British Brown Ale Aberdeen Brown Ale (NewCastle Clone) AG

[Denbo]

I brewed a 5 gallon batch of this recipe two months ago had my 1st one last night. I think this is better than Newcastle Brown Ale, it tastes just like a Newcastle Brown , with a added bonus of head retention.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[BigPicture]

Agreed Denbo,

And:

As I said, there were a few things for which the commercial version is criticized, namely lack of head or lacing in the glass. The addition of Cara took care of this and my version actually has a better “slightly creamier” mouth feel.

All in all, a pretty darn good brown ale and at 4.1%, just right for a few pints without remorse.

Agreed too!

But I need more mouthfeel. How do I get more weight to this beer. Maris Otter? Amber Malt? Flaked Oats? More Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) or other Crystal? Sure................. it won't be the same beer, but that's part of the magic of homebrew. Guess I'll just have to keep reading & experimenting.

Thanks BM for this wonderful recipe! 5 gallons went in 2 weeks with only 2 of us drinking.

Since we brewed 10 gallons we split the wort into 2 buckets to ferment. The 1st one we're going to rack according to BM's original recipe. The 2nd one we're going to just leave in the primary bucket & original yeast cake for 1 month. Just a little experiment. So we're doing 2 adjustments, place & time, wish us luck!

Conclusion: The beer that was simply left in the primary to age for 1 whole month is better. Deeper brown color, better head, clearer, better nuttier taste. This was simply the additional 5 gallon bucket I had fermenting from that 10 gallon boil. Everything else was exactly the same. The difference in taste wasn't huge............................ but it was there!

Now I don't know about you........................ but I like to drink the best beer I possibly can!! :rockin:

 

[zeptrey]

I've never really tasted much(or any) of a roasted/chocolate flavor out of Newcastle, and I wonder if this is why?

http://foodbabe.com/2013/07/17/the-shocking-ingredients-in-beer/


But whatever they put in it sure tastes good to me.

 

[frezel]

its been awhile since the OP reposted the recipe after making some tweaks, I would like to see how he is brewing this bill now. This will be my next brew looking forward to it and yes I read all 28 pages lol. thanks BierMuncher

 

[frankjones]

Hi guys. Sorry to ask.. I see this thread is a bit older... Can this recipe be cut back to 2.75 gallons. That would be to divide the ingredients by 4. I just can't get my kitchen electric stove to boil a five gallon batch but I can get a furious boil of 4 gallons

 

[drumuglyknuckles]

Hi guys. Sorry to ask.. I see this thread is a bit older... Can this recipe be cut back to 2.75 gallons. That would be to divide the ingredients by 4. I just can't get my kitchen electric stove to boil a five gallon batch but I can get a furious boil of 4 gallons

All recipes are scalable

 

[atli126]

might have to give this one a run!

 

[z-bob]

Has Newcastle changed since this thread was started? I bought a 12-pack tonight (it was on sale) to try it, and it's not something I would ever try to emulate... very little head, and no body. Kind of tastes like seltzer with a little brown coloring added. (at least it wasn't skunky) Maybe Heineken cheapened it and removed all the character, like inBev is doing with everything else?

Or maybe I just drank it too cold. I'll try another one almost warm.

The recipes posted here look fine, btw.

 

[moreb33rplz]

How dare you speak of Newcastle like that.

 

[LogicBomb]

I just made this beer for the second time (first time was a compromise across the board on ingredients and wanted a "true attempt" this time).

I dropped the roasted barely as last time it felt really out of place compared to the commercial example (although tasty I wouldn't have pegged it even close as a clone).

While the beer this time is damn, damn good, it is still so far off from the commercial version that I'm at a loss for how much praise this version gets. It could be I did something wrong but I don't see what.

I did my VERY best to copy this recipe 1:1 (except 5 gallons and dropped the roast barley), same yeast, same mash temp, same hops/malt, everything.

When I taste the commercial example I get crisp, clean flavor with serious stand-out notes of fruit (plum, raisin, etc...). With my clone version I get a "maltier/heavier" version that is still very clean tasting but lacking 100% of the fruit/plum/raisin notes. It's like a very neutral brown ale.

Now don't get me wrong, it's tasty, damn tasty, and my wife even prefers this clone to the original (always like hearing that) but the fruit notes are what MAKE this beer, IMHO.

Any advice on how to get more of that out of this clone or is that just an unfortunate result of not aging and mixing two batches?

Here's what my notes say, in case someone can help me pinpoint the issue if it is just me:

Recipe:

- 7 lbs, 3.8 oz 2-Row
- 14.7 oz flaked corn
- 8.1 oz carared
- 8.1 oz crystal 60
- 8.1 oz crystal 80
- 7.3 oz carapils
- 4 oz chocolate malt
- 0.92 oz willamette (6%) @ 60
- 0.25 oz goldings (5.5%) @ 15
- Proper starter of Whitbread yeast

Mash temp: 156.5 for 60 min

Let sit for 3 weeks then racked to keg.

Any ideas? I'd LOVE to get more fruitiness out of this.

 

[AndyRN]

I noticed the 2 different boil times 60 and 90? I've just started reading brew recipes so not sure if I understand.

Also, beersmith has the final gravity at 1.015. Which is a ways off from 1.007. Is beersmith underestimating attenuation?

 

[AndyRN]

I just made this beer for the second time (first time was a compromise across the board on ingredients and wanted a "true attempt" this time).

I dropped the roasted barely as last time it felt really out of place compared to the commercial example (although tasty I wouldn't have pegged it even close as a clone).

While the beer this time is damn, damn good, it is still so far off from the commercial version that I'm at a loss for how much praise this version gets. It could be I did something wrong but I don't see what.

I did my VERY best to copy this recipe 1:1 (except 5 gallons and dropped the roast barley), same yeast, same mash temp, same hops/malt, everything.

When I taste the commercial example I get crisp, clean flavor with serious stand-out notes of fruit (plum, raisin, etc...). With my clone version I get a "maltier/heavier" version that is still very clean tasting but lacking 100% of the fruit/plum/raisin notes. It's like a very neutral brown ale.

Now don't get me wrong, it's tasty, damn tasty, and my wife even prefers this clone to the original (always like hearing that) but the fruit notes are what MAKE this beer, IMHO.

Any advice on how to get more of that out of this clone or is that just an unfortunate result of not aging and mixing two batches?

Here's what my notes say, in case someone can help me pinpoint the issue if it is just me:

Recipe:

- 7 lbs, 3.8 oz 2-Row
- 14.7 oz flaked corn
- 8.1 oz carared
- 8.1 oz crystal 60
- 8.1 oz crystal 80
- 7.3 oz carapils
- 4 oz chocolate malt
- 0.92 oz willamette (6%) @ 60
- 0.25 oz goldings (5.5%) @ 15
- Proper starter of Whitbread yeast

Mash temp: 156.5 for 60 min

Let sit for 3 weeks then racked to keg.

Any ideas? I'd LOVE to get more fruitiness out of this.

I scaled this recipe from 11gal down to 5 gal in Beersmith and I have different grain bill. Yours are all higher than mine, for example my 2 row comes in at 5lbs11oz. I double checked my conversion and it seems correct. If yours is correct let me know maybe I'm doing something wrong.

 

[LogicBomb]

I have my beersmith efficiency set to 75% and I do 5.5 gallon batches - are you using a lower or higher number? That would do it.

 

[AndyRN]

Yup, that's where the difference is.

 

[Tcl1999]

I have to say, I'm very glad I stuck to the recipe for this brew. Usually I tweak the recipes I find, but I decided to stick to it on this one and I'm very happy with the result!

It's only been on CO2 for a week, so it's a little flat, but the flavor is great, very much representative of the style. It's one of the few times I've tasted a beer at kegging time and actually been happy with the flavor. Once it has a little time to carb up and clear out it is going to be a hit.

 

[ryandean]

Thanks for the recipe. I tried some Newcastle a few months ago and wanted to make something similar. I didn't have any roasted barley so I used 0.3 lb chocolate and 0.3 lb special B since I had seen several comments recommend it. I bought a sixer of the original to compare side by side but they are really skunky. It was only kegged for 4 days before I left town but it tasted pretty good. I'm hoping it clears up nicely after a few weeks in the keg and I can post a picture of the side by side with the original.

 

[Tcl1999]

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1425002493.993983.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1425002517.722865.jpg

It is probably hard to tell because of my crappy lighting, but the color of this recipe is spot on, and as you can see the lacing and head retention is beautiful. Oh, and it tastes great too! I am very pleased.

 

[ryandean]

Has anyone else used S-04 dry yeast instead of the liquid for this recipe? This was the first time for me using S-04 and I think it works well in this recipe but I don't know how it compares to the 1099.

 

[TrickyDick]

Yes. I've had good and bad results

 

[LogicBomb]

ryandean - I used s-04 my first batch and 1099 the second batch.

Supposedly they are the same strain but my second batch with liquid 1099 was much, much better than the first batch with rehydrated s-04. Could have been any number of other variables (such is brewing) but regardless, that's my data point for what it's worth.

 

[thadeus_d3]

I've been meaning to brew this for months and finally brewed 10 gallons on Sunday. Was about 4 oz short on the 20L and used s-04 yeast, but I'm excited for the results.

 

[vmartinez1519]

I just

 

[vmartinez1519]

I recently brewed 10 gallons of this delicious beer this past Friday. Within the first 24 hour my airlock was bubbling away and a nice krausen Started to form. Well I'm now on day 4 and the krausen has stopped and it's almost non existent. Is this normal? Has anyone else experienced this?

 

[Iseneye]

I haven't made this recipe but a low OG beer doesn't take long to ferment. I brewed an ordinary bitter that was fully fermented in 3ish days.

 

[bellinmi88]

I just kegged this baby and pulled a liter off and forced carb'd it to give it a try.

Color is spot on but that is about it. Aroma is a mix between bready/toast and corn. The taste, while delicious, it is nothing like a Newkie B.

I followed the recipe to a tee and made no adjustments.

I will make this again as it is a delicious beer but I think with some tweaks it could achieve some of the Newcastle flavor.

Next batch I will:
- limit corn to only 5-8%
- remove the roasted barley altogether
- double up on the Crystal 80 (needs more stone fruit character in this beer)
- use pale chocolate malt

This is a great Northern English Brown, but not a Newcastle Brown.

 

[thadeus_d3]

I've been meaning to brew this for months and finally brewed 10 gallons on Sunday. Was about 4 oz short on the 20L and used s-04 yeast, but I'm excited for the results.

Well this turned out great. I've tapped a keg already and it's a hit with my family. I'll have to brew this one again soon.

 

[rrhoads]

Just brewed up 10 gallons of this using Marris Otter, and S-04 yeast. Sorry if this has been mentioned before, but I've noticed a few brewers mentioning the lack of plum, raisin, or such flavors which are present in the commercial example. I am wondering if a small amount of Special B(maybe half a pound/8 ounces) would provide that?

 

[cederbusch]

Brewed this couple of weeks ago. Excluded chocolate malt and roasted barley (didn't have any). Undershot OG and volumes big time. And afterwards realized I screwed up the water treatment. Forgot to change water volumes from previous batch and ended up adding salts based on 29 liters (7,7 gallons) instead of the 13 liters (3,4 gallons) used for this brew. And the beer tasted GREAT!

This time I hopefully will meet my estimates better. And I was thinking about using Mangrove Jacks M15 Empire Ale instead. It is supposedly interchangeable with M03 (Newcastle dark ale). I used it once and it gave some of the dark fruits in the finished beer.

Thoughts on that?

 

[kmarkstevens]

Just wanted to thank BierMuncher for this recipe. Turned out great about 3 weeks into the bottling. I used Pilsner DME and London III yeast because both were on hand. I will add this to the short list of recipe keepers. Next time I'll probably go with 02 for lower attenuation and ABV.

 

[Shenanigans]

Just wanted to thank BierMuncher for this recipe. Turned out great about 3 weeks into the bottling. I used Pilsner DME and London III yeast because both were on hand. I will add this to the short list of recipe keepers. Next time I'll probably go with 02 for lower attenuation and ABV.

Yeah BM has a load of good recipes on here.

A general question and bit off topic but I wanted to check out the recipe list of several advanced users to get some inspiration for my next brew. There used to be a recipe drop down list from the user's avatar in the old version of the forum software but it has disappeared now.
Anyone know where the link to a user's recipies are in the new software?

Thanks.