Papazian's Monkey's Paw Brown Ale - Too Much Hops

[derekp83]

So I'm planning to brew Charlie Papazian's Monkey's Paw Brown Ale today, but I've been a little unsure of the amount of hops.

The OG is expected to be about 1.048, with a final gravity of around 1.012, and the IBUs listed is 41. When I plug that into BrewTarget, that looks way overhopped. Granted, I know it's a dark beer, and I drink plenty of Guinness that hits around the IBU level, but I've seen some recipes online that are a version of this recipe and the IBUs seem to be sitting around 22-25 in those.

Any thoughts? Should I just go with the recipe?

 

[smata67]

22 ibus, 23 srm using the hops as in the recipe 1 oz fuggles at 50, 1oz ekg at 10. Fairly in line with the style. The numbers in the book are way off, seen it on other recipes also. Maybe he used a slide ruler to calculate? Go with the hop schedule in the recipe for this and others. And the hops are whole hops in these recipes, but pellets are fine.

 

[derekp83]

Thanks. Yeah, I ended up going with around 24 IBUs, so we'll see how it goes. I got a beautiful mash out of this one, and it's a very nice brown colored brew.

 

[smata67]

His listed 14 SRM is way low, I get 26 SRM using the lightest english malts (muntons) and 24 using american (briess) on beersmith. Both are still too black to my eyes. I'm going to put this on my to do list, but probably reduce the black malt to 2 oz to get 20 SRM and a dark brown color.

 

[derekp83]

Agreed. I can attest from brewing it a few days ago, it's a nice dark brown, but not American brown, which are often almost black.

 

[smata67]

The recipe fulfills most of the specifications for a Northern English Brown, but the color at 26 SRM is high for the style. 2 oz of black patent instead of the 4 oz in the recipe brings it in line, if that is a concern. Either way will be great I'm sure. A textbook brown ale. Some previous poster here looking at this recipe did just that and used S-33. Then re-brewed with the 4 oz and seemed to like it even more. Never used that yeast before, may very well use it for this brew.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/monkeys-paw-brown-ale-with-3-yeasts.497073/#post-6768203

 

[derekp83]

I've seen this other thread also. I was actually hoping it was more of the Southern English style, though the OG is clearly out of the BJCP guidelines for it. As you said, it'll be great...hopefully. I went with 4th generation harvested Voss Kveik yeast because it's still a little warm in my basement. I also wanted to really experiment with the yeast.

 

[smata67]

Yeasts used in milds and browns per Designing Great Beers:

Irish, London, Edme (S-33) and Kent. "Sweet" german ale yeasts.

Mash at 153F.

 

[derekp83]

I believe I used Nottingham in the past and liked it. I bet K-97 would work also.

 

[smata67]

Is there anything Nottingham can't do? I think I may go with Irish Ale since I'm placing an order soon, perhaps do a split batch with S-33? It is cheap enough. The only problem I see is the Irish Ale yeast getting along with the English malts, they sort of have a history. Perhaps I'll call it Truce Brown Ale...