There is this one
Link Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2011 8:34 pm Post subject: Janet's Brown Ale (batch #134)
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This is a recipe by well known home brewer Mike McDole (aka 'Tasty' on the forums he frequents).
It's a recipe that got some great publicity when it took gold at the 2004 National Homebrew Competition (NHC) - it was entered under category 23 Specialty Ale.
Some may want to call it an American Brown Ale but is a bit outside the numbers for that style because it has slightly too much hops and alcohol. You could call it an Imperial American Brown Ale I suppose (if that category existed). UPDATE: The new 2014 BJCP Guidelines include a category 21B called "Specialty IPA" which covers White, Black, Belgian and other varieties, as well as allowing, like all categories, strength variations (Session, double, Imperial, etc). According to both Gordon Strong (BJCP President) and Tasty, under the new Guidelines this beer would be "Category 21B - Specialty IPA - American Brown Session IPA".
It's a beer that I had heard about for years but never got around to making... I finally brewed it last weekend (Oct 2011). I couldn't resist and sampled a bit yesterday and it's coming along wonderfully!
If you like hoppy American style ales, this is one you definitely have to try. A nice fall beer.
JANUARY 2013 UPDATE: I've brewed this beer numerous times now and it's one of my favourites to keep on tap. The malt and hop flavours work perfectly together.
FEBRUARY 2014 UPDATE: I brewed this beer again in the fall of 2013 but but this time I'm serving it using a beer gas blend (70% nitro / 30% CO2) instead of straight CO2, pushed through one of my
stout faucets to get a nice creamy head and close to flat beer. Absolutely wonderful. I enjoy it a lot more than on regular CO2 so this one's always going to be served this way from now on.
It's also available in
extract and
all-grain kit form with everything you need from More Beer:
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Janet's Brown Ale (134)
Size: 12.0 gal (post-boil)
Efficiency: 95%
Attenuation: 76.8%
Calories: 225 kcal per 12.0 fl oz
Original Gravity: 1.068 (1.045 - 1.060)
Terminal Gravity: 1.016 (1.010 - 1.016)
Color: 18.3 (18.0 - 35.0)
Alcohol: 6.8% (4.3% - 6.2%)
Bitterness: 64 (20.0 - 40.0)
Ingredients:
19.15 lb
Domestic 2-Row Malt (75%)
1.6 lb
Pale (or White) Wheat Malt (6.3%)
2.0 lb
Carapils®/Carafoam® (7.8%)
2.0 lb
Crystal Malt 40L (7.8%)
0.8 lb
Chocolate Malt (3.1%)
2 oz US
Northern Brewer Hops (8.5%) - added during mash*
3 oz US
Northern Brewer Hops (8.5%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
2 oz US
Northern Brewer Hops (8.5%) - added during boil, boiled 15 min
1
Whirlfloc Tablet (Irish moss) - added during boil, boiled 15 min
3.0 oz
Cascade Hops (6.0%) - added during boil, boiled 10 min
4.0 oz
Cascade Hops (6.0%) - added during boil, boiled 0 min
36 g
Fermentis Safale US-05 dry yeast
4 oz
Centennial Hops (9.2%) - added dry to secondary fermenter
*If using pellet hops break them up before adding them to the mash, otherwise they will clump up and you won't get much out of them. I find the easiest way to do this is to add the hops to 2-3 cups of hot strike water in a bowl and let them soak for a few minutes to allow them to break up. Then stir until it's an even soup (no clumps) and dump and mix well into the mash. You may find that your mash will foam up a bit more than usual with hops in there. This is normal.
Notes:
Add 500mg
potassium metabisulphite to 20 gallons water to remove chlorine/chloramine (as required).
Water treated with
brewing salts to: Ca=110, Mg=18, Na=16, Cl=50, S04=279
(Basically Randy Mosher's ideal Pale Ale numbers with slightly less Sulphate).
1.25 qt/lb mash thickness. Single infusion mash at 152F for 90 mins. Mashout to 168F.
60-90 min fly sparge with ~6 pH water. Collect 14.9 gallons in the boil kettle.
Boil for 90 minutes. Lid on at flameout with 0 minute hops, start chilling immediately.
Cool wort to 66F and aerate well. Ferment at 66-68F until complete. Dry hop for 7-10 days.
Rack to brite tank (secondary), crash chill to near freezing (if possible), add 1 tsp of
unflavoured gelatin dissolved in a cup of hot distilled water per 5 gallons of beer, and let clear for 2-3 days.
Package as you would normally. I
keg and carbonate on the low side (around 2 to 2.2 volumes of C02) to minimize carbonic bite and let the hop/malt flavour come through.
If you prefer to use liquid yeast, either of these is an excellent choice as they are the same clean fermenting Chico strain as US-05:
Wyeast 1056 American Ale
White Labs WLP-001 California Ale
