Flannel Ale - First Recipe, thoughts?

[FlannelExpert]

I put together a recipe that I would like to brew and I would like to hear your thoughts on it. I'm going for a dark, woodsy beer with notes of maple syrup and maybe toss in some apples into the secondary. I will try to prime with maple syrup to add more maple flavor. Well here's the recipe:

Flannel Ale
American Stout
Type: All Grain Date: 12/3/2013
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.52 gal
Boil Time: 60 min

Ingredients Ingredients Amt Name Type # %/IBU
7 lbs Brown Malt (65.0 SRM) Grain 1 62.2 %
3 lbs Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 2 26.7 %
4.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 3 2.2 %
1 lbs Maple Syrup (35.0 SRM) Sugar 4 8.9 %

0.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 8.4 IBUs
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 6 12.9 IBUs
0.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 7 4.1 IBUs

0.25 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 8 -
2.00 oz Cinnamon Stick (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice 9 -

1.0 pkg Irish Ale Yeast (White Labs #WLP004) Yeast 10 -

Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.055 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.013 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.5 %
Bitterness: 25.4 IBUs
Est Color: 36.5 SRM

Mash Profile
Mash Name: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 11 lbs 4.0 oz
Sparge Water: 4.67 gal
Grain Temperature: 65.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F

Step Temperature
Step Time
Mash In Add 13.32 qt of water at 171.3 F 155.0 F 60 min
Sparge Step: Batch sparge with 2 steps (1.28gal, 3.39gal) of 168.0 F water



Thanks for your input

 

[thadass]

Overall I think it looks great, but, have you used the brown malt as a base grain before?
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/brown-malt-base-grain-296483/ might have some interesting reading- it appears modern brown malt does not have any diastatic power (no enzymes to perform conversion). With it as your majority base malt this could cause some issues.

 

[motorneuron]

Just one random bit of advice--maple is a very subtle flavor, and it'll be very difficult to get that maple syrup flavor to come through at all. You might consider using a little fenugreek, which (as Randy Mosher notes in Radical Brewing) is used for a lot of artificial maple flavorings.

 

[FlannelExpert]

Overall I think it looks great, but, have you used the brown malt as a base grain before?
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/brown-malt-base-grain-296483/ might have some interesting reading- it appears modern brown malt does not have any diastatic power (no enzymes to perform conversion). With it as your majority base malt this could cause some issues.

I did use it on my previous brew and I'm having problems with a stuck fermentation in that one so the brown malt could be the problem.

What would you recommend in its place?

 

[thadass]

...Here's some common ones in degrees lintner-

■American 2 Row Pale Malt: 140 °L
■American 6 Row Pale Malt: 160 °L
■British Pale Malts: 40-70 °L
■Maris Otter Pale Malt: 120 °L
■Belgian Pale Malt (2 row): 60 °L
■German Pilsner Malt: 110 °L
■Munich Malt (10 SRM): 70 °L
■Munich Malt (20 SRM): 25 °L
■Vienna Malt: 50 °L
■Wheat Malt, German: 60-90 °L
■Wheat, Unmalted (flaked, Torrified): 0 °L
■Crystal Malt (all): 0 °L
■Chocolate Malt: 0°L
■Black Patent Malts: 0 °L


In case you didn't already know, you need a minimum average of ~30 degrees L per pound to convert. You'll need higher if you want to get away with an hour long single infusion mash.

So with that basic information, your original post recipe would be:

7lb Brown malt at 0°L = 0 contributed
3lb Munich at 70°L = 210 contributed
0.25lb Chocolate at 0°L = 0 contributed

210/10.25=20.49 °L/lb, so problems would be had.

Based on the rest of the recipe, I would pick Maris Otter as a good place to find some diastatic power here.

Based on only the numbers, and going off the 30 °L/lb minimum, the smallest change you could make would be swapping out 1lb of brown malt for Maris Otter:

1lb Maris Otter at 120°L = 120 contributed
6lb Brown malt at 0°L = 0 contributed
3lb Munich at 70°L = 210 contributed
0.25lb Chocolate at 0°L = 0 contributed

320/10.25lb=31.22 °L/lb.

Now, I've never used brown malt in these large of numbers, and the common recommendation appears to be a max of about 10% of it in a recipe. Here (basing this on the 10.25lb of grains alone) that gives you a little more than one pound of brown malt. You'd lose a lot of color doing that but some of it could be recovered with the chocolate malt being increased.

So maybe something like:


6lb Maris Otter
1lb Brown malt
3lb Munich malt
0.5lb Chocolate
1lb Maple Syrup

(which gives 90.73°L/lb for a very healthy conversion)

Might be able to add in some blackprinz/debittered roast/black caraffa/etc for some more color if you want to get it back and want to go that direction flavor wise. This is for educational purposes only .

 

[FlannelExpert]

thanks a lot for your help. on another note, I have a brew that was 7 lbs of brown malt and then added 3 lbs of maple syrup with 15 mins left of the boil. It has been sitting in my primary for about a month and it's stuck at 1.028 with an OG of 1.042. I pitched more yeast and added yeast energizer but still stuck. Is there anything I can do to save this brew?