British Brown Ale Nut Brown

[Rob2010SS]

Recipe Type

All Grain

Yeast

S04

Yeast Starter

No

Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter

N/A

Batch Size (Gallons)

13.5

Original Gravity

1.050

Final Gravity

1.012

Boiling Time (Minutes)

60

IBU

24.55

Color

20

Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)

3 days @ 66*F

Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)

1 day @ 67*F

Additional Fermentation

9 days @ 68*F

Tasting Notes

Smooth, nutty, no astringency from roasted grains, similar to Samuel Smiths Nut Brown.

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 13.50 gal
Boil Size: 15.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.050 SG
Estimated Color: 20 SRM
Estimated IBU: 24.55 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 80.00%
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Grain Bill:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
16.88 lbs Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 76.00 %
2.48 lbs Victory (25.0 SRM) Grain 10.00 %
1.49 lbs Caramel 60 - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 6.00 %
1.05 lbs Brown Malt (65.0 SRM) Grain 4.00 %
0.47 lbs Carafa II (412.0 SRM) Grain 2.00 %
0.60 lbs Pale Chocolate (225.0 SRM) Grain 2.00 %

Hops:
------------
2.00 oz Fuggles (60 min) Hops 13.24 IBU
2.00 oz EKG (30 min) Hops 11.31 IBU

Yeast:
------------
2 Packets of Safale S-04
**I split the batch into 2 fermenters, 1 packet per fermenter**

Mash Schedule:
------------
60 minutes @ 156*F
Total Grain Weight: 22.97 lbs

Notes:
This beer came out fantastic! My goal was a nut brown ale and for my palate, this was spot on! The heavily roasted grains were kept to minimum so you don't get any of the... for lack of a better term, *astringency*, that sometimes comes with the roasted grains. Mine finished at 1.012, exactly as predicted. Body was perfect and mouthfeel is smooth. The pic below is from 12/22/2019 at about 3pm, roughly 1-1.5 weeks in the keg.

Mine didn't clear like I wanted it to, but it's almost dark enough where you can't tell. Even so, still a fantastic drinking beer. Like I said above, similar to a Samuel Smith's Nut Brown, but I'd say this one was a bit nuttier.

 

[Rob2010SS]

Since I shared a pic of the beer itself, thought it was only fitting to show the lacing it left as well!

 

[Rob2010SS]

***UPDATE***

Brewed this one up again. While I loved the original, figured I'd try and add a late hop addition and see how it went. Next time, I'll increase the late addition as I can't really pick up on it at all.


Recipe TypeAll GrainYeastS04Yeast StarterNoAdditional Yeast or Yeast StarterN/ABatch Size (Gallons)13.5Original Gravity1.050Final Gravity1.012Boiling Time (Minutes)60IBU24.55Color20Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)3 days @ 66*FSecondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)1 day @ 67*FAdditional Fermentation9 days @ 68*FTasting NotesSmooth, nutty, no astringency from roasted grains, similar to Samuel Smiths Nut Brown.
Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 18.00 gal
Boil Size: 19.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.050 SG
Estimated Color: 20 SRM
Estimated IBU: 25.98 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 80.00%
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Grain Bill:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
22.50 lbs Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 76.00 %
3.31 lbs Victory (25.0 SRM) Grain 10.00 %
1.99 lbs Caramel 60 - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 6.00 %
1.41 lbs Brown Malt (65.0 SRM) Grain 4.00 %
.63 lbs Carafa II (412.0 SRM) Grain 2.00 %
.80 lbs Pale Chocolate (225.0 SRM) Grain 2.00 %

Hops:
------------
3.00 oz Fuggles (60 min) Hops 14.14 IBU
2.00 oz EKG (30 min) Hops 8.05 IBU
2.00 oz EKG (10 min) Hops 3.80 IBU

Yeast:
------------
3Packets of Safale S-04

Mash Schedule:
------------
60 minutes @ 156*F
Total Grain Weight: 22.97 lbs

Notes:
I'm attributing it to the yeast not wanting to come out of suspension, but I continually have to add gelatin to this beer to get it to clear. It's a simple beer but for some reason, I love this every time we make it. I continue to think it's my favorite beer we've made to date.

 

[secretlevel]

I feel the same about Bell's Best Brown. It's smooth and so saturated with malty flavor, I'll have to give this a shot.
This grain bill reminds me of a stout that I make since it also has MO, Crystal 60, Pale Chocolate and Brown malt. There's just something fun about combining pale chocolate and brown malt that creates a nice chocolatey note. Do you get this out of your brown?

 

[Rob2010SS]

I like the Bell's Best Brown as well. It has a touch more hops than my ideal brown has, which is where I'm trying to balance this one at. Not quite as high as Bells but just a touch more where it's at. And I don't want it in the bitterness, I want it on the aroma. Just a smidge (that's a technical term).

I don't get chocolate from this. I get what I'm interpreting as light, fruity esters from the S04 and then the grains are giving me a nutty flavor more than anything, with a little bit of toast flavor, which is what I was aiming for. If you dig deep, you may be able to get what you'd call chocolate, but for my palate, that's a reach.

This is going into the Winterfest 2021 competition as well as the Midwinter Homebrew competition. We'll see how it does.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

Looks and sounds good. I'll definitely have to try it.

Mine

71.9% Pale 2 row
15.5% Crystal 60L
7.7% Chocolate malt
4.9% Honey Malt
16.6 IBUs Northern Brewer Hops at 60 minutes.
7.6 IBUs Cascade at 10 minutes
0.5 IBUs Cascade at 1 minute
Wyeast 1056/White Labs WLP001/US-05

Mashed at 152F.

After primary I split the 11.5 gallons into 2 5 1/4 gallon fermenters. When I kegged one of the brown ales, I added hazelnut flavoring.

Each one, the hazelnut brown and the regular brown, went way too quickly.

 

[Rob2010SS]

Looks and sounds good. I'll definitely have to try it.

Mine

71.9% Pale 2 row
15.5% Crystal 60L
7.7% Chocolate malt
4.9% Honey Malt
16.6 IBUs Northern Brewer Hops at 60 minutes.
7.6 IBUs Cascade at 10 minutes
0.5 IBUs Cascade at 1 minute
Wyeast 1056/White Labs WLP001/US-05

Mashed at 152F.

After primary I split the 11.5 gallons into 2 5 1/4 gallon fermenters. When I kegged one of the brown ales, I added hazelnut flavoring.

Each one, the hazelnut brown and the regular brown, went way too quickly.

Yeah this is definitely an underrated style. Love these!

 

[Rob2010SS]

So, entered this in a couple of competitions. Was really hoping it'd take a medal, but no such luck. Here are the scoresheets from the judges. Overall, not too bad. I really want to mess with this and see what I can do to get it to take a medal but we'll see. I love the recipe so much, not sure if I want to mess with it.

I think it's very interesting how different these judges all rated this beer even though it all came from the same batch and was bottled on the same day. Just goes to show just how subjective judging really is I guess!

 

[mashpaddled]

If you enjoy the beer then you shouldn't mess with it. Competition brewing is about brewing to guidelines and playing to how beers are judged, not necessarily making the best beer possible.

 

[Rob2010SS]

If you enjoy the beer then you shouldn't mess with it. Competition brewing is about brewing to guidelines and playing to how beers are judged, not necessarily making the best beer possible.

That’s kind of where I’m at with it. I really just posted the scores so if anyone wants to give it a shot, they have a better idea of how the beer is

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

When I first began brewing I'd enter my brews into judging competitions in the hopes of getting valuable feedback. Did I ever actually get valuable feedback? No, not in my experience. As I was trying to improve my brews, I'd ask a judge about a rating. They either got defensive or didn't know and this was after explaining that I just wanted to make better beer.

I do believe, they more beers they judge the worse they get.

After a few years of this nonsense, I stopped submitting my beers into any more judging competitions. IMO, a total waste of time and money without any usable/valid feedback. Of course, the propaganda mill, will go on and on about BJCP certification, etc.

 

[Rob2010SS]

When I first began brewing I'd enter my brews into judging competitions in the hopes of getting valuable feedback. Did I ever actually get valuable feedback? No, not in my experience. As I was trying to improve my brews, I'd ask as judge about a rating. They either got defensive or didn't know and this was after explaining that I just wanted to make better beer.

I do believe, they more beers they judge the worse they get.

After a few years of this nonsense, I stopped submitting my beers into any more judging competitions. IMO, a total waste of time and money without any usable/valid feedback. Of course, the propaganda mill, will go on and on about BJCP certification, etc.

Haha, it's funny you say this. My wife is pretty much of that opinion. She's glad we did it this time to just make sure we weren't missing anything serious or that our beer didn't score poorly but after that, she's not interested in any more comps.