoughts?
 
Thanks for the tip. The closet I ferment in typically stays at about 65 ambient - I would expect that would work.

Thoughts?

That should work. Also, if you can make a starter, it would be highly beneficial. With this big of a beer, it will help lower the amount of time needed to age and mellow this one out.

I didn't and as I mentioned, fermented at 72, and really wish I would have. I'm still relatively new at brewing, but after reading the ill effects of underpitching rates and high fermentation temps, you can taste the off flavors in the beer.

It's still good beer, but it could have been better! Good luck and enjoy, it's a knockout brown!
 
I will note that I made substitutions to the grain bill, based on the fact that I was mail ordering from AHS and they either didn't have everything (or, more likely, I didn't know what I was looking for). I did try to read the descriptions and substitute closely, but if I made major mistakes... well, I'll try to RDWHAHB.

Original recipe (my grain in parenthesis):

Fermentables:
1 lbs. German Light Munich (I ordered "Munich Malt")
.5 lbs. American Caramel 40°L (I went with Crystal 40°L )
.5 lbs. Crystal Malt 20°L (they had this as described)
.5 lbs. American Chocolate Malt (I went with "Chocolate Malt")

The Munich and the Chocolate seem pretty obvious to me; the American Caramel required me to read descriptions and make a best guess. Any thoughts as to how far off I'll be?

Thanks!
 
That should work. Also, if you can make a starter, it would be highly beneficial. With this big of a beer, it will help lower the amount of time needed to age and mellow this one out.

I didn't and as I mentioned, fermented at 72, and really wish I would have. I'm still relatively new at brewing, but after reading the ill effects of underpitching rates and high fermentation temps, you can taste the off flavors in the beer.

It's still good beer, but it could have been better! Good luck and enjoy, it's a knockout brown!

I usually ferment mine at 66 now, so you'll be fine. It'll help cut down on aging time too.


Thanks for the advice! I actually purchased two smack packs, but decided that might not be enough (if my math is right, I need almost 300 billion cells), so I did make my first starter for this one. I let it fully ferment, then stuck it in the fridge - I plan to decant and pitch it, along with the second smack pack.

In retrospect, the starter is probably enough, and if I was worried, I could have stepped it up... but I have the second pack of yeast, and I hate to let it go to waste. None of the brews in my immediate plans call for this yeast, so I'm just going to use it.

If that's a major mistake, I'd of course love to know that BEFORE I do it. ;)
 
I will note that I made substitutions to the grain bill, based on the fact that I was mail ordering from AHS and they either didn't have everything (or, more likely, I didn't know what I was looking for). I did try to read the descriptions and substitute closely, but if I made major mistakes... well, I'll try to RDWHAHB.

Original recipe (my grain in parenthesis):

Fermentables:
1 lbs. German Light Munich (I ordered "Munich Malt")
.5 lbs. American Caramel 40°L (I went with Crystal 40°L )
.5 lbs. Crystal Malt 20°L (they had this as described)
.5 lbs. American Chocolate Malt (I went with "Chocolate Malt")

The Munich and the Chocolate seem pretty obvious to me; the American Caramel required me to read descriptions and make a best guess. Any thoughts as to how far off I'll be?

Thanks!

Those subs look good. Caramel and crystal are the same thing anyways...just different names from different maltsters.
 
Thanks for the advice! I actually purchased two smack packs, but decided that might not be enough (if my math is right, I need almost 300 billion cells), so I did make my first starter for this one. I let it fully ferment, then stuck it in the fridge - I plan to decant and pitch it, along with the second smack pack.

In retrospect, the start is probably enough, and if I was worried, I could have stepped it up... but I have the second pack of yeast, and I hate to let it go to waste. None of the brews in my immediate plans call for this yeast, so I'm just going to use it.

If that's a major mistake, I'd of course love to know that BEFORE I do it. ;)

Nope, that looks good. If you don't have any plans for your second smack pack, it won't hurt throwing that in there as well. Good luck!
 
Nope, that looks good. If you don't have any plans for your second smack pack, it won't hurt throwing that in there as well. Good luck!

Thanks! I figured that was the case, but I'd be silly not to ask.

I'm excited about this recipe - I've been looking forward to it since October or so, back when I decided that I was interested in homebrewing.
 
Did this brew today. I'll post more later (and a ful bllog entry sometime tomorrow, with pics), but once again, I either cannot take an original gravity reading - or I am doing something wonky... I measured 1.100!!! I checked twice, made sure of no bubbles or sediment, etc... I'm hoping I just got some extra concentrated wort in my samples. If that number is right, and I get all the way down to the target 1.016, I'll end up with a whopping 11% ABV. That's not beer, that's barleywine!

For what it's worth, my first brew (different recipe) was similarly high on OG (1.075, expected 1.015). Tasting it (not ready yet, waiting at least one more week to bottle) gives a good flavor but noticeble alcohol warmth... wonder if I managed to do the same here?

Was really glad for the starter. I smacked that second yeast pack, but it acted very sluggish... even 4+ hours later, it hadn't really inflated well. I pitched my starter, then opened the smack pack... and stupid me had only perforated one of the two inner bubbles of yeast fuel. I pitched the yeast, slit the fuel with a knife, and dumped it in, as well.

I also included yeast fuel from AHS in my brew. Hope that helps, and I get a good fermentation... looks like this brew is shaping up to be a beast.
 
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