Recipie critique

[Sandstorm]

What's the chances I can get a few people to critique my brown ale. Here is what I have put together.

AMERICAN BROWN
OG: 1.049
IBU: 31.4
SRM: 17

7.5# 2 row plae
12 oz flaked oats
8 oz brown malt ( never used this )
8 oz caramel 60
3.5 oz chocolate

.25 oz Columbus FWH
.25 Amarillo 30 min
.25 Columbus 15 min
.25 Amarillo 5 min
.25 Columbus 0 min

California ale yeast


Any input would be apriciated. Looking to brew a solid American brown. Low ABV light in color, Sweet coffee and chocolate with a decent hop balance. Not sure if MO would be better for a brown.

Feel free to tell me it's trash and I'm crazy. BRUTAL honesty is always better than a nice lie.

Thanks for looking!!

 

[BargainFittings]

Looks to be in the slightly hoppy range of the balance so good for the style.

The brown malt will lend a roast character and some bitterness
Should be pretty good.

 

[dmtaylor]

I have lots of good feedback for you to consider.

MO isn't necessary, regular pale malt will be just fine for this. Either one.

Not dark enough! Not roasty enough / no coffee flavor! And I'm guessing you'll want it sweeter given you used the term "sweet". So for that:

Add 3.5 oz roasted barley for the coffee flavor and color.
Double the Crystal 60 to a full pound for sweetness and color.
Reduce the base malt to 7 lb.

And then the hops..... a little more complex than necessary. You can simplify, a little less dorking around, yet still get great results by:

Eliminate the 30 and 15 minute additions, and instead put more at FWH, 5 minutes, and flameout. I would propose:

0.5 oz Columbus FWH
0.5 oz Amarillo 5 min
0.25 oz Columbus 0 min

Columbus is a stronger hop anyway and will be plenty powerful with the FWH and just the 0.25 oz at flameout, while you'll get more flavor and aroma out of the Amarillo by saving it for the last 5 minutes.

Recommend mashing at 154 F for just 40 minutes. Make it easy. You can even shorten your boil to just 45 minutes if you want, especially since your bittering is FWH anyway. Save a lot of time on brew day that way and I guarantee still get great results.

 

[Build]

It looks pretty good. Pale, MO, or Vienna is a fine choice for base, a touch of biscuit or amber malt could be an interesting addition. Are you wanting some citrus from the Amarillo? I would probably do a more earthy hop.

 

[Sandstorm]

Thanks for the replies.

I was going back and forth with 1# of crystal or 1/2 I didnt want it to dark or toasty. I will definitely bump it up to 1lb and cut down the base malt to keep it lower ABV.

So roasted barley imparts a more coffee flavor than coffee malt? Strange...

If I bumped up the FWH it will bump the IBU. I guess seeing how this will be sweet it will need more bitterness to balance it out. I agree with the earthy hops but was looking for somthing a tad different. Not wanting a fruity/ virus beer but somthing somewhat hoppy.

Maybe cutting most of the Amarillo like you mentioned is a good idea.

.50 Columbus FWH
.25 Amarillo 10 min
.50 Columbus 0

???

 

[Sandstorm]

Here is the recipe now.

7# Pale 2 row
12oz crystal 60
12oz flaked oats
4oz roasted barley
3.5oz chocolate malt
8oz brown malt

.50 Columbus FWH
.50 Amarillo 10 min
.30 Columbus 0 min

Thoughts?

Thanks again for the feedback.

 

[Yooper]

It's probably a matter of personal taste, but I never use roasted barley for a brown ale. I use roasted barley for a stout, since it's so, well, roasty.

For a brown ale, I use chocolate malt or pale chocolate malt. Brown malt is very nice, but I've only used it in porters and not a brown ale so I can't say how roasty it would be, but in a small amount it would be fine.

I'd go back to the original recipe, but add a bit more chocolate malt. This is my basic grainbill for a nut brown, this is a very nice place to start:

6 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 60.0 %
1 lbs Caravienne Malt (22.0 SRM) Grain 2 10.0 %
1 lbs Munich Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 3 10.0 %
1 lbs Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 4 10.0 %
12.0 oz Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) Grain 5 7.5 %
4.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)

 

[JKaranka]

As above, I think you are veering into porter. I've used brown malt in moderate amounts in weird beers (for example, dunkelweiss) and it comes out malty, nutty and chocolatey. Not that much roast if you use less than a pound so I think you'd be fine with the Brown. I'd reduce the very roast malts a bit.

 

[dmtaylor]

Not a brown, but more of a porter? Who cares what it's called! If you have a goal for what you want it to taste like, then my suggestions above are applicable. If you're more interested in style guidelines, then read the style guidelines at www.bjcp.org. I believe the OP is more interested in real actual flavors..... yes? no?

 

[Sandstorm]

Wow. I really appreciate all the feedback it has been extremely helpful. I am going to use a little of everyone's feedback for the recipe.

Yes the flavors are what I am interested in for sure. I would also like to somewhat stay within the style guidelines.

Here is what I got. it looks to stay well into the style guidelines on beer smith but a tad on the lighter side.

7.5# 2 row
14.4oz Flaked oats
12oz crystal 60
8oz brown malt
5oz chocolate malt

.30 Columbus FWH
.30 Columbus 20 min
.25 Amarillo 5 min
.45 Columbus 0

Looking better?

 

[Build]

I say brew it like it is and post your results, what you taste, and what you might want to change about it. There are many great brewers here that can help you tweak the recipe after it's brewed if needed. I looks pretty good and will make a good beer.