British Brown Ale Nut Brown AG

[st0neski]

How much nutmag did you use? Did you put it right in the boil?

I honestly couldnt tell you how much I put in. I put spices in beer like i put spices in when I cook, which is without measuring.

I can tell you that i put a cinnamon stick in for the full boil. I threw like 8-9 dashes of nutmeg in for the whole boil.

Then at the end, like 15 minutes left, I threw 3-5 more dashes of nutmeg, and 3-5 dashes of ground cinnamon.

I might have overdone it, but I will find out later.

 

[lowlife]

Im thinking of doing this with a sour mash. Any thoughts?

 

[Lil' Sparky]

Never done a sour mash, so I can't help you there.

 

[st0neski]

i brewed this AG today, its cooling right now after the boil. I added in some nutmeg and cinnamon to make it a christmas brew, we shall see how it comes out

Just transfered this into the secondary on Saturday. Gravity was at 1.018. But there has already been airlock activity in the secondary, so it should make it to around 1.010.

The sample taste was great.

 

[Casey27]

What a great beer!
I used to think Avery's Ellie's Brown was my favorite brown, but I compared it to this and I actually like this better. Avery's tastes like it has too much dark crystal in it. I prefer the balance of this recipe.
Next time I brew this one I am going to up the chocolate malt and toast the oats!

 

[Lil' Sparky]

Sweet, glad you liked it!

 

[pauly99]

As a homebrew newbie, I picked up the necessary hardware and brewed an all in one kit as my first batch. It was an all malt kit. A friend who hadn't had a beer in years said that it was fantastic and I kept the whole process as clean as a whistle. That was my only brew up to date and I'm ready to try this recipe.

Besides finding the correct (or very close) ingredients at my local homebrew store, how might this brewing process (recipe) be different than the all in one kit? Am I putting all of the ingredients above in the pot to boil?

 

[masonsjax]

If there are any brew clubs near you (Google it, since you don't have your location listed), you should try to hook up with someone local and help them out with a brewday. If that's not an option, be sure to read all of the sticky threads from the top of each topic on this forum, you will learn enough to figure out the process. If you plan to do this recipe all grain, you will need to make or buy more equipment than you probably already have. Read as much as you can, use the search function on this site, and don't be afraid to ask questions that you can't find the answer to. It's also a good idea to read "how to brew", which is free online at howtobrew.com. Good luck.

 

[DubbelDach]

Doing my second batch of this tomorrow... One of the best recipes I've ever found online. Thanks again, Sparky!!!

 

[lower1310]

I know you get this a lot on this recipe, but this is an exceptional beer. Excellent work!

 

[lowlife]

subbed willamette for fuggles, its very nice.

edit... I used s-04 yeast fermented at a steady 60 degrees.

 

[Lil' Sparky]

Yeah, I bet willamette would work well. Nice call!

 

[masonsjax]

Yeah I used Willamette when I made this recipe, it was a very tasty brew.

 

[st0neski]

just bottled mine last night, tasted amazing. Can't wait till its carbonated and cold

 

[jlpred55]

What yeast did most people use with the recipe? I know notty is recommended but I won't use that yeast now after my bad experiences with it! I used 1335 and got this funky banana ester that I had never got from this yeast. I fermented at 64 deg. I let it bulk age for 5 weeks before bottling at that time it still had that ester, though slightly less. Now it is 8 weeks old and the ester is gone. It is not carbed very well yet but is crystal clear, looks beautiful in the glass and smells great. I will reserve my taste judgement until I can tasted a fully carbed version. Mine ended up at 1.016 and the mouthfeel is lacking, I hope the carbonation picks that up a notch. Anyway, I was thinking that my yeast choice would have worked out well but now I am thinking other options for next go round. Any recommendations?

 

[JohnnyO]

I'll brewing this on Saturday. I'm pretty stoked about it. I transferred my DFH60 clone to secondary last night. I bought both ingredient kits at once. My hope is to have them both flowing around Christmas time!!

I changed out the Nottingham in my order though. I went with the White Labs British Ale (or London Ale?). I can't remember which one as it was about 3-4 weeks ago.

 

[JohnnyO]

I just brewed this yesterday. I'm excited to see how it turns out. For some reason, I got an OG of 1.058 (I'm so used to undershooting my OG, that I don't know how to feel about this. Ehh, whatever, it'll be beer regardless).

The only hiccup that during the brew was a boilover. I put the lid on slightly to guard against any divebombing birds outside (or and scurrying squirrels, considering its a nut brown...) and went in to take care of something. When I came out the ground was wet, and there was hop sediment on the lid and on the ground. I scraped whatever sediment was on the lid and walls of the BK back in, and poured some out for my dead homies on the ground. I'm sure I'll get some loss in bitterness/aroma from this (it was the 15 min. addition of EK Goldings), but hopefully not too much.

It smelled great and was a fun brew day. Thanks for the recipe, Lil Sparky!

 

[andysim]

I just brewed this yesterday.

I subbed barley flakes for oat flakes and US-05 yeast.

 

[Lil' Sparky]

You guys report back on what you think after it's carbed up!

 

[Hugh_Jass]

Brewed 10 gallon of this a couple of weeks ago. Pitched 1099 Whitbread into 5 gal and 1028 London Ale into 5 gal.

Racking to keg this week. Both are holding at 1.016 and tasted great.

Thanks for the recipe, Sparky

 

[st0neski]

You guys report back on what you think after it's carbed up!

I am probably going to pop one open to see how its coming along at the end of this week.

 

[Jud]

Lil I brewed your Nut Brown it was a hit!!! Everyone loved it the keg only lasted 1 week!!! I had to brew a 9.5 gallon batch!! I bumped the grain bill up some though SG is 1.056! Should make it last longer around here, or so I hope!!!

 

[andysim]

You guys report back on what you think after it's carbed up!

I'll let you know in about four weeks.

 

[jspence1]

You guys report back on what you think after it's carbed up!

I brewed this again 2 weeks ago. I dialed back from the 1.065 I did the first time (first time using my barley crusher) to a 1.060. I have to tell you that the first batch was the best beer have ever brewed. If I can duplicate those results I will dance for joy:rockin:

This could very well be the best beer I have ever tasted

 

[Lil' Sparky]

Wow, thanks for the awesome feedback!

 

[ILOVEBEER]

Lil Sparky,

I noticed your sparge water is "Sparge Water: 4.21 gal" for a 5 gallon batch. I am new to AG and am going to ask a stupid question. How do you get 5+ gallons of beer with only 4.21 gallons of water. How much is your initial "strike" water that you add to the grains before sparging?

Thanks...sorry for the dumb questions.

I'd like to make this but in a 10 gallon version.

Thanks
Joe

 

[Lil' Sparky]

Joe, the strike/sparge volumes are what I used based on my system and it's losses, and the water/grain ratio that I was using. Software programs like Beersmith can really help you get your system dialed in, where you can take any grain bill and hit the final volume you're shooting for.

The bottom line of the recipe had the strike volume, strike temp, and target mash temp:
Mash In Add 14.69 qt of water at 165.9 F 154.0 F 60 min

Combine that 3.5 gals with the 4.2 gals sparge, factor in the grain absorbtion (~ 1.2 gal) and boil-off during the boil (~ 1 gal) and you end up with ~ 5.5 gals post boil.

Like I said, though - get some brewing software. It's cheap (some even have trial versions) and worth every penny IMO!

 

[DubbelDach]

Just tapped this year's batch over the weekend. Fantastic as always (my 2nd time making this)!!!

 

[jlpred55]

Mine is all carbed up been sitting 9 weeks. It is a pretty beer to look at that is for sure. Clear and a nice deep color with a dense creamy head and great lacing. Smell is unmistakably nut brown- then I taste it and I get a whole lot of nothing. It is a super clean beer (no off flavors) and very balanced leaning toward the sweet end. But what is up with getting very little flavor? I get the flavor right at the end and it is subtle, so subtle you have to really look for it. The mouthfeel is great however. I've had many people taste the beer in a ceramic mug to give me there impression (without seeing the color). Most had no clue it was a nut brown ale. Everyone loved it, but they all were shocked when it came back as a nut brown ale. What could I have done wrong? Color is right on so I assume the LHBS didn't screw up the order. The yeast was WY1335 fermented mid to low 60's. Finished at 1.016. Modified my water. Hit all my temps, got the usual efficiency. I only changed the original recipe to include williamette hops and the yeast as stated before. Could my yeast have given me such a bland beer? Any suggestions or tips?

 

[Lil' Sparky]

Man, I don't know what happened. Every time I've brewed this the result was a full-flavored, hearty beer. The IBUs are pretty low in the recipe so there shouldn't be a strong hop presence - like you said, balanced toward the sweet side. But it sounds like something cleaned out all of the good flavor, leaving only the mouthfeel, which is really weird. 1 lb crystal 60L, 1/2 lb victory, and 1/4 lb of chocolate usually result in a lot of flavor for a 5 gal recipe. I guess it could be the yeast, though I've never tried that strain. I wish is would've turned out better for you!