Roasted Barley/Black Malt in a Brown Ale?

[permo]

I am tinkering with a brown ale recipe using Ringwood Yeast and some tettnanger and Willamette hops.

I know typically American Brown Ales get their color from darker crystal malts and chocolate malt....I am considering using maybe a blend of chocolate, roasted barley and black malt for my color and mild roasted flavors. I would use the following malts......it seems overly complex but it just could work. thoughts?

Pale Malt
Munich malt
C40
C80
Special B
Chocolate
Roasted Barley
Black malt

 

[thegreatmaibockaddict]

It is fine to use a cocktail like that for a brown, but you may only want to use about an ounce or two of each...

I have used roasted barley in small quantities, but really all you need is about 1/4 lb of a dark malt and then some sort of special roast or crystal. Brown malt or Amber malt works (use maybe 8 oz total) or about the same amount of crystal malt or special B

Brown ale is supposed to be a lighter gravity beer so don't overwhelm the beer with specialty grains.

I do use Maris Otter (thomas fawcett or glen eagle, etc) for the base, so there is a bit of richness from the base malt.

 

[ArkotRamathorn]

The roasted barley and black malt would have to be in very small quantities to keep the color down. It would be tasty I am sure. It would probably come off more as a roasty porter than a brown ale though. If you kept the amounts very low it will make a tasty beer, how much it would fit a brown ale category (in competition) I don't know.

 

[permo]

Thanks for the replies guys. I do 15 gallon batches so this would be how I think it would shake out for the malt bill.

25 pounds Pale
3 pounds munich
1 pound C40
1 pound C80
1/2 pound special B
1/2 pound choco
1/4 pound roasted barley
1/4 pound black patent
OG should hit right around 1.052-1.054
Mash at 152 and let the Ringwood mingle with those malts!

I know the malt bill is complex...but it seems like flaked oats would be a nice fit too

 

[rhys333]

I'm working on a brown ale recipe to brew for my folks over Christmas, and I'm thinking about using roasted barley instead of chocolate for colour. Still dabbling, and I may yet toss in something like munich or biscuit for character, but I'm looking at something along these lines:

AMERICAN BROWN ALE (6 gal @ 1.050)
90% 2 Row
7% C80
3% UK Roasted Barley
Chinook @ 60
1 oz Chinook 10 & 1 to 28 IBU
US05

I might dry hop another ounce. I also have some crystal hops on hand that I want to test out, so I may sub some of these in. I know they're an Americanized version of hallertauer, but I hear they also have a mild citrusy quality. Anybody know if these hops blend well?

 

[eetu]

I'm not sure you will get a typical brown ale flavor with a small amount of roasted barley. It's not like chocolate malt which hase more of a nutty flavor if used in small quantities.

If you want to add roasted just for color, I would add it at the end of mash or at sparge, whatever your method is.

But again, I doubt this will taste like what you'd expect from a brown ale. If you want to go with roasted, consider adding dark munich, for example.

 

[JimRausch]

I personally like Brown and/or Amber malt and a couple oz. of chocolate malt in my Browns. In Porters I up both the brown and choco. I only use roast barley or black malt in my stouts. But that's just me....

 

[rhys333]

I'm not sure you will get a typical brown ale flavor with a small amount of roasted barley. It's not like chocolate malt which hase more of a nutty flavor if used in small quantities.

If you want to add roasted just for color, I would add it at the end of mash or at sparge, whatever your method is.

But again, I doubt this will taste like what you'd expect from a brown ale. If you want to go with roasted, consider adding dark munich, for example.

I know what you're saying but I've done the traditional style and I think I want to go with a raisiny sweetness on this one and balance it with a little roast. I'm just not sure on the amount. 3% seems right. I get the feeling if I push it to 4% it'll start taking over. I might go with Munich 10 for maltiness.

 

[rhys333]

I personally like Brown and/or Amber malt and a couple oz. of chocolate malt in my Browns. In Porters I up both the brown and choco. I only use roast barley or black malt in my stouts. But that's just me....

You know, brown malt crossed my mind too. I might add a few percentage points of that.

As for the black malt, I like it in English Mild. Surprisingly smooth!

 

[GHBWNY]

I am tinkering with a brown ale recipe using Ringwood Yeast and some tettnanger and Willamette hops.

I know typically American Brown Ales get their color from darker crystal malts and chocolate malt....I am considering using maybe a blend of chocolate, roasted barley and black malt for my color and mild roasted flavors. I would use the following malts......it seems overly complex but it just could work. thoughts?

Pale Malt
Munich malt
C40
C80
Special B
Chocolate
Roasted Barley
Black malt

Here is an easy pretty middle-of-the-road English Nut Brown recipe I like:

9 lb Pale Malt (2-Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 76.6 %
1 lb Crystal 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 8.5 %
1 lb Flaked Oats (1.0 SRM) Grain 8.5 %
0.5 lb Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 4.3 %
0.25 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 2.1 %

1 oz Fuggles [AA 4.5%] (60 min) 14.7 IBU
1 oz East Kent Goldings [AA 5%] (15 min) 8.1 IBU

1 Pkg Nottingham (Danstar #-) Yeast-Ale


Your recipe looks daring compared to this one, which is a little "safer". Still, it has a nicely balanced malty, very slightly fruity, roasty/chocolatey taste. Yum! A couple things --- both the 80 and Spec B impart a caramel-y/raisin-y quality, and the black may tend to give you a sharper (not necessarily, but possibly approaching a burnt) taste. But hey, if that's what you're looking for! Fact is, I've never tasted two browns that are the same, so if it were me, I'd have at it and see how it turns out.

 

[eetu]

Go with roasted+munich if you feel like doing so. If you want more sweet malty character, maybe split the crystal and put half 150 srm and half 80 srm. That original recipe of yours is more of an irish red ale to me. Darkest grains impart reddish color when used in small quantities.

Just go with your instinct and see where it leads you. Maybe it won't be a typical brown but it's yours.

 

[rhys333]

I ended up brewing two versions of the brown ale with roasted barley. One for me with 3% and another for someone else with 2.5% (and a few minor differences in other areas). Easily one if the more interesting beers I've ever brewed, because there's just enough there to add a pleasant background complexity. I'll be doing a side-by-side test in a couple weeks and the best version will be going up in the recipe database.