First Brown Ale on my own... help and wisdom appreciated!

[jujeinator]

Hey gang,

This is gonna be my fifth batch, second All-Grain (BIAB), and I just wanted to make sure I'm sort of on the right track making up a recipe of my own. I'm shooting for an American/British-ish-type brown ale, a little like Ipswich Dark but with more caramel and toast. I also, just for experimentation's sake, wanted to see what would happen if I threw some roasted barley in instead of chocolate malt. Here's what I'm thinking right now:

8 lbs Pale Malt
1 lb 14 oz biscuit/amber
12 oz Crystal 40
4 oz Roasted Barley

(I haven't worked out hop additions yet, because I have to get to work and I'm doing this without brewing software, but I'm planning on using Fuggles and maybe some Willamette to get to about 35 IBU, give or take)

I was thinking mash at 153 for 60 mins, boil for 60, and then ferment with wyeast 1028 (wash enough slurry from a batch of Orfy's mild that I've got going now). Also I'll be doing a 2.5 gallon batch, but I'm so used to reading 5-gallon measurements that I gave the figures for a 5-gallon recipe.

I know I shouldn't worry and just go for it, but I just wanted to check with HBT to make sure I don't get something sickly sweet-- I was toying with the idea of doing crystal 60 instead of 40 to counteract the roast barley with more sugar. Any and all thoughts are greatly appreciated! Cheers.

 

[Grizzlybrew]

That is a fair amount of Roasted Barley and will provide a pretty strong coffee-like flavor to the beer. I'm confused about the biscuit/amber?... Is it biscuit malt or some type of amber malt?

As far as the crystal malt, a higher Lovibond rating doesn't necessarily mean more sweetness and in fact, once you get to 90°L and above, the sweetness actually decreases, while caramelized character increases.

As you said, you should just go for it. Take notes and go again. That's the beauty of the hobby.

Cheers

 

[frankstoneline]

I prefer a chocolate malt to roast and use a darker crystal (60l in my case). In my most recent brown I used a combo of chocolate and kiln coffee malts with a quite agreeable (to my tastes) outcome. I like the idea of using some biscuit.

 

[Jsuds]

I just got done brewing this an hour ago, I call it the Brewnette. This is the 11 gallon recipe but it includes the percentages to the right.
The wort had some chocolate and roastyness to it. I hope the wheat fills it out, this is the first run at this brew. I plan on dry hoping with a lot of centennial kegging half and bottle the other. It's a kind of a kitchen sink brew but i figured it could be good inspiration. As you can see from my grain bill I'm a bit indecisive. I think if you go black barley it'll be a little more stout like and as the other poster said some coffee character. If you are going English I think chocolate would be more appropriate. I also boiled longer (75min) to really caramelize the sugars I find it help for these sorts of flavor profiles. We'll see in a few weeks.


19 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 76.0 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 6.0 %
1 lbs 4.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 5.0 %
1 lbs 4.0 oz Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) Grain 5.0 %
1 lbs Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM) Grain 4.0 %
8.0 oz Black Barley (Stout) (500.0 SRM) Grain 2.0 %
8.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 2.0 %
1.00 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] - Boil 75.0 min Hop 15.3 IBUs
0.75 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 11.8 IBUs
1.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 7.8 IBUs
2 liters Califfornia Ale WP0001 starter

Est Original Gravity: 1.057 SG Measured Original Gravity: 1.055 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.012 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.9 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 5.9 %
Bitterness: 34.9 IBUs Calories: 183.3 kcal/12oz
Bitterness: 34.9 IBUs Calories: 183.3 kcal/12oz
Est Color: 23.8 SRM

Prost Jw

 

[Bob]

This is gonna be my fifth batch, second All-Grain (BIAB), and I just wanted to make sure I'm sort of on the right track making up a recipe of my own. I'm shooting for an American/British-ish-type brown ale, a little like Ipswich Dark but with more caramel and toast. I also, just for experimentation's sake, wanted to see what would happen if I threw some roasted barley in instead of chocolate malt. Here's what I'm thinking right now:

8 lbs Pale Malt
1 lb 14 oz biscuit/amber
12 oz Crystal 40
4 oz Roasted Barley

I think you're on a very good track with this grist. The roasted barley will definitely give a different character than Chocolate malt, but that's what experimentation is for.

[NB: Have you brewed a "classic" Brown Ale yet? I mean with Chocolate Malt? If not, hold off on the experimentation until you understand how the classic ingredients work. If you don't you won't really have a point of reference. That means you're not experimenting, you're flailing. ]

If you choose Biscuit, by no means use nearly two pounds. That's overwhelmingly too much. I don't recommend more than 8 ounces in five gallons. If you choose Amber malt, your proportion is appropriate. I recommend the Amber; it gives a very nice character to Brown Ale.

There is only the subtlest of differences between 40L and 60L Crystal/Caramel for this beer. You wouldn't be able to tell the difference in blind taste tests, so don't worry about it. I think most people - including me - would be hard pressed to tell the difference between 40 and 60L in a beer where that's the only specialty malt, but that's another argument...

(I haven't worked out hop additions yet, because I have to get to work and I'm doing this without brewing software, but I'm planning on using Fuggles and maybe some Willamette to get to about 35 IBU, give or take)

You won't really be able to tell the difference between Fuggles and Willamette in this beer, so go with the Willamette. (Willamette is a Fuggles cultivar; they're very similar.) I <3 Willamette.

I was thinking mash at 153 for 60 mins, boil for 60, and then ferment with wyeast 1028 (wash enough slurry from a batch of Orfy's mild that I've got going now).

1028 is an excellent yeast for this beer. I prefer 1187, but Ringwood is not a yeast for the beginner, IMO. 153 should be a good temperature.

I prefer to boil for 90 minutes, even if I only bitter for 60. But that's just me.

Bob