# Kent Old Brown Ale



## Steve (27/7/07)

With the help of T.D. (another fellow KOBA quaffer) ive come up with this. Doing it on Sunday.

Kent Old Brown Ale – 25 ish IBUs

4.7 kg Maris Otter
300 gm Caraaroma (350 EBC)
25 gm Roasted Malt

33 gm Cluster (60 min) Hop flowers (5.3% AA)
15 gm POR (30 min) Hop flowers – home grown – eek!
10 gm Fuggles (5 mins) Pellets (5% AA)

Whirlfloc @ 15 mins

Mashed at 68.5 degrees for 60 mins

1 x Nottingham Dry Yeast

Comments anyone? Any more KOBA quaffers out there?

Cheers
Steve


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## KoNG (27/7/07)

Looks good steve...
Although MO is very generous... :lol:


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## mfdes (27/7/07)

I would probably try to concentrate on the maltiness / fruitiness in a darker ale like this, and omit flavour hops. I dry hopped a brown ale before with Willamette (very similar to fuggle) and the results were fairly unbalanced.
It may be worth a try though. I used a very dry yeast and the astringency of the darker beer (and aggressive hops) without the balancing malt was too rough.

On the other hand, I've never used Nottingham yeast, and you have plenty of crystal. If you mash at high temp. it may balance the hoppiness nicely.

MFS


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## Steve (27/7/07)

mfdes said:


> I would probably try to concentrate on the maltiness / fruitiness in a darker ale like this, and omit flavour hops. I dry hopped a brown ale before with Willamette (very similar to fuggle) and the results were fairly unbalanced.
> It may be worth a try though. I used a very dry yeast and the astringency of the darker beer (and aggressive hops) without the balancing malt was too rough.
> 
> On the other hand, I've never used Nottingham yeast, and you have plenty of crystal. If you mash at high temp. it may balance the hoppiness nicely.
> ...




Cheers! ...so drop the dry hopping and reduce the fuggles 5 min addition...to be honest the dry hopping was just an after thought as I wanted to try my new hop ball.


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## Rod (27/7/07)

I was lucky the other day

went to a new deli opening and they gave away an kent old brown ale mug as a gift when you got stuff


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## matti (27/7/07)

Canberra special OKBA?

Sounds nice BUT.....
I'd leave the POR for aussie ales and lagers.

I would sub them for Kent Goldings and up the IBU to 28-30 by 45min boil and use fuggles for aroma 20 min.

matti


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## goatherder (27/7/07)

Recipe sounds tops I reckon. I don't mind KOBA but I think your brew will be way nicer. You'll find it tough to replicate the yeasty high-grav macro effect I find in KOBA but it will be better if you don't.


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## KoNG (27/7/07)

matti said:


> Canberra special OKBA?
> 
> Sounds nice BUT.....
> I'd leave the POR for aussie ales and lagers.
> ...



matti
Kent Brown is an aussie ale, been around for eons


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## matti (27/7/07)

ooops


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## matti (27/7/07)

Sorry to take it off subject of recipe slighty.
Nsw Pubs used to have Brown on tap.
The Brown hasn't been around since early 90s.
Who made it, I do not know, as I was a young ignorant beer drinker those days.
Must say it was a nice drop.
Steve
Let us know how you go with recipe as I would luv to make one myself once it warms up a little.

Goggled KB as it rang a bell 
cheers KoNG

matti


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## goatherder (27/7/07)

matti said:


> Sorry to take it off subject of recipe slighty.
> Nsw Pubs used to have Brown on tap.
> The Brown hasn't been around since early 90s.
> Who made it, I do not know, as I was a young ignorant beer drinker those days.
> ...



It's still on tap around the Hunter - a fair proportion of pubs and clubs have it and you can buy it in bottles at my local Dan's. It's now in the CUB stable and I suspect it's not the same beer it used to be. I hear it used to be a nice drop but it tastes like a shitty macro lager to me.


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## KoNG (27/7/07)

ggrrrr, i just lost a whole ranting post..!
short version now.!!!!!!!

yeh, matti.. its still on tap if you search, T.D. and i found it for a session at the harbord diggers.

to me its lost a bit of its old charm, tatses like the usual with some caramel colouring.

Steve: not sure of your OG, but with the low IBU's and nottingham i think you'll be looking sweet for a nice bitter (ordinary bitter.?)... having just tasted T.D.'s cali common with cluster, i would swap that with your POR addition and use the POR at 60min... just me of course.

KoNG
[edit: missing letters and words..hmmmm]


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## T.D. (28/7/07)

G'day all,

Steve, looks great mate. I reckon the cluster will go great! Like KoNG though I reckon they may go better later rather than for bittering. But either way will work well.

Just for fun I thought I'd post the recipe that KoNG and I put together after doing the Kent Old Brown "research" mission at the Diggers. Like with any of these things its more of an "in the spirit of" recipe than a clone.


Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 17.00 L 
Boil Size: 22.08 L
Estimated OG: 1.043 SG
Estimated Color: 22.7 EBC
Estimated IBU: 24.9 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU 
3.10 kg Joe White Traditional Ale (5.9 EBC) Grain 94.2 % 
0.17 kg Joe White Dark Crystal (216.7 EBC) Grain 5.2 % 
0.02 kg Joe White Roasted Malt (1199.7 EBC) Grain 0.6 % 
16.00 gm Pride of Ringwood [9.00%] (60 min) Hops 22.7 IBU 
15.00 gm Fuggles [4.50%] (5 min) Hops 2.1 IBU 
1 Pkgs Nottingham (Danstar #-) Yeast-Ale


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## Steve (28/7/07)

I here what your saying....but as the POR is home grown ive no idea of its AA% I dont want to risk brewing a keg of sweet syrup? Well the grains now cracked, brewing it tomorrow....will let you know :blink: 
Cheers
Steve


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## T.D. (28/7/07)

Steve said:


> I here what your saying....but as the POR is home grown ive no idea of its AA% I dont want to risk brewing a keg of sweet syrup?



Ah yeah, fair enough, I forgot it was home grown. The cluster will do the job nicely. :beerbang:


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## GMK (28/7/07)

I like the recipe --but have you thought of adding some Brown malt.
say 150-250gms

I think it would add to th egrain/malt character of the beer.

Just MHO....

Hope this helps


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## Steve (29/7/07)

Well this is now chilling....top brew sess. SG pre boil 1072 (what ever that means)...I just wanted to look at the colour. Bloody spot on. :beerbang: 
Cheers
Steve


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## T.D. (29/7/07)

Steve said:


> SG pre boil 1072



:huh: :blink: 

Am I missing something here? Seems awfully high! Are you watering down? What was your SG after chilling?


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## Steve (30/7/07)

T.D. said:


> :huh: :blink:
> 
> Am I missing something here? Seems awfully high! Are you watering down? What was your SG after chilling?




TD - that was from the first runnings into kettle (Warm). SG once chilled (last night from fermenter) was 1048. Got 19 litres into fermenter, topped up to 23 litres. Nice pretty brown krausen this morning.
Cheers
Steve


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## T.D. (30/7/07)

Ahh ok, sounds a bit more like it! :lol: 

Keep us posted on how it goes mate! :beer:


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## Steve (30/7/07)

T.D. said:


> Ahh ok, sounds a bit more like it! :lol:
> 
> Keep us posted on how it goes mate! :beer:




Will do champ! Thanks for helping with the recipe.
Cheers
Steve


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## Steve (3/8/07)

Down to 1010 after 4 days. Will rack to secondary tonight. Very disappointed with the colour...its more like an amber ale :blink: Tastes great but. Very different but great - can definately taste the POR. Will chuck it in the fridge to chill after a couple of days, add polyclar then keg early next week. Looking forward to it.
Cheers
Steve


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## T.D. (3/8/07)

Steve, re the colour that was exactly my reaction when I recently tried it on tap! I definitely remember it being darker but the one I had was more in the amber ale range than brown ale - probably around the 25EBC mark. I just wish I could accurately remember the ones I used to drink years ago. I always thought of KOBA as being a lighter coloured version of Tooheys Old. Now it seems they are in entirely different ballparks!


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## Steve (3/8/07)

T.D. said:


> Steve, re the colour that was exactly my reaction when I recently tried it on tap! I definitely remember it being darker but the one I had was more in the amber ale range than brown ale - probably around the 25EBC mark. I just wish I could accurately remember the ones I used to drink years ago. I always thought of KOBA as being a lighter coloured version of Tooheys Old. Now it seems they are in entirely different ballparks!




im having a couple a lunch.....my local near work has it on tap...its definately dark brown there...darker than the bottle that little icon is drinking on the left


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## nifty (3/8/07)

Reading this post reminded me that I have a couple of these in the back of the cupboard.





I'll have to dust them off and give your recipe a go.

cheers

nifty


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## Steve (5/8/07)

Bloody lurrvly drop. Kegged it this arvo. Didnt have time for Polyclar as I ran out of beer :chug: 
Gassed it up...and it is a bloody nice drop. Colour in the pic is a bit dark as it was dusk. Taste compared to the original is near as damn it. Cluster/POR up front, perfect bitterness with a nice sweet (not to sweet) smooth roasted/fuggles aftertaste. Not much aroma apart from a slight earthy fuggleness :blink:, which I'm sure is in the original too. A bit more roasty than the original but thats probably down to it being so fresh (6 days old). Its a definate winner.

Cheers
Steve




P.S. Cheers to TD for the ideas....this ones for you.
P.P.S. Stuffed if I know why the SG sample was the colour of an amber ale...it definately isnt in the finished product.


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## T.D. (5/8/07)

Looks the goods Steve! :super:


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## Steve (13/8/07)

Just had to post this pic of me KOBA.
Unfortunately this was the last glass before the keg sputtered n farted with froth.
Definately going to make this again.




Only kegged it a week ago  

Cheers
Steve

P.S. Got to add this. On Saturday night my Sister in law and her fiance (a kiwi) came round for dinner. I noticed he had his six pack of Tui in hand. Before he could open one he had a pint glass of this in his hand. Bloody hell he said that doesnt taste like home brew at all, it tastes like real beer.......(derrrr!).....I just smiled. He didnt end up opening any of his tui so I returned them to him the next day.


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## under (28/2/09)

Kent Old Brown. This stuff is still on tap down my local.


Hmmmm. Yummm.

Anyone seen a extract / spec grain brew for this?


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## Steve (29/3/09)

Just finished off my second keg of my newest trial:

8kg BB Ale
1kg Choc
500gms Light Crystal

30gms Super pride @ 60
10gms @ 10 + Whirlfloc and 2 packs of old yeast

US 05

Very nice indeed. A lot browner than previous attempts. Love the super pride too.

Cheers
Steve


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## Screwtop (29/3/09)

Steve said:


> He didnt end up opening any of his tui so I returned them to him the next day.



Punishment :lol:


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## reviled (29/3/09)

Steve said:


> P.S. Got to add this. On Saturday night my Sister in law and her fiance (a kiwi) came round for dinner. I noticed he had his six pack of Tui in hand. Before he could open one he had a pint glass of this in his hand. Bloody hell he said that doesnt taste like home brew at all, it tastes like real beer.......(derrrr!).....I just smiled. He didnt end up opening any of his tui so I returned them to him the next day.



:lol: Honestly wtf are we doing still buying Tui over the ditch <_< 

Surprised you werent tempted to try one Steve


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## Steve (29/3/09)

reviled said:


> Surprised you werent tempted to try one Steve



ive tried one in the past, hence the reasons for returning them :lol:


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## Bribie G (29/3/09)

:icon_offtopic: I'll just have to try this Tui. I haven't had a NZ beer since 1976. In Cardiff, Wales, it was at the end of the Draft Dodging era and tens of thousands of Australian guys had gone to the UK to hang out till the Vietnam war finished (era of Barry Mackenzie, introduction of Fosters into the UK etc). So there was a huge flood of Aussie imports to service this market, vegemite, a huge range of Aussie beers in those 26 ounce oilcans....

I'm not sure if NZ had conscription or were in the war, but a few NZ beers came over with the stream. A local wholesaler went bankrupt and had a sale on a few pallets of Steinlager in blue cans if I remember. They were going for GBP 3 per slab, or $6 oz at the time so me and my four house mates bought a pallet. We didn't have cars and spent an afternoon with a borrowed wheelbarrow and carted it a bit at a time to the house about 2 k away.

Any welshmen on the forum we lived on Cathedral Road so you get the picture.

It was high summer, easily 30 degrees for a week or so and we remained totally pissed for a fortnight - it was a farewell do, two of us were heading for Oz and the other two hitting the hippy trail to Katmandu, and the beer was very nice, and we did chill it down in a dedicated fridge turned to max.


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## reviled (29/3/09)

BribieG said:


> :icon_offtopic: I'll just have to try this Tui. I haven't had a NZ beer since 1976. In Cardiff, Wales, it was at the end of the Draft Dodging era and tens of thousands of Australian guys had gone to the UK to hang out till the Vietnam war finished (era of Barry Mackenzie, introduction of Fosters into the UK etc). So there was a huge flood of Aussie imports to service this market, vegemite, a huge range of Aussie beers in those 26 ounce oilcans....
> 
> I'm not sure if NZ had conscription or were in the war, but a few NZ beers came over with the stream. A local wholesaler went bankrupt and had a sale on a few pallets of Steinlager in blue cans if I remember. They were going for GBP 3 per slab, or $6 oz at the time so me and my four house mates bought a pallet. We didn't have cars and spent an afternoon with a borrowed wheelbarrow and carted it a bit at a time to the house about 2 k away.
> 
> ...



Bribie - Please dont ruin your precious memorys of NZ beer by trying Tui, steinlager back in those days would have been hopped with 'smoothcone' and have a nice hop astringency to it  Steinlager to this day is still quite bitter compared to other mega swill, but they use green bullet instead..

Tui, is not reminiscent of this type of Kiwi lager - Its basically just a shitload of caramel hardly anything else..

You want to try a new world NZ (craft) beer - Emersons Pilsner is the showcase for this IMO, chock full of Riwaka and Sauvin hops, and you should be able to find it over there - PM screwy he knows a place...


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## Steve (29/3/09)

BribieG said:


> easily 30 degrees for a week or so


that'd ave to be in the guinness book of records?

anyhow further off topic whys it called guinness book of records? Wheres the connection between the name of a beer and mind blowing feats of sometimes strange superhuman powers?

Edit: Tui isnt that bad. I was going through my beer snob stage a couple of years ago when I first started AG'ing. I soon got over that stage


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## Bribie G (29/3/09)

Green Bullet.. now your'e talking.

The first time I went back to the UK on holiday in 1983 I took along a set of Queensland BBQ clothes (thongs, loud board shorts, soft hat etc to put on one night to give the rellies a laugh.. half an hour after leaving Heathrow in the hire car I was wearing them. Darwin 32 degrees, London 34.  

Guinness Book of Records


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## reviled (29/3/09)

BribieG said:


> Green Bullet.. now your'e talking.



Alot of people hate the astringency you get with green bullet, now they have 'Steinlager Pure' as well which is the whole low carb natural ingrediants tripe that everyones pushing at the mo


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