My first "from-scratch" recipe...

[maconmatt]

This is my first attempt at building a recipe from scratch. I'm looking to brew a nice, nutty brown ale with some vague chocolate and toffee undertones.

I don't want it too incredibly dark, however. The small amount of chocolate malt is just for taste, hopefully.

Think i'm on the right track for a 5-gallon batch?

6lb 8oz of US Pale Ale Malt
3lb 0oz of US Victory Malt
6.00 oz of US Caramel 40L Malt
4.00 oz of US Chocolate Malt

1.00 oz of UK Golding (45 Min From End)
1.00 oz of US Willamette (15 Min From End)

Wyeast 1272-American Ale II

 

[McNulty]

Add a few ounces of Vienna malt for toffee-like nuttyness.

 

[Nugent]

The 3 lbs. of Victory is way too much IMO. It'll dominate the beer, but not in a good way. I know that accentuating a flavour that you like is tempting, but specialty malt can become overpowering very quickly.

You could use 3 lbs of Vienna along with your base malt if you're looking for the biscuit and slighty sweet character. Use about 5% Victory and up to 5% Chocolate for a proper nutty brown ale.

Less is more with specialty malts. You want to be able to identify what each brings to the beer.

Your choice of specialty grains is really good, though.

 

[maconmatt]

The 3 lbs. of Victory is way too much IMO. It'll dominate the beer, but not in a good way. I know that accentuating a flavour that you like is tempting, but specialty malt can become overpowering very quickly.

You could use 3 lbs of Vienna along with your base malt if you're looking for the biscuit and slighty sweet character. Use about 5% Victory and up to 5% Chocolate for a proper nutty brown ale.

Less is more with specialty malts. You want to be able to identify what each brings to the beer.

Your choice of specialty grains is really good, though.

Awesome! Thanks Nugent. I kinda thought that may be the case!

I'll definitely make those adjustments.

 

[ghpeel]

You can sub out Pale Chocolate for the normal Chocolate too, if you want to dial back on the chocolate/roast character. Pale choc comes across with a slight coffee flavor to me, depending on how much you use.

 

[maconmatt]

Here's my revised recipe. I didn't switch the chocolate out for pale, as it was going to lighten the color out of the range for a Brown Ale style.

(57.1%) 6lb of US Pale Ale Malt
(28.6%) 3lb of US Vienna Malt
(4.8%) 8.00 oz of US Caramel 40L Malt
(4.8%) 8.00 oz of US Chocolate Malt
(4.8%) 8.00 oz of Victory Malt

1.00 oz of UK Golding (45 Min From End)
1.00 oz of US Willamette (15 Min From End)

Wyeast 1272-American Ale II

Thanks again for all of the help! I think this is really the best way to learn about different malt flavors. As of right now, i know VERY LITTLE about the differences. I know what i like, but i'm just now learning how to apply that to a recipe.

 

[dcp27]

if you can find it, you may prefer carastan over C40 for more toffee notes.

 

[maconmatt]

Yeah, I wanted Carastan...but the brewshop i order from doesn't have it in.