Brown IPA???

[Demobeer]

Has anyone ever made a brow IPA?? I started making it this am. I am hoping for something like a Newcastle mated with a spicy IPA! Sexy!
I am sure there is one of you out that has made something like that. Just wondering how it came out.

 

[kevin58]

Everyone knows the story of IPA. How the British highly hopped their pale ale to help preserve the beer on the long journey to India... although it was probably as much to do with compensating for hop fade over the time it took to make the journey.
What is not widely known however is that more porter was shipped to India at that time than pale ale. That's because there were far more soldiers (common class) than upper class officers, land owners, civil service, etc.. And that porter was also hopped at a much higher rate just like the pale ale. So yes, someone has made a brown equivalent to IPA... nearly 200 years ago.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Brown IPA???

(link to recipe) Janet's Brown Ale!!!

 

[McKnuckle]

Basically you're describing Cascadian Dark Ale or "Black" IPA (which can also be brown). Janet's is a great example. I brewed that very early in my homebrew journey, much more poorly than I would do today, and it was still tasty. Pine and dank hops go really well with a sticky brown ale.

 

[Demobeer]

Everyone knows the story of IPA. How the British highly hopped their pale ale to help preserve the beer on the long journey to India... although it was probably as much to do with compensating for hop fade over the time it took to make the journey.
What is not widely known however is that more porter was shipped to India at that time than pale ale. That's because there were far more soldiers (common class) than upper class officers, land owners, civil service, etc.. And that porter was also hopped at a much higher rate just like the pale ale. So yes, someone has made a brown equivalent to IPA... nearly 200 years ago.

Awesome history!! Like you said everyone knows the ipa story, but the porter history is great to know. Maybe I will dry hop the porter I have fermenting...hmmmm.... thanks for the info.

 

[tennesseean_87]

Dogfishhead India Brown. Look up clones.

 

[InspectorJon]

You might take a look at this. India Red Ale

 

[Demobeer]

You might take a look at this. India Red Ale

It sounds great, thanks. I think I will try it next weekend

 

[Unicorn_Platypus]

Here's a recipe I did a few years back of a brown IPA. It came out really well. It's an aggressive bitter west coast style with very piney grapefruit flavor.

Keep in mind this is for an 11 gallon batch so you would need to scale down for 5g

also beersmith never gets my FG and attenuation correct. This came out to closer tp 8.5% so is a DIPA

https://beersmithrecipes.com/viewrecipe/1636599/city-brown-2017

 

[Dgallo]

I personally call these hoppy browns as, something about making an ipa brown freaks me out... but black, sign me up lol

 

[InspectorJon]

I personally call these hoppy browns as, something about making an ipa brown freaks me out... but black, sign me up lol

Kind of like making an IPA look like orange juice?

 

[Dgallo]

Kind of like making an IPA look like orange juice?

Touche lol but it taste like it too

 

[shoreman]

A lot of brewpubs 10-20 years ago used brew an “American Brown” which had always been fairly hoppy bordering on IPA levels, usually C hops. Similar to Mike McDole’s recipe above.

 

[Chuckbergman]

I agree with Dgallo. Call it a hoppy brown or even a hoppy red. You get a nice malt balance with the hop bitterness.

If you the the hazy or New England route, it won't be pretty but still taste damn good!

 

[InspectorJon]

Bass Ale is labeled as IPA. I liked it better years ago when it was from UK but it is an amber/brown ale and likely closer to what IPA originated as. The name has surely taken winding path into the present day. We could start some kind of debate here over what should be call IPA. That would be an interesting thread...

Personally I like them all when well made.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

I agree with Dgallo. Call it a hoppy brown or even a hoppy red. You get a nice malt balance with the hop bitterness.

but but but, ...

... many Brown IPAs don't balance malt & hops ... they are, effectively, IPAs that are brown.

As for "hoppy red", Brewers Association (not BJCP) has competition guidelines. Published each year, there are numerous years where they have separate categories for Double Red, Imperial Red, and/or Red IPA.

 

[Panderson1]

If you've never brewed Janet's Brown Ale you should. It's my top 3 brews. Something about it always goes right. Amazing beer. Tasty RIP

 

[Pappers_]

Love me some Red IPA, need to brew another one of those soon, maybe this weekend.

 

[Beermeister32]

Please share us your recipe of Janet’s Brown Ale. Sounds great!

 

[Dgallo]

Love me some Red IPA, need to brew another one of those soon, maybe this weekend.

I actually just had a red ipa from a local brewery with just red x and Pilsner and simcoe and mosiac hops. Really, really good

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Please share us your recipe of Janet’s Brown Ale. Sounds great!

Stop changing the subject - they're talking red colored beer now.

Janet's Brown Ale | Beer Recipe | American Homebrewers Association is a good starting point for a recipe and the history of this beer.

 

[McKnuckle]

^The AHA URL seems to be inaccessible to some, so here is Scott Janish's page on this beer:

Janet's Brown Ale Recipe - Scott Janish

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Sorry about that. Normally I'm not logged into the AHA site when I look things up

There appear to be a couple of variations on this recipe. I'll do some more searching this evening...

 

[Pappers_]

Here's recipes for American Browns here in the HBT recipe database and for Brown IPAs I think this is an under-utilized portion of the forum.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

From the (discontinued) AHA wiki - via "Internet Archives"

Janet's Brown Ale

Category 23: Specialty Beer
Sponsored by The Beverage People
2009 AHA National Homebrew Competition Gold Medal
Mike McDole, Clayton, Calif., Specialty Beer, Diablo Order of Zymiracle Enthusiasts (DOZE)

“Janet’s Brown Ale”
Imperial American Brown Ale
Ingredients for 12 U.S. gallons (45.42 liters)

27.5 lb (12.47 kg) pale malt
3.0 lb (1.36 kg) dextrin malt
2.5 lb (1.13 kg) 40L crystal malt
2.0 lb (0.9 kg) wheat malt
1.0 lb (0.45 kg) 350L chocolate malt
1.0 lb (0.45 kg) corn sugar
3.0 oz (85 g) US Northern Brewer pellet hops, 5.1% alpha acid (mash)
3.0 oz (85 g) US Northern Brewer pellet hops, 5.1% alpha acid (60 min)
2.0 oz (57 g) US Northern Brewer pellet hops, 5.1% alpha acid (15 min)
3.0 oz (85 g) Cascade pellet hops, 5.6% alpha acid (10 min)
4.0 oz (113g) Cascade whole hops, 5.8% alpha acid (0 min, hopback)
4.0 oz (113g) Centennial pellet hops, 10.5% alpha acid (dry hop)
White Labs WLP001, 4000ml starter
2.4 vol forced CO2 to carbonate

Original Specific Gravity: 1.074
Final Specific Gravity: 1.018
Boil Time: 90 minutes
Primary Fermentation: 7 days at 68° F (20° C)
Secondary Fermentation: 9 days at 70° F (21° C)

Directions
Mash grains at 154° F (68° C) for 30 minutes. Raise to 170° F (77° C) and hold for 15 minutes. Sparge at 170° F (77° C) for 45 minutes. Dry hop in secondary for 7 days. Water profile: Ca 110.0 ppm, Mg 18.0 ppm, Na 17.0 ppm, SO4 350.0 ppm, Cl 50.0 ppm. Cold conditioned six weeks. Filtered to 7 microns.

Judges’ Comments
“Excellent choice of hops. Not overly hopped. Very drinkable!”