Good Hops for a Nut Brown Ale?

[kfactor213]

Morning everyone!

I'm getting ready to do my first AG batch this weekend and decided to go with a Nut Brown Ale (might be replacing milk stout as my favorite type of beer). I'm thinking something like this for the grain bill:
7 lbs MO
2 lbs Crystal 40L
0.5 lbs Chocolate

but I'm not too well versed on hops and haven't decided what to go with there yet. What are some of you guys' favorite hops that you've used with this style of beer?

 

[CKing]

Willamette!

Popular American development in 1976 of the English Fuggle. Named for the Willamette Valley, an important hop-growing area. It has a character similar to Fuggle, but is more fruity and has some floral notes. Used in British and American ales. A recent taste-test comparison between Ahtanum and Willamette has described some similarity between the varieties.[1]

 

[ApothecaryBrewing]

I just did a brown ale this weekend and threw in Nugget and UK Fuggle hops for a total IBU of around 40. I will let you know how it goes but I suspect a victory haha.

0.5 oz. Nugget @ 45 min
1 oz. Fuggle @ 15 min
0.5 oz. Nugget @ 15 min

Cheers!

 

[Yooper]

I'm not crazy about your grainbill.

I think it's too much caramel/crystal malt, and lacking the "nut" flavor of victory malt. I'd like to see a little less chocolate malt as well, as it can be pretty "roasty" in a beer. I really like pale chocolate malt, as it's milder, but regular chocolate malt is fine in a smaller amount.

Otherwise, you've got more of a Southern English brown, which is fine of course.

I like EKG for these kinds of beers, but willamette is another good choice.

 

[cclloyd]

I'm not crazy about your grainbill.

I think it's too much caramel/crystal malt, and lacking the "nut" flavor of victory malt. I'd like to see a little less chocolate malt as well, as it can be pretty "roasty" in a beer. I really like pale chocolate malt, as it's milder, but regular chocolate malt is fine in a smaller amount.

Yes this. 2LBS is a lot of crystal in this size recipe. Maybe cut the 40L back to a pound and make it up with victory and a little biscuit or something similar. You want the nutty malty flavor to come through more than the carmel toffee flavors you'd get from that much crystal. As for the hops Fuggles / EKG / Willamette are all good choices for the style.

 

[kfactor213]

I gotcha. Yeah I based that off a recipe I found on a site and was wondering where it would be getting the nutty flavor. Maybe I'll try something more like:

8 lbs MO
1 lb Victory
1 lb Crystal 40L
0.25 lb Chocolate

Does this look better?

For hops I think I may go with Fuggles/Willamettes for this one. Definitely let me know how yours turns out VTrookie, Nuggets sound like they would be good for when I'm experimenting with IPAs.

 

[ApothecaryBrewing]

Yeah I was kind of trying to mimic the more hoppy & sweet DFH Indian Brown Ale. I am planning on priming with some brown sugar to give it that slight molasses-y flavor as well.

 

[PhelanKA7]

I would say Fuggles, thru and thru.

 

[julioardz]

My nut brown is EKG for bittering and Fuggles at 15 and 5 mins. I use biscuit malt and special roast in mine.