American Brown Ale Receipe Help

[syl]

Hi guys and gals,

Long time lurker, never posted before but I may as well start by asking for help!

I normally brew APA's but I am looking to make an Amaerican Brown Ale for this crappy winter we're in the midst of!

I have a couple of questions re getting the malt profile/EBC correct for this WITHOUT doing a partial mash!

Chocolate Malt 1200L 250grams? Or a partial mash of some (1KG?!) medium malt?

Can I use malted oats for a little bit of a rounder feel? If so, how much?

My recipe as it stands:

Malts:
TCS Coopers Sparkling Ale
1KG Light DME

Grains:
Medium Crystal 120 250g
Chocolate Malt 1200 250g
(Oats?!)

Amarillo 20g 5 minutes
Cascade 20g 5 minutes
Dry hop more Amarillo
Any help appreciated, looking to do this on the weekend and get down to grain and grape later in the week.

 

[ianh]

Hi syl welcome to the forum.

Recipe lokks good as is I would forget about the oats. Suggest that you could replace some of the light DME with wheat DME or steep say 200 grams CaraPils to help with body feel and head retention.

Would probably look at say 40 - 50 grams Amarillo dry hopped.

cheers
Ian

 

[warra48]

American Browns on the style guide are supposed to fit within these parameters:

Type: Ale
Category Number: 10C
Original Gravity: 1.045-1.060 SG
Color: 35.5-69.0 EBC
Final Gravity: 1.010-1.016 SG Bitterness: 20.0-40.0 IBUs
Carbonation: 2.00-2.60 Vols Alcohol by Volume: 4.30-6.20 %

I would forget about the oats, they're not necessary to make this style.
Your recipe looks OK, but I think you have way too much chocolate malt for my taste. I'd say 100 gr will be ample to give you sufficient colour.

You'd better be a real addict for Amarillo Gold hops if you still intend to dry hop with 40 to 50 gr. If your batch is the standard 23 litres, then I think it's way over the top, and certainly not to style. I'd limit your dry hopping to say 10 to 15 gr each of Amarillo Gold and Cascade.

Still, it's your recipe, and never let a style guideline stand in the way of a brew you want to make.

If you're calling in at G&G later in the week, why not run your recipe past the guys there, and get their expert input?

 

[manticle]

Chuck 250g of briess victory malt in there if you can find it (GG usually have it) - it will lend a delicious nutty character that will work well. If they have some briess dried munich malt extract, chuck a bit of that in there (sub some or all of your light DME)

As above - the oats are not really necessary.

Could drop the choc malt back a touch. My first ever AG was a US brown with amarillo and came out very nice. Recipe is here:

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...&recipe=898

I'm with warra on the dry hopping but I am often conservative with my dry hopping as I find a lot of beers (commercial and HB both) like to overdo it (for my palate) and I prefer subtler [dry] hopping (1g/L is my standard)

 

[syl]

Hi syl welcome to the forum.

Recipe lokks good as is I would forget about the oats. Suggest that you could replace some of the light DME with wheat DME or steep say 200 grams CaraPils to help with body feel and head retention.

Would probably look at say 40 - 50 grams Amarillo dry hopped.

cheers
Ian

Thanks ianh for your input and your spreadsheet! I was thinking of dry hopping around 20g for this brew. Oats are out.

American Browns on the style guide are supposed to fit within these parameters:

Type: Ale
Category Number: 10C
Original Gravity: 1.045-1.060 SG
Color: 35.5-69.0 EBC
Final Gravity: 1.010-1.016 SG Bitterness: 20.0-40.0 IBUs
Carbonation: 2.00-2.60 Vols Alcohol by Volume: 4.30-6.20 %

I would forget about the oats, they're not necessary to make this style.
Your recipe looks OK, but I think you have way too much chocolate malt for my taste. I'd say 100 gr will be ample to give you sufficient colour.

You'd better be a real addict for Amarillo Gold hops if you still intend to dry hop with 40 to 50 gr. If your batch is the standard 23 litres, then I think it's way over the top, and certainly not to style. I'd limit your dry hopping to say 10 to 15 gr each of Amarillo Gold and Cascade.

Still, it's your recipe, and never let a style guideline stand in the way of a brew you want to make.

If you're calling in at G&G later in the week, why not run your recipe past the guys there, and get their expert input?

Was thinking 20g's myself of Amarillo. Dropping the Chocolate to 100g takes this recipe out of style, down to 33 EBC/16 SRM. I had someone else suggest some Carafa for a bit of nutty character and some colour?

I don't like discussing Kits/Extract recipes with G&G! The suggestion is always all grain (my brew buddy moved away and I am trapped in an apartment with an electric stove capable of boiling 6 litres!!)

Chuck 250g of briess victory malt in there if you can find it (GG usually have it) - it will lend a delicious nutty character that will work well. If they have some briess dried munich malt extract, chuck a bit of that in there (sub some or all of your light DME)

As above - the oats are not really necessary.

Could drop the choc malt back a touch. My first ever AG was a US brown with amarillo and came out very nice. Recipe is here:

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...&recipe=898

I'm with warra on the dry hopping but I am often conservative with my dry hopping as I find a lot of beers (commercial and HB both) like to overdo it (for my palate) and I prefer subtler [dry] hopping (1g/L is my standard)

I go the old 1g/L or just around 20g every time. Recipe looks good, I reckon Amarillo is great for an American Brown!


Recipe as it stands now:

Malts:
1 x TCS Coopers Sparkling Ale
1.5KG Briess CBW Munich Malt Extract LME
0.5KG Light DME

Grains:
Medium Crystal 120 250g
Chocolate Malt 1200 100g


Amarillo 20g 5 minutes
Cascade 20g 5 minutes
Amarillo 20g dry hopped

Dropped half the Light DME for a can of Briess Munich LME and eased up on the choccy malt, gets me back in range in all aspects.

OG 1.055
IBU 33.3
EBC 38.2

Any other tweaks at all?

Keg carbed - cheers all!!!

 

[manticle]

Looks pretty good to me.

Healthy US05 or Wyeast 1272. I'd go 50:50 amarillo/cascade in the dry hopping with both hops but that's a personal thing. What you have there will be tasty.

 

[syl]

Cheers for the help. Can't wait to fill my kegs back up - couldn't brew for months as my brew room got flooded! It's been a very expensive winter!

Nice Shane Macgowan avatar btw - did you get to see them last year? **** me the whole band was on fire!

 

[warra48]

Dropping the Chocolate to 100g takes this recipe out of style, down to 33 EBC/16 SRM. I had someone else suggest some Carafa for a bit of nutty character and some colour?

I personally prefer Carafa Special for colour adjustment, rather than straight Carafa. I sue Carafa Special II, bit it also comes in I and III. It has the husk removed, and leaves less of the roast/burnt character it can otherwise have. Smooth malt character would be preferred for a Brown Ale.

Hope the brew ends up as you wish it to be.

 

[syl]

I personally prefer Carafa Special for colour adjustment, rather than straight Carafa. I sue Carafa Special II, bit it also comes in I and III. It has the husk removed, and leaves less of the roast/burnt character it can otherwise have. Smooth malt character would be preferred for a Brown Ale.

Hope the brew ends up as you wish it to be.

Hmmm, the description sounds good too. Final recipe (will be ordering soon so I don't make any more changes!!!)

Malts:
1 x TCS Coopers Sparkling Ale
1.5KG Briess CBW Munich Malt Extract LME
0.25KG Light DME

Grains:
Medium Crystal 120 250g
Carafa 2 1100 200g

Amarillo 20g 5 minutes
Cascade 20g 5 minutes
Amarillo 10g dry hopped
Cascade 10g dry hopped

OG 1.053
IBU 33.3
EBC 48.2

Too much Carafa 2 or will this still go OK, sounds great from the description!

 

[manticle]

Nice Shane Macgowan avatar btw - did you get to see them last year? **** me the whole band was on fire!

Funny the number of brewers I meet who are suprised when they find out the avatar isn't me.

Made sure I took what was my one and probably only chance to see them (too young to have caught them in the 80s, doubt they'll get here again).

Very much enjoyed (although I hate festival hall with a passion)

Recipe is looking good - choc or carafa special will work, hopping schedule will work. The next bit of tweaking should be when you brew it again and based on your personal taste/experience of the results.

 

[syl]

Funny the number of brewers I meet who are suprised when they find out the avatar isn't me.

Made sure I took what was my one and probably only chance to see them (too young to have caught them in the 80s, doubt they'll get here again).

Very much enjoyed (although I hate festival hall with a passion)

Recipe is looking good - choc or carafa special will work, hopping schedule will work. The next bit of tweaking should be when you brew it again and based on your personal taste/experience of the results.

Same here, the folks have seen him every time he has been to Aus, we all hate festival hall but that was a cracker of a show! I admit, I was worried when he came out slurring, but when he kicked in to gear he was amazing and the band were on a high too.


Cheers for the recipe notes ianh, manticle and warra! Will smash this one out on the weekend and dry hop my other batches at the same time. Need to get building on a bigger fermentation chamber as I can only fit in 1 fermenter at a time (old keg fridge) and my place is getting way too cold in winter.

 

[manticle]

Couldn't understand one single mumbly ******' word when he spoke but when he sang it was crystal and delivered beautifully.

 

[syl]

Made the starter for this last night, will chuck it in the fridge tonight for brewing over the weekend. The Carafa II looks great! Never used it before myself, always used chocolate malt sparingly.

I have no been so impatient for a brew since my first batch, need a good Brown Ale ASAP, the Great Northern is bleeding me dryyyy!!

 

[syl]

Put this brew down yesterday - it's been nicknamed the Shane Macgowan's Teeth American Brown Ale cheers manticle!

I have got photos of the process, I realised that I haven't had anyone look over my shoulder in a couple of years. It would be nice if people could critique it and let me know if there are thing I could or should be doing differently. Cheers!

Hose attachment for my kitchen tap and other post boil items sanitising.

Ingredients good to go:

Grain steeped for 30 minutes in 3L @ 65-70

While that was on I got another 3L of water to 70 for sparging

Quite sure this is how breweries do it - sparging:

250g DME and 300mL Munich LME to bring the gravity up to 1040:

The mini 5 minute boil! The hop bags are in this pic somewhere, also had whirfloc added:

Flameout, adding the rest of the ingredients to the pot:

Filling the fermenter in it's resting place, the cling wrap on the tap is to stop my inquisitive cats nuzzling it!

Only came down to 35degrees as I didn't let it rest in the pot long enough before adding the water, I will pitch tonight as it is down to 23 already, will be 18 tonight as the ambient temp is 15-16.

What can I change folks? I have an aerator to go on the end of that hose for my next batch.

Be brutal, any critiquing appreciated!

 

[JakeSm]

i think you have done everything just right, exactly how i wouldve done it. im also making a brown tomorrow (of the english/yorkshire kind) i can let you know how i go if you want..

 

[syl]

i think you have done everything just right, exactly how i wouldve done it. im also making a brown tomorrow (of the english/yorkshire kind) i can let you know how i go if you want..

Yeah mate!

I don't go english browns very often - or any english beers actually - cascadian hop obsessed!

 

[Wolfman]

Looks the goods mate.

Only thing I would do differently is to pour all ingrediants into the fv. Helps create abit more airation.

All the Brunswick lads need to catch up for a beer one day.

 

[syl]

Looks the goods mate.

Only thing I would do differently is to pour all ingrediants into the fv. Helps create abit more airation.

All the Brunswick lads need to catch up for a beer one day.

matn mentioned this - we need to get on it some time!

 

[Josh]

I'm gonna do something similar this weekend. Any chance there's a kit that uses Munich malt in it rather than the Coopers Sparkling kit? Absolute doesn't carry Munich extract and I can't be arsed doing a mash until I set up my new brewery.

Otherwise, I'll pretty much follow this recipe, but with more hops.

 

[syl]

I'm gonna do something similar this weekend. Any chance there's a kit that uses Munich malt in it rather than the Coopers Sparkling kit? Absolute doesn't carry Munich extract and I can't be arsed doing a mash until I set up my new brewery.

Otherwise, I'll pretty much follow this recipe, but with more hops.

Not sure on a kit that uses munich malt in it, normally just see it separate. Maybe some oktoberfest kit or somethnig?

I just have Briess munich LME.

Same hops yourself? Or different ones altogether? I am going to do another batch this weekend, may mix it up a little!