Critique My Recipe Please!

[JordanThomas]

Hey everyone,

We've brewed 5 batches now, and SWMBO has been begging for some sort of crazy fruit stout. After encouraging her to think outside of that genre, if you will, I've convinced her to go with something that I would still drink if it turned out poorly. That being said, I'd like things to go off without a hitch. If anyone has any suggestions to this recipe, particularly with the coffee additions, please let me know! I don't want them to be too heavy-handed.

Method: All Grain
Style: Brown Ale
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons
Boil Size: 7.5 gallons
Efficiency: 75%
Source: JordanThomas
Original Gravity: 1.059 Final Gravity: 1.015 ABV (standard): 5.81% IBU (tinseth): 31.04 SRM (morey): 23.23 Fermentables
Amount Fermentable PPG °L Bill %
9 lb Maris Otter Pale 38 3.75 79.1%
0.75 lb CaraAmber 34 23 6.6%
0.5 lb Caramel / Crystal 60L 34 60 4.4%
0.5 lb Chocolate 29 350 4.4%
0.125 lb Roasted Barley 33 300 1.1%
0.5 lb Brown Sugar 45 15 4.4%

Hops
Amount Variety Time AA Type Use
1 oz East Kent Goldings 60 min 5 Pellet Boil
1 oz Willamette 30 min 4.5 Pellet Boil
2 oz Willamette 0 min 4.5 Pellet Boil

Show Summary View Hops Summary Amount Variety AA Type
1 oz East Kent Goldings 5 Pellet
3 oz Willamette 4.5 Pellet

Mash Steps
Amount Description Type Temp Time
-- Infusion 154 F 60 min

Other Ingredients
Amount Name Time Type Use
1.5 oz Cold Brewed Vanilla Coffee 10 min Flavor Boil
2 oz Cold Brewed Hazelnut Coffee 0 min Flavor Bottling

Yeast Ringwood - Wyeast 1187
Default - - -
Attenuation (avg): 70% Flocculation: Med
Optimum Temperature: 66°F - 72°F Starter: Yes


Priming
Method: Sucrose (Beet Sugar) Amount: 2.3 Volumes

 

[Jebu1788]

I like this recipe a lot, and think it's a great recipe for adding coffee. Personally (IMHO), I would cut the brown sugar completely, and drop the flame out hops to 1oz (Willamette is great for this kind of beer, earthy and rich, but you don't want too much floral vegetation to come through either).

There are lots of different ways to add coffee, and how much you should add depends on what you want. Cold brewing seems to be a popular way to go. There are lots of threads with different opinions though.

 

[JordanThomas]

I like this recipe a lot, and think it's a great recipe for adding coffee. Personally (IMHO), I would cut the brown sugar completely, and drop the flame out hops to 1oz (Willamette is great for this kind of beer, earthy and rich, but you don't want too much floral vegetation to come through either).

There are lots of different ways to add coffee, and how much you should add depends on what you want. Cold brewing seems to be a popular way to go. There are lots of threads with different opinions though.

Is there a particular reason to leave out the brown sugar? This recipe is a bit of a hybrid between the Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale recipe and a different brown ale on this site. The DFH called for brown sugar.

Any thoughts on the amounts of coffee? I think those should be pretty good. The Founders Breakfast Stout clone that I brewed recently called for 2 oz boil and 2 oz bottle.

 

[Jebu1788]

Is there a particular reason to leave out the brown sugar? This recipe is a bit of a hybrid between the Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale recipe and a different brown ale on this site. The DFH called for brown sugar.

Any thoughts on the amounts of coffee? I think those should be pretty good. The Founders Breakfast Stout clone that I brewed recently called for 2 oz boil and 2 oz bottle.

I'm not a big fan of adding sugar, especially if you have a brown ale or porter base which in my mind should be a more full bodied beer. Brown sugar is basically just white sugar with molasses still in it. If you're looking for that flavor add an ounce or two of molasses, and skip the thinning and drying-out effect of the sugar (unless you want it that way). It seems more appropriate for an India Brown Ale to me. Alternatively you could prime the beer at bottling with brown sugar instead of corn or white sugar.

As far as coffee goes, I've never done a coffee beer, so I can't say much. Lots of other people have advice around here though.

 

[JordanThomas]

I'm not a big fan of adding sugar, especially if you have a brown ale or porter base which in my mind should be a more full bodied beer. Brown sugar is basically just white sugar with molasses still in it. If you're looking for that flavor add an ounce or two of molasses, and skip the thinning and drying-out effect of the sugar (unless you want it that way). It seems more appropriate for an India Brown Ale to me. Alternatively you could prime the beer at bottling with brown sugar instead of corn or white sugar.

As far as coffee goes, I've never done a coffee beer, so I can't say much. Lots of other people have advice around here though.

I'll definitely keep that in mind. I'm thinking the hazelnut and vanilla might shine a bit more if the sugar is added, due to the thinning. Maybe that's just wrong though! Thanks for the info.

 

[MuddyCreek]

I have not done a 'coffee beer' yet myself. I have always been happy with the light flavors imparted from chocolate grain for my stouts. Please let me know how this turns out.

 

[ultravista]

I made the clone out of Sams book, converted to all grain, and doubled the sugar. It was a good brew and went fast. It didn't taste too much like the real deal though. The maltiness wasn't there. I would make it again however.

 

[JordanThomas]

I made the clone out of Sams book, converted to all grain, and doubled the sugar. It was a good brew and went fast. It didn't taste too much like the real deal though. The maltiness wasn't there. I would make it again however.

I read the recipe and subbed out the hops, as I've never seen Vanguard hops. Also, I find it hard to believe that the DFH is actually 50+ IBU, so I subbed lower AA hops.

Did you find it to be bitter if you stuck with Vanguard or another high AA hop?

 

[JordanThomas]

Just to update, we brewed this on Saturday and ended up with the following recipe and results:

Method: All Grain
Style: Brown Ale
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5 gallons
Boil Size: 6.5 gallons
Efficiency: 75%
Source: JordanThomas
Original Gravity: 1.066
Final Gravity: TBD - 1.015 (Expected)
ABV (standard): 6.8%
IBU (tinseth): 34

Fermentables
Amount Fermentable PPG °L Bill %
11 lb Maris Otter Pale 38 3.75 79.1%
0.75 lb CaraAmber 34 23 6.6%
0.5 lb Caramel / Crystal 60L 34 60 4.4%
0.375 lb Chocolate 29 350 4.4%
0.125 lb Roasted Barley 33 300 1.1%

Hops
Amount Variety Time AA Type Use
1 oz East Kent Goldings 60 min 5 Pellet Boil
1 oz Willamette 30 min 4.5 Pellet Boil
1 oz Willamette 5 min 4.5 Pellet Boil

Mash Steps
Amount Description Type Temp Time
-- Infusion 154 F 60 min

Other Ingredients
Amount Name Time Type Use
1.5 oz Cold Brewed Vanilla Coffee 10 min Flavor Boil
2 oz Cold Brewed Hazelnut Coffee 0 min Flavor Bottling

Yeast - Safale 04
Starter: NO
Attenuation: 77%


To Summarize, I changed the last hop addition from flameout to 5 minutes, and reduced the quantity by an ounce, and increased the base malt to 11 lbs. I decided to use a pack and a half of Safale 04, which was perhaps too much per Mr Malty. Hopefully that doesn't produce anything strange. Bubbling away already as of this morning.