English brown ale recipe

[Virtus]

Hello!

I have a question how to properly design english brown ale.

I have these malts avaliable at home:

Crystal 20L
Crystal 80L
Chocolate 900 EBC- 400L
Special B 300 EBC-120L
Maris Otter 4L

Est Kent Golding.
Jack's mangrove 15 yeast.

Can someone help me with proper ammounts of these ingredients in english brown? I will brew it for BJCP contest. So it is not northern or southern brown. Thanks!

 

[rnm410]

http://hbd.org/brewery/library/Malt101.html

Start with that link, use bjcp guidelines and the recipe section as a guide, and use a brew calculator to get your color/%'s.

Be creative in making your own.

Post it for review.

 

[Virtus]

http://hbd.org/brewery/library/Malt101.html

Start with that link, use bjcp guidelines and the recipe section as a guide, and use a brew calculator to get your color/%'s.

Be creative in making your own.

Post it for review.

I've already have recipe which i create today.

Maris Otter 4L 83.3 %
Crystal 20L 3.7 %
Crystal 75L 9.3 %
Special B 115L 2.8 %
Chocolate 340L 0.9%


Styrian Dana 80min 30g
EST Kent 30min 15g

Jack's mangrove 15 yeast 33g

Batch size: 41L
IBU: 24
OG: 1.057
ABV: 5.4
SRM: 20


It all fits in BJCP category. But i am not sure for crystal amount, special B... How much crystal is propriate for these style?

 

[iijakii]

Special B sounds a little out of place to me.

 

[BigEd]

I've already have recipe which i create today.

Maris Otter 4L 83.3 %
Crystal 20L 3.7 %
Crystal 75L 9.3 %
Special B 115L 2.8 %
Chocolate 340L 0.9%


Styrian Dana 80min 30g
EST Kent 30min 15g

Jack's mangrove 15 yeast 33g

Batch size: 41L
IBU: 24
OG: 1.057
ABV: 5.4
SRM: 20


It all fits in BJCP category. But i am not sure for crystal amount, special B... How much crystal is propriate for these style?

Just because you have all those malts doesn't mean you should use them all in a brown ale. I'd pare it down to three, the pale, 75L, and the chocolate. Try 92% pale and 4% each of the 75 crystal and chocolate. Run it through a recipe program to check the color and tweak the percentages from there. My other suggestions are to reduce both the OG and IBUs to more traditional numbers like 1.040 on the OG and IBUs of 20 tops.

 

[rnm410]

I've never ran more than one crystal, from all of what I've read pick one and stick with it. I do not see special b being out of place just use it sparingly. Homebrewing is a beast of opinion, I would stick with mostly base male, <10% crystal, and switch the %'s on chocolate and special b around. Looks like you've pretty much got it though.

A good rule is always start simple and build up from there, change one variable at a time.

 

[BaylessBrewer]

I use Special roast, victory, pale chocolate and special b all in equal amounts @ 2.5% each with MO base in my British Brown and it's a wonderful complex tasting brown. I used wyeast 1882 PC this time and I love it.
I also use a blend of EKG and Fuggle for my hops

 

[chickypad]

I was going to say I also like to add something a little nutty or toasty in my browns - i.e. on the spectrum of victory/biscuit/special roast. Golden naked oats have become a favorite ingredient of mine - also gives a nice nutty flavor. That's probably more crystal than I would use as others have mentioned, you're at almost 16%, but I guess it depends what you want. I'd probably swap one of those three out for something nutty.

Edit: also, definitely agree with the others that chocolate % is low, I think you want more in the 3-5% range.

 

[Virtus]

Thanks. I think i will cut off crystal 20 and add some biscuit...

 

[JKaranka]

Remember they often use brewer's caramel or dark invert for colouring so they actually don't taste as having lots of speciality malts. We obviously drink with our eyes too when it comes to colour.