British Brown Ale Nut Brown AG

[46binder]

Just brewed this today, beautiful brown color and nutty smell, and i hit all the numbers.

 

[MarcusKillion]

Been drinking away on this . Very good ! I make this with 1 LB chocolate malt . it is very tasty indeed. I also like it with the .25 chocolate malt and in fact think next time I will make it in between at .50 .
this and Cream of Three Crops are my favorite beers .

 

[TheWeeb]

Greetings! Going to scale this up to a 15 gallon all-grain with the club, and want to make it a bit more fall/harvest-like, so am using some maple syrup (2-3 pounds) and considering the addition of some light spices - a bit of ginger and maybe some allspice - to reference fall flavors. I am wanting these to be in the background, as the nutty brown must be front and center, and am unsure of how much to use for 15 gallons. Any advice is much appreciated!

 

[mtnagel]

Make sure you read up on maple syrup additions. It's highly fermentable and will drop the final gravity and dry your beer out. Or so I've heard. Never tried it. I'm experimenting with making a maple coffee stout (Founders Canadian Breakfast stout clone). I'm trying maple syrup as the sugar at bottling and maple flavor at bottling. Good luck.

 

[FATC1TY]

Greetings! Going to scale this up to a 15 gallon all-grain with the club, and want to make it a bit more fall/harvest-like, so am using some maple syrup (2-3 pounds) and considering the addition of some light spices - a bit of ginger and maybe some allspice - to reference fall flavors. I am wanting these to be in the background, as the nutty brown must be front and center, and am unsure of how much to use for 15 gallons. Any advice is much appreciated!

Might be easier to use maple extract. Or add it post fermentation to a keg and blend. Keep it cold, as the maple will ferment out completely and leave pretty much nothing.

I'd use B grade if you can, has more maple flavor than the prime A.

I did this recipe with maple syrup, and wasn't impressed. Could have been my choice of yeast which was the whitbred strain. I kegged and added maple in secondary, allowed it to ferment, and added again to the keg. I got the maple in there, subtle though.

 

[winvarin]

Looking for a sanity check here. I have run the numbers and I am pretty sure I know what I did. But I figured I would double-check here.

I brewed this last fall as a 5 gallon batch. I went with the following recipe and got the following result:

Maris Otter - 9.25 pounds (77.1%)
Crystal 80 - 1 pound (8.3%)
Flaked Oats - 1 pound (8.3%)
Victory - .5 pound (4.2%)
Chocolate - .25 pound (2.1%)

Mashed at 154F

Fuggle - 4.3% - 1 ounce at 60
EKG - 5.0% - 1 ounce at 15

OG 1.054 FG 1.018 - (Yeast WLP002) Carmelly, chocolatey, malty with just a hint of UK hop flavor. To me, it occupied the space between a Southern English Brown and a Northern English Brown. Higher in gravity than a Southern. But richer and maltier than a Northern.

Fast forward to last month. I'd been listening to some old episodes of the Jamil Show and wanted to push this recipe closer to a Northern. I wanted to dry it out a bit, lighten the mouthfeel and accentuate the hops more than in my previous version. What I came up with was a hybrid of this recipe and Jamil's Northern recipe.

This was for 10 gallons

Maris Otter - 17 pounds (81.9%)
English dark crystal (75L) - .75 pound (3.6%)
Victory - 1 pound (4.8%)
Flaked Oats - 1 pound (4.8%)
Special Roast - .5 pound (2.4%)
Pale Chocolate - .25 pound (1.2%)
Chocolate - .25 pound (1.2%)

Mash at 151F

Fuggle 4.5% - 2 ounces at 60 (13 gallons at start of boil)
EKG 5.8% - 2 ounces at 15 (11 gallons at end of boil)

OG 1.050 FG 1.012 (WLP002) - The resulting beer is significantly drier in mouthfeel than my original beer. The hops also stand out quite a bit more. Whereas the original beer was carmel and chocolate, this one is more "toast" and darker flavors (licorice and tobacco are the only 2 the come to mind).

This version is good. The previous version was great. Instead of going "greater" I'm thinking my recipe changes pushed the beer in the direction of just good.

I reviewed those #s side by side this morning and think that I hit on a perfect storm of changes all at once. I am of the mind that the following changes dried this beer out more than I'd anticipated and I simply over-shot my mark:

1. Replaced a significant amount of the sweeter non-fermentables and body building grains (crystal and oats) with a higher percentage of base malt.

2. Hops were slightly higher in AA%. Add to that the fact that my higher boil volume by doing a 10-ish gallon vs. 5-gallon batch resulted in higher hop utilization.

3. Dropped my mash temperature 3F in the second beer. This resulted and the malt bill changes resulted in an apparent fermentation of 76% vs. my original 67%.

I'd still like to make a "less sweet" version of the original. But at this point I am wondering do I just revert to the original recipe and drop the mash temperature a bit. Or just take the new recipe but add back some of the crystal to sweeten it up a bit. I really like the complexity that the 2 types of chocolate plus the special roast give the current version of the beer. My main issue with my current result is that I dried it out enough to make the hops stand out firmer than I want.

And I am sure the special roast adds to the perception of bitterness as well.

 

[Sippin37]

I would start with the original recipe and just make one change at a time so you can pinpoint what exactly was affected and how. Based on what your end goal is I would simply drop the mash temp of the original recipe from 154F to 150F. This will obviously lower the FG, dry the beer out more, and leave less residual sugars. From there you can add any other specialty malts you feel you are missing into the next batch.

That is just what I would do, but everyone is different. Regardless, let us know what you do and how it turns out. Cheers!

 

[Matteo57]

Looks good!!

 

[MarcusKillion]

Looking for a sanity check here. I have run the numbers and I am pretty sure I know what I did. But I figured I would double-check here.

I brewed this last fall as a 5 gallon batch. I went with the following recipe and got the following result:

Maris Otter - 9.25 pounds (77.1%)
Crystal 80 - 1 pound (8.3%)
Flaked Oats - 1 pound (8.3%)
Victory - .5 pound (4.2%)
Chocolate - .25 pound (2.1%)

Mashed at 154F

Fuggle - 4.3% - 1 ounce at 60
EKG - 5.0% - 1 ounce at 15

OG 1.054 FG 1.018 - (Yeast WLP002) Carmelly, chocolatey, malty with just a hint of UK hop flavor. To me, it occupied the space between a Southern English Brown and a Northern English Brown. Higher in gravity than a Southern. But richer and maltier than a Northern.

Fast forward to last month. I'd been listening to some old episodes of the Jamil Show and wanted to push this recipe closer to a Northern. I wanted to dry it out a bit, lighten the mouthfeel and accentuate the hops more than in my previous version. What I came up with was a hybrid of this recipe and Jamil's Northern recipe.

This was for 10 gallons

Maris Otter - 17 pounds (81.9%)
English dark crystal (75L) - .75 pound (3.6%)
Victory - 1 pound (4.8%)
Flaked Oats - 1 pound (4.8%)
Special Roast - .5 pound (2.4%)
Pale Chocolate - .25 pound (1.2%)
Chocolate - .25 pound (1.2%)

Mash at 151F

Fuggle 4.5% - 2 ounces at 60 (13 gallons at start of boil)
EKG 5.8% - 2 ounces at 15 (11 gallons at end of boil)

< snipped for space saving >

If you want more flavor less sweet then try this version . It is very good and the one I make the most although I do make both .
This is a 5.5 gallon batch but I make it 6 gallons and it comes out real good .

Just do not do as I did a couple batches back and add in 1 pound of black malt thinking I was adding chocolate , it was in a bag marked chocolate when i bought it but I thought it was looking rather dark got stupid used it any way. Very biter and I poured it out .

EDIT: I thought I might add in that this has a bit of a bitter chocolate taste so if you do not want so much you might drop it to .50 or so chocolate and the hops flavors would shine through i think . Actually next time I think I will do that . maybe even more kent at 15 min


9 Lbs pale 2 row
1 Lbs Caramel Crystal 60 L
1 Lbs Chocolate malt
1 Lbs flaked oats
.50 Lbs Victory malt
1 Oz Fuggles @ 60 min
1 Oz East Kent goldings @ 60 min
1 Oz Fuggles @ 15 min
Notty yeast

 

[TheWeeb]

This has some very interesting variations. My session, this past Sunday, was this:

15 Gallon All Grain batch

Mash @ 154 60 min (11 gal @ 168 to get there):
25 lbs pale 2-row
4 lbs Caramel 60L
1 lb Chocolate malt
1 lb Victory malt
3 lbs Flaked Oats

Batch sparge @ 170

Boil 60 min

@ 60 min 3 oz Fuggles
@ 30 min 3 oz Goldings
@ 10 min 3 tsp Irish Moss
@ flameout:

3 lbs clover honey
2 lbs maple syrup
2 Tbs allspice

Proofed the yeast @ 80 degrees using 3 cups third runnings 3x packets Nottingham dry yeast

Pitched @ 70.

OG: 1.058, FG estimate 1.008 (we have amazing attenuation with this Louisville water)

We will see how this turns out....

 

[winvarin]

I may have spoken too soon. I'm wondering if I drank these with trub and hop matter from the first couple of pints. The more bitter samples were consumed over the weekend. Before the weekend closed out, I filled my dad's 1.75 gal keg with some of the beer fermented with WLP013. For the 002, I filled a 64 ounce growler to take to an event.

That got any trub or hops out. I went back to try both beers last night. The bitterness has backed off and the malt is in the foreground. In the 002 I get a lot of Maris otter biscuity nuttiness. In the 013, I get the coffee and chocolate I was looking for.

It tastes like I am headed in the right direction with this one. I picked up some Newcastle on the way home and tried it side by side with the 013. The Newcastle has a hint more bitterness. Mine is a little more chocolatey and a touch bigger than the Newcastle.

I had my wife (who generally only drinks stuff if it is purple and comes in a wine glass) try them, not knowing which was which. She picked the home brew as having more depth and better flavor. She thought the Newcastle was blander and had less, we'll, just less everything.

I live in a state where our alcohol distributors abuse our beer horribly. They store it in warm warehouses and none of our liquor stores can sell it cold. So I am willing to believe even a can if Newcastle will show signs of abuse here. I have had it fresh and it is still one of my favorite beers. There is a flavor i got in the commercial beer that i picked up in a can of Old Speckeled Hen i had recently. i am thinking this may just be age and poor handling.

But this new recipe is something to continue exploring. I can definitely see myself brewing the sweeter, heavier version as a fall/winter beer and switching to the drier version for spring/summer.

 

[MarcusKillion]

the newcastle is way too bitter for the beer . I tried one and never bought another . This recipe is far superior .
I like the Lil Sparky version in the warm weather . Nice and smooth with no sticky feeling left in my mouth that I do not want when I am hot and thirsty .
EDIT : I like to let my nut browns age in the bottle for about a month . they really start tasting better .

 

[winvarin]

I almost feel like I'm cheating on my house yeast. I split this batch. Half got wlp002 (my go to strain). The other half got wlp013. I have to admit I really am liking the 013 in the drier version of the beer.

 

[TheWeeb]

Racked mine to secondary, gravity down to 1.008, as expected. May get another point or two in secondary, should finish at a very drinkable 6.7-6.9% ABV. Will post a pic or two and some tasting notes once finished and carbonated.

 

[46binder]

53 bottles this morning. 4 weeks in secondary, beautiful brown, clear as could be. A little green, but I could drink it now as is. Can tell already its going to be a great NB.

 

[McboBrewer]

53 bottles this morning. 4 weeks in secondary, beautiful brown, clear as could be. A little green, but I could drink it now as is. Can tell already its going to be a great NB.

Was it hazy? for the oats.

 

[46binder]

Drinking it now, only 2 weeks in the bottle but tastes great. No haze, still a little green, a couple more weeks and it will be even better.

 

[amandley]

Got this one in the mash right now. Just a couple changes to the OP. What do you think?

8.5 lbs 2 row

1 lb crystal 60

1 lb victory

.25 lb chocolate

.25 carafa

.25 honey malt

1 oz fuggles @ 60

1 oz e kent goldings @ 15

1 oz fuggles @ 15

Nottingham yeast dry

 

[MarcusKillion]

looks tasty top me

 

[xjmox14x]

FYI for those of you wondering (as I was). I wanted to make a maple nut brown so I decided to use this as a base as I've made it before and loved it. I skipped on the maple syrup as everyone typically suggests and used maple extract instead. Using a few commercial beers and a 1ml dropper I put together a couple of taste tests and scaled it up from there. I found that adding 0.5 oz. of the maple extract wasn't bad, but you wouldn't be able to notice it unless I told you it was in there. 1.0 oz. had good maple aroma and flavor, but seemed to overpower the base beer a bit. So, I decided to go with 0.75 oz. I just tapped this last night and it is amazing. There's a big maple aroma and taste, but doesn't overpower the nutty/chocolately notes of the base beer. Nor is it sweet or "sticky" tasting, as I was fearing. Definitely nailed it.

 

[TrustyOlJohnson]

FYI for those of you wondering (as I was). I wanted to make a maple nut brown so I decided to use this as a base as I've made it before and loved it. I skipped on the maple syrup as everyone typically suggests and used maple extract instead. Using a few commercial beers and a 1ml dropper I put together a couple of taste tests and scaled it up from there. I found that adding 0.5 oz. of the maple extract wasn't bad, but you wouldn't be able to notice it unless I told you it was in there. 1.0 oz. had good maple aroma and flavor, but seemed to overpower the base beer a bit. So, I decided to go with 0.75 oz. I just tapped this last night and it is amazing. There's a big maple aroma and taste, but doesn't overpower the nutty/chocolately notes of the base beer. Nor is it sweet or "sticky" tasting, as I was fearing. Definitely nailed it.

Quick question, how many drops per bottle equal 1 teaspoon per 5 gallons??

 

[brew_ny]

I brew this on 8-27-2013 as a 11.5 gallon partial mash had it in the kegs on 9-4-2013 on gas drinking by 9-7-2013

I brewed it with s-04 as the yeast very nice nut brown drinks well, I like it at about 54 degrees

I have one 5 gallon keg with priming sugar sitting at 70 degrees I can't want to taste it, I will be brewing this one again for sure all grain

thanks for a super nice nut brown ale recipe

all the best

S_M

 

[xjmox14x]

Quick question, how many drops per bottle equal 1 teaspoon per 5 gallons??

1 tsp is 5ml. So 1 tsp for 5 gallons would be about 0.02 ml per bottle. no odea how many drops that would be but I ended up using around .35ml per 12 oz.

 

[TrustyOlJohnson]

So I did a google search. I found on a forum that 20 drops equals 1 ml. I heard it on the internet, so it has to be true

 

[brew_ny]

I heard it on the internet,

it has to be true

 

[asco]

Hey... im brewing this great beer atm. But im not sure about the tempraturs for the yeast. im at primary fermitation now and its on 70F now, so i need to cool it down. The best temp. for the yeast should be 57-70F, i have an refrigerator there can go up to 50-54F, but is this to could? what am i best off doing? 70f or 50-54f ?

 

[MarcusKillion]

Here is my opinion of ferment temp through experimentation . I always fermented in my laundry room where the AC unit is . It is usually 70 to 72 degrees room temp in their . Beer comes out great . no problems . Even blondes do not get any off flavors . Note that I use US05 or Notty almost all the time . this may make a difference if using some other type yeast .
I recently bought a fridge to get it colder and see if that made a better beer . NOT ! All it did by dropping the temp down to 64 to 68 is cause my fermentation to go very slowly and take 2 to 2 1/2 weeks to finish . Beer tastes just the same .
I noticed that after initial fast take off in fermenter that temp was around 76 degrees ( beer ) and most of the time around 2 degrees warmer than room temp .
I have since dumped the fridge idea and went back to 70 degree room temp.

 

[asco]

Here is my opinion of ferment temp through experimentation . I always fermented in my laundry room where the AC unit is . It is usually 70 to 72 degrees room temp in their . Beer comes out great . no problems . Even blondes do not get any off flavors . Note that I use US05 or Notty almost all the time . this may make a difference if using some other type yeast .
I recently bought a fridge to get it colder and see if that made a better beer . NOT ! All it did by dropping the temp down to 64 to 68 is cause my fermentation to go very slowly and take 2 to 2 1/2 weeks to finish . Beer tastes just the same .
I noticed that after initial fast take off in fermenter that temp was around 76 degrees ( beer ) and most of the time around 2 degrees warmer than room temp .
I have since dumped the fridge idea and went back to 70 degree room temp.

Hey thx for the info.. i can see the temp. are around 68-70 this morgning on the bucket som i guess it should be fine. Btw nice info on you experiment, i will keep it in mind for another time...

ill will repost when beer is done to tell how it went

 

[finsfan]

hopefully brewing this soon

 

[MarcusKillion]

Ran out of nut brown . Must hang myself now .