Tried American Brown and it came out wrong?

[jdlev]

So my first all grain batch was the following recipe. I was expecting something closer to a new castle, and instead ended up with something totally different. Don't get me wrong...it's the best beer I've made to date and could probably win an award if I entered it as a scottish wee heavy lol - but the dang recipe was for an american brown ale lol!

Here's the recipe:

1oz fuggles (60 min boil)
8oz crystal 60
8oz chocolate
12 us 2 row

And that's it! Sure is tasty though...can't wait for it to carb to see the final product!:rockin:

 

[COLObrewer]

Hmmm, maybe more of everything except the base malt.

 

[jfowler1]

The malt bill doesn't look bad. Maybe a bit of toasted malt like Victory, perhaps a full pound of caramel, or maybe split up the 2 row with a little Munich or Vienna, but I would have thought that what you started with could have gotten you a really nice wort for an American Brown.

Just eye-balling it, I think that recipe would have given me an OG around 1.065, and about 18 SRM. At the top end for American Brown, but really not out of hand.

The problem was your hops. Not nearly enough. Fuggles is a nice utility hop, but an American Brown really needs more. If you are looking for something more along the lines of a Moose Drool, Brooklyn Brown, or Smuttynose Old Brown Dog, you need to add some PNW hops later in the boil, and a dry hop wouldn't kill you either.

Here is my quick suggestion - should get you around 40 (calculated) IBU's.

.4-.5 oz of clean high alpha at 60 (maybe Magnum or Horizon)
.5-1 oz of PNW at 15 (any combination of "C" hops would fit here)
1-1.5 oz of PNW between 5 and zero (again, some "C" hop)

and 5-7 days before packaging, dry hop anywhere from .5-2 oz of your favorite hops - it is a good idea to back up the dry hop with a complimentary hop from the end of your boil.

Also, what yeast did you choose, and at what temp did you ferment?

Joe

 

[COLObrewer]

FWIW, Newcastle is actually a northern english brown and is typically a little lighter than an american brown. What was your OG and FG? I just noticed you stated it was more like a wee heavy in the original post.

 

[jdlev]

SG was around .045 (still working on the efficiency of my system), and finished at .010. Fermentation was fairly quick and only lasted about 3 days. I can't remember the yeast, but it was a liquid yeast with starter and standard yeast for english browns.