Brown Ale Recipe Critique

[tally350z]

Getting ready to brew an English Brown Ale for my sisters wedding in November. Just want to see what others thought about this recipe.

8# MO
1# Victory
8oz Crystal 60
12oz UK-Chocolate (450srm)
1oz Fuggles 60 Min
OG - 1.050
FG - 1.012
14.1 IBUs
25.9 SRM

I was thinking of using the London Ale III yeast from Wyeast, but I have never used it before. Is it a good yeast for an English Brown?

Shooting for something similar to the Brown Malty style in Bru'n Water. I use RO water and in order for me to add the bicarbonate back I use Baking Soda, because I have had zero luck finding pickling lime. So the final results of the water additions get me too:
CA - 51.8
MG - 2.6
NA - 36.9
SO4 - 55.5
Cl - 61.4
HCO3 - 92.7
Should I worry about the Sodium that is being added from the Baking Soda?

 

[tally350z]

Anyone?

 

[Barley_Bob]

I totally read that as "my sister's wake" at first glance. Woops!

I can't help you on an English Brown, but I thought that was worth a chuckle. Maybe don't tell your sister, though. That seems inauspicious. And "Wedding Day Wake" is not going to be a good name for this brew.

 

[Sir-Hops-A-Lot]

I just did some research on Brown Ale recipes for my latest brew.
Victory malt was usually used when 2 row was the base malt. Some recipes use both.
8 oz of chocolate malt is on the upper end and you have 12 oz.
The recipes I read used between 8 oz and 1.25# of crystal malt so you are on the low end but not unusual.
The Fuggles are the usual bittering hop. Most recipes also use EK Goldings as an aroma hop.

So in summary, you may not need the Victory malt, could go down to 8 oz chocolate malt, up to 1# crystal malt, and perhaps throw in 2-4 oz black malt. Of course, I'm steering you towards the middle of the road recipe and you may be in the mood for creativity.
What kind of Brown Ale are you going for? Most Northern English Brown Ales target the Newcastle taste that can be copied with Biermuncher's Aberdeen Brown Ale.

 

[Sir-Hops-A-Lot]

For a yeast, I have been using S04 and getting great results. I tried London Ale and it hadn't started fermenting after two days so I pitched some dry yeast. I don't know if London Ale 2 or 3 have the same lag.

 

[MindenMan]

With that much Chocolate malt, you are going to have a very strong coffee flavor, okay for a porter, but I suggest you cut it back to maybe 1/2. A little Midnight Wheat would fill the color in, and improve the mouth feel a little as well.

 

[tally350z]

I had not seen Biermuncher's recipe before. I was just trying to come up with a first house brown ale recipe and than adjust for future batches, but I may just adjust to something similar to the New Castle clown. I am not sure that my LHBS carries the Whitebread ale, and if they don't I am not sure what a good substitute is.

How about these adjustments to the original recipe.
9# MO
1# Crystal 60L
6oz Chocolate
4oz Midnight wheat.

I had never used midnight wheat, but I am intrigued and may give it a shot. I will have to check to see if my LHBS carries midnight wheat as well. I think they only have chocolate wheat.

 

[Sir-Hops-A-Lot]

S-04 is the Whitbread strain. Biermuncher has stated that S04 would work well in the Aberdeen recipe.

Ray Daniels, in "Designing Great Beers" recommends using only 2 dark malts (your crystal and chocolate) for simplicity and trying different yeasts. Then start playing with making the malt bill more complex for your house ale.

Have you thought about splitting up your batch and trying different yeasts?

I currently am fermenting Monkey Paw Brown Ale using 3 English yeasts: Wyeast 1098, S 04, and Edme (s-33).

I entered your basic recipe in Brewtoad with some minor changes to get the IBU up.
try this link: https://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/tallys-brown-ale

 

[tally350z]

Yea I use Beersmith to calculate my recipes. I just didn't have it when I made the original post since I was at work and didn't have access to it. I have mostly used the same yeast for the brown ales but I will try a different yeast next time.

 

[brettwasbtd]

Honestly I would stick with the original recipe (gotta go with your gut) but use crisp pale chocolate. Def stick with a liquid yeast - some people don't have a problem with s04 but all my experiences have been bad, especially in a make forward beer.