Northern English Brown Ale

[rdheaney]

Hello all... after getting great results with my first ever brew last Spring, I'm finally getting around to another one. As of this past Saturday, I've got a nice Northern English Brown Ale in the primary, bubbling away. I'm very glad I went with a blow-off for this one, as it got a bit rowdy in there for the first 48 hours. Here's the basic recipe:

Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU         
11.0 oz               Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM)   Grain         1        9.2 %         
5.0 oz                Chocolate Malt (450.0 SRM)               Grain         2        4.1 %         
4 lbs                 Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM)              Dry Extract   3        53.3 %        
2 lbs 8.0 oz          Amber Dry Extract (12.5 SRM)             Dry Extract   4        33.3 %        
1.25 oz               Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min         Hop           5        10.5 IBUs     
1.75 oz               Bramling Cross [7.30 %] - Boil 30.0 min  Hop           6        18.4 IBUs     
1.00 Items            Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 25.0 mins)        Fining        7        -             
1.0 pkg               Nottingham Yeast (Lallemand #-) [23.66 m Yeast         8        -             
0.50 oz               Northern Brewer [9.10 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 D Hop           9        0.0 IBUs      
0.25 oz               Bramling Cross [7.30 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Da Hop           10       0.0 IBUs

I don't know how it's going to turn out, but I'll let you know in about three more weeks

Bob

 

[rdheaney]

Hello all... after getting great results with my first ever brew last Spring, I'm finally getting around to another one. As of this past Saturday, I've got a nice Northern English Brown Ale in the primary, bubbling away.

I'm not a fan... it's "ok", I guess... but has a bit of a weird aftertaste to it. Back to the drawing board, I guess.

 

[Arrheinous]

The malts look okay, I've been trying to work out this style too.

Why did you choose Brambling Cross and the dryhop additions? That hop seems to give pretty funky, pungant flavors and that might be the aftertaste. Northern Brewer gives a bit of a minty flavor. It looks like there's too much going on hop-wise for a sweeter, malt-forward style.

Fuggles has also been said to be a better late hop addition than an early one and maybe something like East Kent Golding as your early hop and Fuggles as your late/dry hops would be more appropriate.

Other thing I could recommend is looking at your final gravity. If Nottingham yeast is giving you too dry a beer (which is easy to do on a small beer like this) then you could try liquid yeasts like WLP002/005/007. Nottingham also gives off some of its own esters that might come across as an aftertaste. Probably wouldn't even need a starter.

 

[mprowland]

I'm not a fan... it's "ok", I guess... but has a bit of a weird aftertaste to it. Back to the drawing board, I guess.

I have made 3 batches of the most popular brown ale(Nut Brown AG) under "English Brown Ale" in the recipe page . All 3 batches had the exact same after taste. I've tried using tap water, spring water and distilled water(with salts) and none of these made a difference. I've also tried force carbonation in a keg, "slow and low" carbonation, and bottling; same outcome. I've rehydrated the yeast every time and fermented with ambient temperatures of 70, 68 and 63. I've had the exact same after taste on all three. Actually, everything I've made with Nottingham has never turned out. They have all tasted like the stereotypical "homebrew" that was made 20 years ago. Every other beer I make without Nottinham has been great. I'm either fermenting at too high of a temperature or I just flat out despise Nottingham. I feel your pain. I almost quit brewing because of this!!

 

[rdheaney]

Very interesting, thank you! I really am new to this, so my hop choices are really just a shot in the dark. I had this idea that I should stick with all UK ingredients if it's supposed to be a true Northern English Brown Ale. I realize this might be silly

When you say things like using Fuggles as a later hop addition vs early... that's exactly the kind of knowledge I come here for. Thank you!

 

[rdheaney]

I'm either fermenting at too high of a temperature or I just flat out despise Nottingham. I feel your pain. I almost quit brewing because of this!!

This is my first experience with it. I think I'll try one of the liquid yeasts mentioned above. At this point, I'm having more fun with the experimentation than the actual drinking of the beer

 

[Arrheinous]

WLP002, WLP005, and WLP007 are a series of English ale yeasts by White Labs going from heavier bodied to drier (and from lower ABV to higher ABV) - on paper. WLP005 is my go-to for English styles. But on my first use with a new vial I get huge cottage cheese looking clumps of yeast which make it difficult to siphon from.

WLP002 (Wyeast 1318 is about the same) would be good for something like a sweet English brown ale. If Nottingham is giving you the off-flavor then try something like that.

Here's a massive thread on English ale fermentation. If you can control the temperature keep it to low 60's then raise to 65F and eventually 68F seems to be common. If fermentation temperature can't be controlled then estery yeasts off even more ester flavors which can be out of character for what you want sometimes.

Also, be sure to let the beer ferment for at least three weeks otherwise the yeast haven't had to time to digest some of the off-flavors they make.