Shooting for something resembling a brown

[nwmalthead22]

Partial Mash
5 gallons

3lbs. Light DME
3lbs. German Munich
1lb Victory
8oz Flaked Oat
8oz English Brown (Coffee) Malt
4oz Brown Sugar
2oz Kent Golding pellet @15 mins
1oz Kent Golding pellet @ 45 mins
British Ale OYL 011

5.5%
IBU 28
SRM 16

Thoughts or recommendations?

 

[3 Dawg Night]

I wonder if the brown sugar will dry it out too much for a brown.

 

[nwmalthead22]

I wonder if the brown sugar will dry it out too much for a brown.

I was actually wondering that myself. It's also a tad light in color, technically, but I'm not too concerned with it being true to style. I haven't worked with brown sugar much yet either.

 

[nwmalthead22]

Second thought occurs, would the addition of the oats help counteract the dryness of the brown sugar?

 

[3 Dawg Night]

Second thought occurs, would the addition of the oats help counteract the dryness of the brown sugar?

I've never used oats myself, so I can't answer for that one.

 

[Coastalbrew]

Second thought occurs, would the addition of the oats help counteract the dryness of the brown sugar?

In my experience the oats don't add any sweetness to counteract the dryness you might get from the brown sugar. The oats will give you a nice velvety mouth feel though. If you want to get a little more sweetness, I'd maybe use some 350L chocolate malt in place of the brown malt plus a little medium crystal malt.

 

[SanPancho]

brown should be the focus. you could literally use base, as much as 40% brown, and a tiny touch of something semi sweet and call it a day.

a bit more complexity when you use a pale ale malt as base, or a good vienna. (not sure what all the DME options are currently) you can easily go 20-30% brown no problem. special roast at 5-10%. GNO at 10-20% to sweeten a bit, the nuttiness works well with the brown. honey malt could also be used, although i'd go a lower on % than GNO as its pretty much pure sweetness, no nutty flavor.

for the coffee drinkers/lovers i'll put in 1-2% of pale choc to give it a little roast bite at the end. but black roasts arent necessary. and the brown sugar isnt really going to do anything other than a bit of dryness. you wont pick up the flavor at all.

 

[nwmalthead22]

brown should be the focus. you could literally use base, as much as 40% brown, and a tiny touch of something semi sweet and call it a day.

a bit more complexity when you use a pale ale malt as base, or a good vienna. (not sure what all the DME options are currently) you can easily go 20-30% brown no problem. special roast at 5-10%. GNO at 10-20% to sweeten a bit, the nuttiness works well with the brown. honey malt could also be used, although i'd go a lower on % than GNO as its pretty much pure sweetness, no nutty flavor.

for the coffee drinkers/lovers i'll put in 1-2% of pale choc to give it a little roast bite at the end. but black roasts arent necessary. and the brown sugar isnt really going to do anything other than a bit of dryness. you wont pick up the flavor at all.

Awesome thanks for the insight! Brewed many batches but this is my first brown/amber ish. I'll probably just go as is but nix the brown sugar.
As for the Brown as the base, I'm not necessarily looking for a proper, classic brown. I am looking to harness more of the biscuity, toasty qualities with a hint of that coffee Malt for depth. I'm not a huge coffee beer fan unless it's more subtle.

 

[3 Dawg Night]

That Victory should give you the biscuity/toasty you're looking for.

 

[SanPancho]

Awesome thanks for the insight! Brewed many batches but this is my first brown/amber ish. I'll probably just go as is but nix the brown sugar.
As for the Brown as the base, I'm not necessarily looking for a proper, classic brown. I am looking to harness more of the biscuity, toasty qualities with a hint of that coffee Malt for depth. I'm not a huge coffee beer fan unless it's more subtle.

you misunderstand. you cant use brown as base. what i'm saying is that besides your base malt (2row, pale ale, vienna, etc) selection, brown can be the biggest- and i believe a very sizeable- portion of your grist. that's assuming you want a "BROWN" beer.

if you're shooting for amber, i'd leave it out and just use more munich or victory. it can definitely overpower other malts.

 

[JAReeves]

I would check out this website: Shut up about Barclay Perkins.

From what I have read, Brown Ales were almost all base malt and brown malt, originally. Eventually other malts were used to color the beer, but Brown Malt has a flavor profile that is unique, apparently.

Peace,

Reevesie

 

[nwmalthead22]

I would check out this website: Shut up about Barclay Perkins.

From what I have read, Brown Ales were almost all base malt and brown malt, originally. Eventually other malts were used to color the beer, but Brown Malt has a flavor profile that is unique, apparently.

Peace,

Reevesie

You are correct sir! I'm not one for correcting folks because most people just argue but English Brown Malt can indeed be used as a base. Historically, browns and stouts had a lot of brown Malt as part of the base grist.
It's not ideal compared to modern malts, but definitely do able! History of Porters, Stouts and Browns is very interesting.