American Brown Ale Help

[KWright_VT]

I'm working on a recipe for an American Brown, and this is what I've come up with. A couple of grains are some I already have, but I'm looking for a dark brown, a hint of american hop flavor, but malty with a medium body.

Thoughts or suggestions?

8.5 lbs Maris Otter
0.5 lb. Car-Pils
0.5 lb Victory Malt
0.5 lb Caramel 10
0.75 lb Caramel 80
0.5 lb Chocolate Malt
0.25 lb. Black Patent Malt

1 oz. Fuggles (60 min.)
1 oz. EK Goldings (30 min)
0.5 oz. Cascade (15 min)

White Labs WLP 023 Burton Ale

Cheers

 

[Bosh]

That`ll be pretty sweet with that much caramel.

 

[KWright_VT]

Thanks, a little sweetness would be good, but I certainly don't want it too sweet. Maybe I'll lose the caramel 10.

 

[kh54s10]

I would drop the Cara-Pils, there is no need for it in this recipe. And, either drop the C-10 or cut the C-80 to .5 lb. You could up the M.O. or Victory to keep the gravity up.

 

[KWright_VT]

Thanks for the help, still trying to learn about building recipes after switching to all grain.

So now the grain bill looks like this:

9.0 lbs Maris Otter
1 lb Victory
0.75 lb Caramel 80
0.5 lb Chocolate
0.25 lb Black Patent

Which will equate to:
O.G. 1.061
IBUs 32.9
SRM 31.2
ABV 5.9%

Looks good to me and hopefully will give me the flavor I'm after.

 

[Yooper]

Thanks for the help, still trying to learn about building recipes after switching to all grain.

So now the grain bill looks like this:

9.0 lbs Maris Otter
1 lb Victory
0.75 lb Caramel 80
0.5 lb Chocolate
0.25 lb Black Patent

Which will equate to:
O.G. 1.061
IBUs 32.9
SRM 31.2
ABV 5.9%

Looks good to me and hopefully will give me the flavor I'm after.

I'm not a fan of black patent in a brown. It's sort of acrid and ashy, definitely more porter-like than brown ale. I'd just leave that out totally.

I like crystal malt in mine- but I"d go with 40L instead of 80L, so it's a bit more caramel like instead of raisin-like, and it will balance the chocolate malt nicely.

I'd cut the victory to no more than .5 pound- I like it very much but it's sort of drying on the palate, and with the chocolate malt it could be more so.

Otherwise, I like it alot. You've got a mix of English brown and American brown there, with the English malt and hops and yeast, and American hops in the mix. Very drinkable!

 

[KWright_VT]

Thanks Yooper, I've seen a lot of debate on the black patent in a brown, and thought I would try it. I'm almost looking for something in between, so I might stick with it and see what I think.

I might try the 40 in place of the 80, I think the caramel flavor might blend better with that yeast as well.