Brewsmith
Home brewing moogerfooger
The brew for my first keg is now officially gone. I went to pour a glass and all I got was this:
View attachment 110
Since this brew was so good, I want to share the recipe with everyone. This brew was an experiment in style of yeast and in hop schedule. I wanted to do a brown ale, but couldn't decide on American or English. I decided to do both, with the English version going in the keg and the American in bottles. The grain was the same, in fact I did one mash and split the wort. Then did two boils with different hops and yeast. I wanted something dark and chocolatey, without being roasted, and this is what I came up with:
Dark Brown Ale
5.5 Gallons - 1.050 OG @ 75% eff. SRM: 21
7.5 lb. 2-row
1 lb. 2-row (toasted)
0.5 lb. Crystal 75
0.5 lb. Chocolate Malt
0.5 lb. Cara-pils
0.5 lb. Flaked Barley
With the Crystal, Cara-pils, and the flaked barley it's nice and creamy and pours a good head. It's dark, pratically opaque, like a porter or stout, but without the roasted or coffee flavors. Now the hops. It didn't really come out as a traditional English brown, but it was definately less assertive than the American Version.
English Version - 24 IBU
0.5 oz. E.K. Goldings 5.7% 60 min
0.5 oz. E.K. Goldings 5.7% 30 min
0.25 oz. Willamette 4.0% 30 min
0.25 oz. E.K. Goldings 5.7% 5 min
0.25 oz. Willamette 4.0% 5 min
Pitched with White Labs WLP-005 British Ale
Malty, a little sweet, with chocolate flavors, and a little bitterness on the back end for balance. Head is thick and creamy, especially from the keg. Definately different than from a bottle. I will note that I did not keep my keg refrigerated, but it stayed at cellar temps the whole time. It probably was served at 55 degrees most of the time, which seemed to work out pretty good. The warmer temps let the chocolate come through, in my opinion.
Now to the American version. I wanted to do an assertive contrast to the English Brown, so I used the following hop schedule:
American Version - 46 IBU
0.5 oz. Galena 12.0% 60 min
0.25 oz. Cascade 6.0% 30 min
0.25 oz. Centennial 9.9% 30 min
0.5 oz. Cascade 6.0% 15 min
0.25 oz. Centennial 9.9% 15 min
0.75 oz. Cascade 6.0% 5 min
0.5 oz. Cascade 6.0% Dry
0.5 oz. Willamette 4.0% Dry
Pitched with White Labs WLP-001 CA Ale
My intent was to make something similar to Turbodog from Abita, but I think I went a little further, and I will mention now that if you do make this recipe, do not think of this as a Toubodog clone at all. The end result is a dark brown ale that is assertively hoppy, but with the malt to back it up. The chocolate is not as present as the English version, but still subtlely there. The hops make it seem like a well hopped pale ale, not quite to an IPA, but darker and richer. Right out of the fridge, the hops are strong, but if you let the bottle or glass warm up a little, the sweetness comes through more and makes the beer more balanced. It is still thick and creamy, but the carbonation is slightly different. Not as soft as the keg.
In the end, I like both beers. Each one is different from the other, even though the wort came from the exact same mash. If anyone gives it a try, let me know the results. My "English" version would probably have a better mass appeal, but for the hop-heads here, my American is an interesting experiment into hoppy beer that isn't a pale ale or an IPA.
View attachment 110
Since this brew was so good, I want to share the recipe with everyone. This brew was an experiment in style of yeast and in hop schedule. I wanted to do a brown ale, but couldn't decide on American or English. I decided to do both, with the English version going in the keg and the American in bottles. The grain was the same, in fact I did one mash and split the wort. Then did two boils with different hops and yeast. I wanted something dark and chocolatey, without being roasted, and this is what I came up with:
Dark Brown Ale
5.5 Gallons - 1.050 OG @ 75% eff. SRM: 21
7.5 lb. 2-row
1 lb. 2-row (toasted)
0.5 lb. Crystal 75
0.5 lb. Chocolate Malt
0.5 lb. Cara-pils
0.5 lb. Flaked Barley
With the Crystal, Cara-pils, and the flaked barley it's nice and creamy and pours a good head. It's dark, pratically opaque, like a porter or stout, but without the roasted or coffee flavors. Now the hops. It didn't really come out as a traditional English brown, but it was definately less assertive than the American Version.
English Version - 24 IBU
0.5 oz. E.K. Goldings 5.7% 60 min
0.5 oz. E.K. Goldings 5.7% 30 min
0.25 oz. Willamette 4.0% 30 min
0.25 oz. E.K. Goldings 5.7% 5 min
0.25 oz. Willamette 4.0% 5 min
Pitched with White Labs WLP-005 British Ale
Malty, a little sweet, with chocolate flavors, and a little bitterness on the back end for balance. Head is thick and creamy, especially from the keg. Definately different than from a bottle. I will note that I did not keep my keg refrigerated, but it stayed at cellar temps the whole time. It probably was served at 55 degrees most of the time, which seemed to work out pretty good. The warmer temps let the chocolate come through, in my opinion.
Now to the American version. I wanted to do an assertive contrast to the English Brown, so I used the following hop schedule:
American Version - 46 IBU
0.5 oz. Galena 12.0% 60 min
0.25 oz. Cascade 6.0% 30 min
0.25 oz. Centennial 9.9% 30 min
0.5 oz. Cascade 6.0% 15 min
0.25 oz. Centennial 9.9% 15 min
0.75 oz. Cascade 6.0% 5 min
0.5 oz. Cascade 6.0% Dry
0.5 oz. Willamette 4.0% Dry
Pitched with White Labs WLP-001 CA Ale
My intent was to make something similar to Turbodog from Abita, but I think I went a little further, and I will mention now that if you do make this recipe, do not think of this as a Toubodog clone at all. The end result is a dark brown ale that is assertively hoppy, but with the malt to back it up. The chocolate is not as present as the English version, but still subtlely there. The hops make it seem like a well hopped pale ale, not quite to an IPA, but darker and richer. Right out of the fridge, the hops are strong, but if you let the bottle or glass warm up a little, the sweetness comes through more and makes the beer more balanced. It is still thick and creamy, but the carbonation is slightly different. Not as soft as the keg.
In the end, I like both beers. Each one is different from the other, even though the wort came from the exact same mash. If anyone gives it a try, let me know the results. My "English" version would probably have a better mass appeal, but for the hop-heads here, my American is an interesting experiment into hoppy beer that isn't a pale ale or an IPA.
