Brown Ale Recipe Critique

[Loftearmen]

Hey y'all,

I have been wanting to make a brown ale for a while and I happen to have .5oz Fuggles and .5oz Tettnang laying around that I need to get rid of. I'm thinking of making the following recipe:

6 gallons
7.5lbs Pale LME
1.5lbs Sugar
2oz Crystal 60L
2oz Chocolate Malt
1oz Black Malt
1oz Target Hops(60 minutes)
.5oz Tettnang (30 minutes)
.5oz Fuggles (15 minutes)

What do y'all think?

 

[psubrewer]

I would up the c60 to 1.25 lbs as this is my preference. Otherwise it looks spot on.

What yeast are you planning on using?

 

[Loftearmen]

From 2oz to 1.25lbs?! That's quite an increase lol.

I use a "house yeast". Basically, I blended Nottingham, Wyeast Irish Ale Yeast and S-04 together and used it for several batches. Now it has mutated to the point where it doesn't really resemble any of the yeasts I started out with. It has a slightly lower attenuation rate than most ale yeasts, doesn't create a lot of esthers and leaves a smooth quality.

 

[psubrewer]

In hindsight 1.25 lbs is a bit much for this style. I use about 1.5/6g in my mild so maybe 0.75 would be more appropriate in a brown.

House year sounds perfect for this. Good luck!

 

[Yooper]

I like quite a bit of crystal in my English browns, and I don't use any sugar in it as that makes it too dry for my taste.

I'd do something more like:
1 pd crystal 60L
.5 pd crystal 120L
.25 pound chocolate malt
tiny bit of the black malt for color
5 pounds LME

Bittering hops at 60 minutes only to 20 IBUs or so

Some fuggles at 5 minutes would be ok, though.

 

[Texconsinite]

Several things:
1)Most brown ales are lower in ABV, so the 1.5 lbs of sugar seems excessive for this style (7.5 LME should be plenty for 6Gal). Also, my brew group has dumped 1.5-2lbs of sugar in multiple recipes to raise ABV, and it seems to dry the beers out, and cause them to bottle carb slowly or not at all. Plus it'll ferment slower if you make it a high gravity brew. Browns tend to be quick and easy.

2) Brown Recipes using Pale extract like yours get alot of the "brown" flavor and color from the steeping grains. 5 oz is not enough IMO. At least triple the amounts you have there, and it should be in line with the brown recipes Ive done. You could also use Maris Otter LME instead of Pale if you want, but most brown recipes Ive seen are made w Pale so no worries.

3) You are adding Target hops for bittering, AND the Tettnang and Fuggles for flavor and aroma. This seems like maybe a little on the high end. This style is lightly hopped, and too much might overpower the roasty caramel notes I'd throw the tettnang and fuggles in @ 60 min and leave it at that.

As its constructed now, you have lots of hops and few steeping grains to balance them out, so this will be much more bitter and hop-flavorful than browns typically are. Admittedly, i am biased and love the malty sweetness of browns much more than hop bitterness.

Here is the recipe for the Brown I am making weekend, for comparison.
5 Gallon batch
6lbs Maris Otter LME 3lbs @ 60, 3lbs @ 15
4oz English Chocolate
4oz Belgian Special B
4oz Belgian Biscuit
4oz Briess Special Roast
1 oz US Fuggle (4.4AA) @ 60min
Wyeast London Ale

 

[Loftearmen]

I wound up using this recipe:

3 gallon batch
3lbs Pale Malt Extract
6oz Old Mill Pecan Pancake Syrup
8oz Crystal 120L
2oz Chocolate Malt
1oz Black Malt
.5oz Tettnang 60 min
.5oz Fuggle 60 min
House Yeast

It came out GREAT. It's definitely in my top 5 favorite brews ever.

 

[Texconsinite]

Sounds good! When did you add the pancake syrup, and how did the flavor come through in finished product?