looking for a more flavorful Newcastle clone

[joshesmusica]

Before I started homebrewing, I drank mostly boulevard wheat, or Dos Equis Ambar, or things of that nature. So when I tried Newcastle at that point, it really did have that nice biscuity, nutty flavor. I tried one the other day for the first time since i've been homebrewing. it tasted like a watered-down version of what i remember. so i'm looking to make a good solid nutty brown ale, but with a lot more flavor coming through than newcastle. Here's what I got, not sure if the grains can just be steeped or if they need to be mashed.

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 16.29 l
Post Boil Volume: 13.45 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 19.00 l
Bottling Volume: 18.17 l
Estimated OG: 1.055 SG
Estimated Color: 39.7 EBC
Estimated IBU: 23.9 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 0.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
1.00 kg Biscuit Malt (45.3 EBC) Grain 1 19.0 %
0.75 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (118.2 EBC) Grain 2 14.3 %
1.50 kg Amber Liquid Extract (24.6 EBC) Extract 3 28.6 %
28.00 g Willamette [5.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 15.4 IBUs
14.00 g Willamette [5.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 5 1.5 IBUs
0.50 kg Amber Dry Extract [Boil for 1 min](24.6 Dry Extract 6 9.5 %
1.50 kg Amber Liquid Extract [Boil for 1 min](24 Extract 7 28.6 %
1.0 pkg Nottingham (Danstar #-) [23.66 ml] Yeast 8 -


or if you have any tried and true really good nut brown ale recipes that look nothing like this, i would love any and all recommendations. thanks!

 

[giraffe]

Waaaaay too much biscuit malt, id go .25kg, I expect 1kg to be undrinkable.

Can you get Marris Otter LME? If so use that instead to the amber malt extract. Newcastle uses 80L. You can taste a dark fruit note. 25-50g of pale chocolate 200L would be a nice addition to dry out the finish.

As for other brown ales (youd have to convert to extract):

Riggwelter style: 1.056, 80% Marris Otter, 6% Crystal 80 , 5% Pale Chocolate , 9% Torrified wheat, 37IBU, 28g of english finishing hops, 1469 yeast.

Generic nut brown: 1.050 81% Marris Otter, 8% Crystal 60L-80L, 4% Biscuit/victory, 5% Brown malt, 2% Pale chocolate, 25 IBU, 28g of english finishing hops, 1469 or other estery english yeast.

 

[joshesmusica]

i can't get any MO LME. my choices are from briess: golden light, pilsen, munich, amber, porter, rye, special dark, bavarian wheat, traditional dark.

 

[giraffe]

Id probably use golden light, and get the color from the specialty malts. The amber likely gets its color from an unknown amount/type of crystal malt.

 

[joshesmusica]

i'm really just looking for a really good nut brown, which one of the recipes would you recommend most?

 

[JKaranka]

I'd expect the IBU to be a bit higher as well, around 35+IBU. Newkie brown has that nasty tart / bitter twang to it. Prominent but enjoyable.

 

[joshesmusica]

Id probably use golden light, and get the color from the specialty malts. The amber likely gets its color from an unknown amount/type of crystal malt.

what if i went with part golden light, part munich? so it would look something like this:

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
0.35 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (157.6 EBC) Grain 1 8.1 %
0.22 kg Brown Malt (128.1 EBC) Grain 2 5.0 %
0.17 kg Biscuit Malt (45.3 EBC) Grain 3 4.0 %
0.10 kg Chocolate Malt (689.5 EBC) Grain 4 2.3 %
1.50 kg LME Munich (Briess) (20.0 EBC) Extract 5 34.5 %
28.00 g Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 45.0 min Hop 6 11.7 IBUs
21.00 g Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 7 4.7 IBUs
0.50 kg DME Golden Light (Briess) [Boil for 1 mi Dry Extract 8 11.5 %
1.50 kg LME Golden Light (Briess) [Boil for 1 mi Extract 9 34.5 %
1.0 pkg Nottingham (Danstar #-) [23.66 ml] Yeast 10 -

 

[bu_gee]

If you're willing to not work in metric, Lil' Sparky's Nut Brown is pretty fantastic:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f67/nut-brown-ag-30187/

Not sure that it us exactly what you're looking for, but it is pretty darned tasty. If necessary, it should be pretty easy to convert it to a partial mash.