Brown Ale Recipe/Technique Critique

[mnmlefrt]

I've been brewing for a few years now and this is my first post on here. I've never brewed anything twice and I'm always trying a new peice of equipment or technique.

Here's what I'm fixin to do on Friday...

Recipe Type: Partial Mash / BIA

Batch Size (Gallons): 5

Original Gravity: 1.060

Final Gravity: 1.015

IBU: 29.65

Boiling Time (Minutes): 60

Color: 22.3

ABV: 5.9%

6.6 lbs Pale LME (before boil)

2 lbs Maris Otter

8 oz Crystal 60L

8 oz Pale Chocolate Malt

8 oz Victory Malt

8 oz Special Roast

4 oz molasses (late addition 15 min)

1 oz East Kent Goldings (aa 6.7) 60 min

0.5 oz Fuggle (aa 5.7) 20 min

0.5 oz Fuggle (aa 5.7) 5 min

Safale S-04 (want to do dry cause I don't have time to make a starter)

The process...

Mash grains around 154F for 60 minutes... I'm gonna do 1.25qt/lb on my electric stove and thinking about trying to keep temp maintained in the oven set at 170F.

Then I'm thinking I'll do the batch sparge of letting the grain bag sit in 2qt/lb at 168F for 10 min.

Then I'll throw both volumes of wort in my turkey fryer kettle and work it like an extract batch.

So that's it in a nutshell... I'd love to hear any feedback and/or suggestions on the recipe (grains, hops, etc...) and my technique.

Thanks!

 

[prohl84]

First, welcome to the forums!

I haven't brewed PM in a while but regarding your specialty grains... since victory and special roast are similar enough I would go 12 oz special roast and ditch the victory- it may get lost in the chocolate and special. Since a substantial quantity of your fermentables are coming from the DME You could probably mash higher and only go 45 minutes if you want more body. Good chance you won't need the oven at all- pop your tun in for the last 20 minutes or so if your temp drops.

 

[mnmlefrt]

Thanks for the feedback! How much higher would you suggest to mash at? I'm also thinking about ditching the molasses... not sure if it really needs to be in there.

what if I was to get rid of the special roast and do 12oz of victory instead?

Thoughts?

 

[prohl84]

I really like Victory; I have honestly never used Special Roast but based on the descriptions I've read it has a similar but it's darker w/ a more assertive profile so you will likely get more 'bang for your buck' out of it. It (spec. roast) will likely be going in my next batch now that we're discussing it.

As for mash procedure 154 is probably cool for s04 yeast- I mostly use s05 which attenuates a little better so I always end up really dry per beersmith's numbers. Like I said it's been a while since I did PM and I am now (re)thinking your temp is good. As for the molasses- I used it for the first time in a brew recently and I can't detect it- I've had much better luck w/ turbinado and sucanat; double especially sucanat. Molasses certainly is not out of place but if you can get raw cane sugar cheap enough I like that better- in my limited experience.

 

[mnmlefrt]

Thanks again! I think I'm gonna go with your suggestion of using 12oz of the special roast and ditching the victory. I think I'm also gonna skip adding any extra sugar. I'm looking forward to brewing this up tomorrow... gonna be interesting in the 20 some degree weather and possible snow.

 

[prohl84]

Thanks again! I think I'm gonna go with your suggestion of using 12oz of the special roast and ditching the victory. I think I'm also gonna skip adding any extra sugar. I'm looking forward to brewing this up tomorrow... gonna be interesting in the 20 some degree weather and possible snow.

When I stood out in the cold last winter I would chant the mantra "at least it won't get infected"

It chills to ferment temp faster too.

 

[DrHop]

My understanding is that special roast and victory are pretty different. Special roast is a crystal malt right? Victory is more like a roasted base malt like biscuit. I could be completely wrong but I think they are pretty different even though they both are kind of dark

 

[prohl84]

My understanding is that special roast and victory are pretty different. Special roast is a crystal malt right? Victory is more like a roasted base malt like biscuit. I could be completely wrong but I think they are pretty different even though they both are kind of dark

You're thinking of Special B- one of my fav.'s

http://www.brewingwithbriess.com/Products/Roasted.htm

Here is the description for both Victory and Special Roast as well as the darker, extra special malt which sounds like a special B a few shades lighter than the Dingeman's 150 I typically use... they call it a hybrid malt since it has roasted nutiness and caramel.