Please help me troubleshoot my Brown Ale

[BMBC]

I kegged and carbed a brown ale this week. I used NB's recipe for their Moose Drool clone.

1/4 lb crystal 80
1/4 lb pale chocolate
1/8 lb black malt
6 lb amber lme
1 lb amber dme
1 oz Goldings @ 60
1 oz Liberty @ 45
1 oz Willamette @ 15
1 pk of dry Windsor

Fermented 12 days at 64F. In the keg about 5 days. 1.052 OG, 1.010 FG.

I bought a bottle of Moose Drool to do a comparison. The MD is sweet, coffee-like, malty, and...organic. Mine is close, but tastes more harsh/bitter/chemical(y). Being so new to homebrewing I don't really know what off flavors are caused by what. Actually, I haven't developed my palette well enough to really understand what off flavor I'm tasting. I thought my brown ale was very alcoholic at first, but if I really think about it I think it's more bitter.

My thoughts on what it might be:

1. Obviously, it's very young. The capacity of my pipeline is two 5 gallon batches (constrained by fermentation chamber space). I don't want to brew my own and go buy commercial beer so I move things out of fermentation as soon as I have an open keg (and fermentation is complete, obviously). Maybe I should rethink that and either get used to buying commercial beer or get another fermentation chamber. I live in AZ so I can't ferment in the open and I don't want tubs of swamp cooler water all over the house.

2. It wasn't until the last batch or two that I realized the AA% of the hops I get from my LHBS doesn't exactly match the recipe. I didn't realize I had to compensate to maintain the desired IBU. Maybe I just put in the right weight of hops, but the AA% was different? An example, I needed 1.25 oz of 15% Warrior for my latest IPA and the LHBS had 20% Warrior so I decreased my addition to 1 oz.

3. Incorrect yeast pitching? This is the first time I'd rehydrated a dry yeast. It was my first time fermenting in a carboy. I usually sprinkle the dry yeast over the wort in the bucket, but I rehydrated to pour it into the carboy. Maybe I did it wrong? Stressed the yeast? Didn't temper the yeast slurry to the wort?

4. I didn't watch the guys at the LHBS weigh and mill the steeping grains. Maybe they gave me the wrong thing? Maybe my thermometer is wrong and I steeped too warm and drew out some harsh tannins? I've only ever steeped light crystal and carapils that maybe don't release harsh tastes if steeped too warm?

 

[kh54s10]

I would say your only problem is #1. A dark heavier beer will take some aging. If you can put it aside for a month or more then give it a try.

 

[brewprint]

Extract beers can be unpredictable for many reasons. I wouldn't expect your clone to be just like the all grain true version.

You probably know that though and are just trying to get close.

For bitterness, I would actually measure how much water you're putting into your kettle. Get an IBU calculator and see what the difference is between throwing your hops in with a 3 gallon boil vs a 4 gallon boil. There's a huge difference. You can easily get a kettle diameter calulator here and find how much water is in your kettle. This way you can be more consistent.

I used to just put water in my kettle eyeballing it when I did extract. I now do BIAB and I know exactly how much is in my kettle and I'm also doing full volume boils. That has reduced my hop usage dramatically when shooting for bitterness.

 

[singybrue]

What did you use for water? Municipal water often contains chlorine or chloramine which can cause off flavors. Campden tablets will remove the chlorides.

 

[BMBC]

I would say your only problem is #1. A dark heavier beer will take some aging. If you can put it aside for a month or more then give it a try.

Would it be safe to rack it back out to a 5 gal carboy to free up my keg?

 

[BMBC]

Extract beers can be unpredictable for many reasons. I wouldn't expect your clone to be just like the all grain true version.

You probably know that though and are just trying to get close.

For bitterness, I would actually measure how much water you're putting into your kettle. Get an IBU calculator and see what the difference is between throwing your hops in with a 3 gallon boil vs a 4 gallon boil. There's a huge difference. You can easily get a kettle diameter calulator here and find how much water is in your kettle. This way you can be more consistent.

I used to just put water in my kettle eyeballing it when I did extract. I now do BIAB and I know exactly how much is in my kettle and I'm also doing full volume boils. That has reduced my hop usage dramatically when shooting for bitterness.

Good point. I just noticed that NB wants you to start with 2.5 gallons in the BK and I usually start with 3 gallons. That would/could increase the bittering hop uptake.

 

[kh54s10]

Would it be safe to rack it back out to a 5 gal carboy to free up my keg?

I wouldn't suggest it. Too much risk of oxidation.

 

[BMBC]

What did you use for water? Municipal water often contains chlorine or chloramine which can cause off flavors. Campden tablets will remove the chlorides.

I buy a six pack of Kirkland 1-gal drinking water from Costco for each brew. It's RO purified water.

 

[flars]

I think you will need to wait at least another four weeks, before another taste, to decide if there is a problem. An American brown ale, like this one, needs time.
You could bottle it after it is carbonated in the keg and let it mature for a couple of months.

 

[ncbrewer]

I think you got a lot of good advice here. But your item #2 (higher hop AA) will obviously affect the bitterness, too.

 

[BMBC]

An update...

Just 11 extra days has made a HUGE difference and it's only getting better. Totally different beer. My girlfriend was blown away by how much the bitterness has toned down and the coffee and caramel has come out. Lesson learned. Thanks, folks.

 

[BMBC]

Here we are another month later. I just finished the keg last weekend. What a difference. While it never tasted exactly like Moose Drool I'll chalk that up to recipe not process. The harsh taste was gone and the back end was very rich with sweet caramel flavors. Great lesson to learn.

Also, the two beers I brewed as soon as I kegged this Brown Ale are just now coming out of primary after almost six weeks. I'm learning that patience is key to brewing. No more rushing to keg at 10 days for me anymore. Long primaries have made a huge difference in taste and clarity.

 

[MuddyCreek]

Good point. I just noticed that NB wants you to start with 2.5 gallons in the BK and I usually start with 3 gallons. That would/could increase the bittering hop uptake.

Not would/could - does/will

As for your comments on the benefits of aging, almost everything but a West Coast IPA is better upon aging.

 

[andy6026]

You mentiomed your space constraint - only room for teo vessels in the ferm chamber.

That actually not a problem - once initial fermentation is done you are safe to move the vessel out of the chamber to room temperature, unless you are doing lagers. So, give them say, 1 week, in the chamber and then let them sit for a couple of weeks outside the chamber before kegging them. You'll not get any off flavors and you'll have the space to brew at least once a week.

 

[Bosh]

Also not really much point in doing a 45 minute boil of a hop, better to either boil it the first 60 minites or move it a lot closer to the end of the boil.

 

[WouldBeBrewmaster]

Looking at the recipe a 60 and 45 minute hop addition was probably a bit much for a brown ale. Glad to see it mellowed with time. If you were going for more hop flavor and/or aroma you could try adding hops at 60, 15, and 5 minutes.

 

[BMBC]

Thanks folks. That recipe is Northern Brewer's brown ale recipe. I'm way too inexperienced to come up with my own recipes yet. It's their fault.