Mystery “brown ale” grains... hmmmm....

[OpenSights]

Someone ordered AG milled and thought they were ordering extract! I guess it happens about twice a month. I saw a bag of milled grains on the counter and asked about it after an hour and half. “You want it, brown ale. No charge, 5 gallon.”

Thoughts and suggestions? Experiment type stuff! Hops, yeast.

 

[Kickass]

With a little bit of investigation you could probably figure it out by seeing what their brown ale recipe is (assuming you can access that info). But if the intent is to maintain the mystery, which I can appreciate, don’t look it up and maybe do something fun. Funky yeast or oak soaked in Cointreau orange liqueur or wild on hops. My vector would be oak soaked in Cointreau then rested until you have a nice orange oak brown ale.

 

[mashpaddled]

I would be extremely careful when adding liqueurs to fermenting beers. A lot of them rely on sugar to propel the flavor which goes away with fermentation. They also often have colorants and other additives that yeast can ferment into not great flavors. If you wanted to add orange flavor you could easily add orange peel at flameout or whirlpool.

 

[Kickass]

Thanks for the input @mashpaddled. Do you think oak cubes or chips soaked in Cointreau then added after fermentation would would suffer from the concerns you stated?

As a small side note, not to detract from the point you were making about liqueurs, but Cointreau is colorless.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

I’d accept a free bag of grains! Add more base malt for an amber or leave it as is with English hops and yeast strain. How bad could it turn out?

 

[OpenSights]

I would be extremely careful when adding liqueurs to fermenting beers. A lot of them rely on sugar to propel the flavor which goes away with fermentation. They also often have colorants and other additives that yeast can ferment into not great flavors. If you wanted to add orange flavor you could easily add orange peel at flameout or whirlpool.

For my Christmas beer I make a basic stout and add a tincture of oak chips, cocoa nibs, tart cherry concentrate and Jim Beam vanilla. I add it about a month after pitching and let it ride for another month. Chocolate covered cherry stout. Haven’t had a bad batch yet. I’m thinking it’s because the beer is basically done fermenting.

I do like the orange peel idea! Maybe .5oz citra @60, .5oz at 15 and 1oz at flameout.

 

[cactusgarrett]

Add some oak cubes and smoked malt! Love me some smoked brown ales... mmmmmm.

 

[OpenSights]

I’ve never had a smoked brown ale before, porter yes, one of my favorites. Might have to try that. What hops do you think. When I was given the grain I picked up just 1oz of Mt. Hood for 60 minute.

 

[cactusgarrett]

I’ve never had a smoked brown ale before, porter yes, one of my favorites. Might have to try that. What hops do you think. When I was given the grain I picked up just 1oz of Mt. Hood for 60 minute.

Eh, that's considered more of an "aroma hop" but there's nothing saying you couldn't use it for a bittering addition. If doing a smoked brown, I would add it early for bittering (60-45 minutes), and go easy. For this, the smoke and earthiness are on display; hop profile should be an afterthought.

 

[OpenSights]

Eh, that's considered more of an "aroma hop" but there's nothing saying you couldn't use it for a bittering addition. If doing a smoked brown, I would add it early for bittering (60-45 minutes), and go easy. For this, the smoke and earthiness are on display; hop profile should be an afterthought.

Thanks! Probably going to head to the LHBS this afternoon to get some smoked malt and brew tomorrow. Double brew day, this one and first attempt at a ginger beer.

 

[cactusgarrett]

Thanks! Probably going to head to the LHBS this afternoon to get some smoked malt and brew tomorrow. Double brew day, this one and first attempt at a ginger beer.

If using peat smoked malt. Go really easy (few ounces) since it can get very overpowering. If using regular smoked malt, you have more wiggle room, as (for smoked beers, ie. rauchbier), it can be used up to 100% of the grist.

 

[OpenSights]

Just back from the store. Since they’re closing they were out of peat smoked malt, but had three others. Went with 4oz of cherry. Got it for free.

This will be a fun batch!

 

[cactusgarrett]

Take a look at this thread.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/using-cherry-wood-smoked-malt.416625/

Don't know what your grainbill is, and it sounds like you don't either, but 4oz of cherry smoked malt might be a fart in a whirlwind. Sounds like you'd be needing 10+% for it to be noticeable.

 

[OpenSights]

Take a look at this thread.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/using-cherry-wood-smoked-malt.416625/

Don't know what your grainbill is, and it sounds like you don't either, but 4oz of cherry smoked malt might be a fart in a whirlwind. Sounds like you'd be needing 10+% for it to be noticeable.

I don’t know. As far as weight goes, I have 6lbs of grain for my ginger beer, and comparing the two I’d have to say the brown ale grains, whatever they are, are closer to 12#s.

So I should be at 1.2#s of cherry smoked malt.

My buddy at the supply house, who is very knowledgeable and the one who milled the original grain bill said 4oz should be good.

Kinda want to keep a mystery beer, but I do want enough smoke in it.

AFA oak chips go I have toasted and plain. I’m thinking the toasted. Maybe a tincture with a with a whiskey and add in a month or boil to sanitize and add to the mash?

I’ve done tinctures before for stouts to add after a month and let sit for one more month before kegging.

 

[cactusgarrett]

Sure thing. Better to undershoot than overshoot. Also something to keep in mind if you use smoke again in the future: the flavor will fade with time.
Tinctures are good - it lets you dose to your taste.