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I wouldn't use Brown Malt in either, but if anything I'd say it is less appropriate in British Brown Ale than American Brown Ale, as you sometimes find strong roasted flavor in examples of the latter. I'm not sure I'd count on a compilation of brewersfriend user recipes for the final say in...

It really depends on what flavor you are aiming for. Brown malt adds a dry, roasted flavor, but not much else. For my tastes, that flavor is most appropriate in a Porter or Stout, and I would leave it out of a Brown Ale entirely.

I'm a fan of the "Measuring Calcium Chloride" thread, but I'm wondering what other common salts we should take similar care to measure out? I note that Calcium Sulfate is sold by chemical suppliers as either anhydrous or dihydrate. Which do we typically get when we buy "Gypsum" from the...

The universal poppets work pretty well, though IME they fit some posts better than others. I recently had a leak that was due to corrosion inside the post itself, rather than a bad poppet. It's getting harder and harder to replace pin-lock posts.

It's going to be very roasty tasting with 15% brown malt - closer to a Porter really, if that matters to you. I'd suggest using less (~5%) of a British crystal instead of CaraMunich. Also, if style is important, I might drop the finishing hops, and just stick with the 60 minute hops addition.

Jackson's Beer Companion (1993 edition) has a pretty good descriptions of Smithwick's beers from that time, and it sounds like yours is on the right track for the all-malt export version. OG of 1.048. Drop the crystal, and use roasted barley to adjust to around 30 EBC/12° L. Bitterness is right...

I haven't used them, but from the decidedly mixed HBT reports, I'm not completely convinced they belong in the same QC category as Fermentis and Lallemand.

Munton's was about the best yeast you could get when I started brewing (before Wyeast or White Labs existed). It was absolute crap. It ruined the reputation of all dry yeast -- a bad reputation that is still widely believed, despite the extremely high quality of Fermentis and Lallemand. But...

I'd stick with de-husked Carafa III for color adjustment. Midnight wheat might give the wrong kind of roastiness. Depending on the quality of the Munich malt, you may not need melanoidin malt. If you do use it, keep it under 5% of the grain bill -- it's strong stuff.

Most sources I've read say to use dark or golden molasses instead of blackstrap, due to the high sulfur content of blackstrap.

IMO, Brown Malt doesn't belong in a brown ale. Just too roasty and dry. What you have there looks like a decent porter or stout (though on the hoppy side for both), so if you just want to use your brown malt go for it. But if you really want a brown ale, I'd drop the brown malt entirely, cut...

Agreed -- brew it as-is and judge it for yourself. Call it "dark ale". No one could argue with that.

Carafa 3 is more about adding color than roasted flavor. And porter is all about roasted flavor. Your original recipe might well make a delicious dark beer, it just wouldn't be much like a porter. If you want to keep the recipe and are just looking for something to call it, you might get away...

http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php/An_Evaluation_of_the_suitability_of_colorpHast_strips_for_pH_measurements_in_home_brewing Interesting! And strange that the beer measurements are accurate, but not the mash measurements. Is it the difference between beer and wort, or does the accuracy fall...

Well there you go. It depends on who is doing the checking, and with what instrument they are doing it. You or Martin on your carefully calibrated, lab-grade meters? Sure. Bubba on the used pen-type meter he got for 20 bucks on Ebay, and calibrates once a year with 10-year-old standard buffers...

I think you overstate the color confusion. Good strips (eg, ColorpHast) are not that hard to read, even in highly-colored wort. But I suppose that if all one brews is Russian Imperial Stout, caution is advisable. Obviously price is debatable. I don't think 33 cents a pop is that expensive, but...

Chocolate malt is a suitable replacement. For your recipe, I'd use a half pound, and drop the oats, carafa, and victory. Make up the lost gravity points with extra Maris Otter.

First, not seeing value in the effort is not a dissenting view. It's a perfectly good reason for not putting in the effort. Second, I don't see many people here making that implication. In fact, I've seen quite a few bending over backwards to avoid even the appearance of such an implication.

I'm strongly of the opinion that homebrewers worry way too much about, and fuss way too much with water treatment. Untreated soft water makes great beer, regardless of style. And if you don't have soft water, you get the same results with MINIMALLY TREATED RO water. (NOTE: I'm even more...

It depends on the dissenting view, and how it is presented. If it is well-reasoned and novel, or it provides evidence in support of the dissent, then it is more than welcome, IMO. But if it's just snarky BS, or resurrects views that have been debunked a thousand times before, then it's just...