American Brown Ale Recipe

Hey guys. Sorta new to home brewing as this will only be my 3rd batch. Next brew I'm wanting to brew is an American Brown Ale. The past 2 brews were kits I bought from AHS. I have the Complete Joy of Home Brewing and I found a recipe that fits what I'm going for(Atleast I think). I'm wanting this to have a more chocolate, coffee, nutty flavor. I live in NYS and if anyone on here has been to Ithaca Brewing Company's Nut Brown or had Kick Ass Brown Ale from C.H. Evans Brewing Company in Albany thats sort of the taste I'm shooting for. Heres the recipe from the book, its called Dithyrambic Roasted Brown Ale. It's anyone has made this I'd be glad to hear how it turned out!


7 1/2 lbs- Coopers plain amber malt extract
1/2 lb- Roasted Barley
1/4 lb- Black Patent Malt
1 1/2 oz- Northern Brewer Hops
1/4 oz- Willamette/Cascade Hops (finishing)

-Ryan

 

Looks good! Let us know how it comes out!

 

almost forgot english type ale yeast

 

That's going to be one black, bitter beast.

First, I'd swap chocolate malt for the roasted barley. Second, I'd check the AA% on the Northern Brewer; at a median value of 9%, you're looking at 53 IBU for 1.5 ounces, and that's a LOT. In fact, it's well above the upper limit of the style range. If you like Brown Ale that bitter, go for it; I don't.

Papa Chuck's recipe isn't going to really be anywhere near the two faves you list. But you can get closer if you tone the hops down to no more than 40 IBU, swap out Chocolate Malt for the roasted barley (and not more than 4 ounce of Chocolate), and tone down the OG.

According to my calculations, your OG will be ~1.060 - that's an awfully big beer. I'd back it off to 6-6.5 lbs of LME for an OG of ~1.050-1.055.

That's me, though. Your beer is your beer!

Bob

 

It looks more like a stout than a brown ale. I just made a roasty american brown that had 6 ounces of chocolate malt and 1 ounce of roasted barley and it's very dark and roasty.

 

I would drop the black patent if I was to brew this.

 

Thanks for all the suggestions guys!

 

For specialty grains I'd go with:

ONE ounce Black Patent
4 oz C90L or C60L
1/2 lb Chocolate
1/2 lb Victory or Biscuit

Give the grains 45 minutes at 155F.

 

alright, from all of your suggestions I come up with this. Tell me what you think!


6.5 lbs Amber LME
1 oz Black Patent
4 oz C90L or C60L
1/2 lb Chocolate
1/2 lb Victory or Biscuit
1 oz Northern Brewer Hops (bittering)
1/4oz Willamette/Fuggles (finishing)
Wyeast European Ale

Also taking into consideration steeping specialty grains at 155 for 45 min as david_42 said.

Hows this look? Again my original one was a bitter, black beast and I dont want that.

 

FYI, the ch evans and ithaca brown are very different and both very good. i think you will get close to the ithaca with your recipe. for the ch evans, i have come close by using a lot of crystal hops at finishing and dry hopping, mashing a little on the high side like 154, and using a clean dry american ale yeast like 05 or notty. good luck.

 

I know theyre very different, and both very good =) The CH Evans Brown is a bit hoppier, but not too hoppy for my liking. At the end of the day Im just shooting for a good, drinkable beer. Im too early in the game right now to enter anything into a contest so this is pretty much for the enjoyment of my friends and myself

 

This will yield a solid brown ale, though with the amber extract and 1/2 lb chocolate malt, I don't think you need the black patent, even at 1oz. It'll be dark without it.

Also, If you like hops and hop flavor, you need to go bigger on the finishing additions. I would do something like this....

1oz northern Brewer @ 60
.5oz Fuggle @ 30
.5oz Fuggle @ 10
.5 oz Fuggle @ flameout

Assuming your wort will end up in the 1.060's range, this gives you about 36 IBU's - not really too bitter but the hops will be present, and the later additions will give it hop flavor and aroma vs just bitterness.

 

Alright. I took everyones considerations and I think this is what I'm going to brew. I downloaded Beersmith and plugged everything in and this is what it yielded.

Only real question I have is how long and at what temp I should steep the specialty grains at. It was suggested I steep at 145 for 45 minutes. From lack of experience I don't know if this sounds good or not. From reading in my book I realize that the longer I steep the specialty grains, and the warmer the temperature is, the darker it will be and its already going to be pretty dark on its own.

Other than that I think it's looking good. Any and all comments are appreciated! Thanks!

American Brown Ale


Type: Partial Mash
Date: 3/5/2010
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Brewer: Ryan Finn
Boil Size: 4.08 gal Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: Brew Pot (5 Gallon)
Taste Rating(out of 50): 35.0 Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00
Taste Notes:

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
6.00 lb Amber Liquid Extract (12.5 SRM) Extract 82.76 %
0.50 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 6.90 %
0.50 lb Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 6.90 %
0.25 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 3.45 %
1.00 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] (60 min) Hops 26.0 IBU
0.50 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (30 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -
0.50 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (10 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -
0.50 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (2 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -
1 Pkgs English Ale (White Labs #WLP002) Yeast-Ale



Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.049 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.010 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.016 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.005 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.31 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 0.65 %
Bitterness: 26.0 IBU Calories: 43 cal/pint
Est Color: 23.5 SRM Color: Color

 

I don't think a longer warmer steep will make it much darker, really. I usually just steeped for about 20 minutes at 160, a temp high enough to convert any residual starches and to extract the wanted flavors/colors/sugars quickly without extracting any unwanted tannins from the grain husks. I believe this was the standard instructions on the kits I brewed when I was getting started, FWIW.

Good luck, it looks like it will yield a good english brown. Yum!