I Thought I Was Making A Porter

[johnno]

jayse quoted on the Oatmeal Stout thread.
*Now the question is what dark brew to brew next.
Why not try a scottish? maybe my new favourite style american brown? this style is awesome and is my idea of a perfiect pint, it has lots of malt and lots of hops and can have a reasonbly high starting gravity.*

Funny you should say that jayse.
I have after 12 days in primary a brown ale.
I started off thinking I would make a Porter but after having a look at the style BJCP guidelines and having a read of the Ray Daniels Designing Great beers book i realized I had made an American brown Ale. I love this hobby!!.
A couple of weekends ago I dropped off some stuff at the Grain and Grape and on the spur of the moment decided to get some specialty grains to make a porter.
I thought I had plenty of EKG at home and I had a Wyeast 1056 starter ready to go.
Turns out I only had 17 gms of EKG. But lots of ahtnunum.

I used.
250 gms choc malt
200 gms wheat
150 gms roast barley
100 gms black malt
6 pounds light DME
Wyeast 1056

I used 28 gms Ahtnum hops at 60 mins
17 gms EKG at 50 mins.

This is one hell of a delicious beer. Its got that choclatey roasty flavour and the the ahtnum EKG combination really suits it.
Next one I do which will probably be this weekend I will use more base grain at least 2 kilos.
Anyway, I thought I was making a freak beer but its turned out fine.
yum yum.
Still got to transfer to secondary then bottle it.

cheers

 

[Green Iguana]

Here is my version of a dark ale i'm brewing tommorrow.....

2.6 kg light munich
1.7 kg pilsner
430g melanoidin
650g caramunich 1
200g carapils
200g dark crystal
25 IBU goldings/target
aroma/flavour goldings
Whitelabs london ale

First dark ale i have tried to brew, should be intresting....

 

[Green Iguana]

Here is the finilised brew ..... not totally to style.....

Brown porter ale

Category Porter
Subcategory Brown Porter
Recipe Type All Grain
Batch Size 20 liters
Volume Boiled 25 liters
Mash Efficiency 70 %
Total Grain/Extract 5.58 kg.
Total Hops 56.0 g.
Calories (12 fl. oz.) 215.6
Cost to Brew $27.76 (USD)
Cost per Bottle (12 fl. oz.) $0.49 (USD)

1.7 kg. Australian Pilsner
2.6 kg. Munich Malt
0.65 kg. German CaraMunich I
0.2 kg. Dextrine Malt
0.43 kg. Melanoidin Malt
6 g. Target (Pellets, 10.00 %AA) boiled 60 minutes.
25 g. Goldings (Pellets, 4.1 %AA) boiled 60 minutes.
25 g. Goldings (Pellets, 4.1 %AA) boiled 5 minutes.
Yeast : White Labs WLP013 London Ale

Predicted Brown Porter Compliance
Original Gravity 1.054 1.040 - 1.050 55 %

Terminal Gravity 1.013 1.008 - 1.014 100 %

Color 15.72 SRM 20.00 - 35.00 SRM 71 %

Bitterness 26.1 IBU 20.00 - 30.00 IBU 100 %

Alcohol (%volume) 5.5 % 3.80 - 5.20 % 82 %

82 % overall

 

[jayse]

Hi johnno,
For a more typical brown ale i would cut down on the very dark and roasted malts etc and only use one type, the most common roasted malt for brown would be chocolate and only a fairly small amount just enough to make it brown. Depending on how brown you make it you will not really beable to taste any real choc or coffee flavours.
The speciality malts you will use the most in a brown will be crystal malt at around 250-500g. For american brown i have been aiming for OG 1.060 and only 250g of crystal 120ebc. The choc amounts are around only 100g a 23l brew.

To that basic recipe i have been using some character malts like amber and brown malt from thomas faucett. The last one was 250g amber malt and the one this week was 250g brown malt.
The amber malt has a great complex malt flavour with coffee and bisuit like flavour and adds to the over all malt complexity.
This is the first time i have used brown malt but it is discribed as adding a nuttiness like that of a nut brown ale. I didn't use very much so the nuttiness will be subdued but add a depth on complexity.
The other malt i have been using is around 1kg of munich malt again simply for a full on malt complexity in the finished beer.

Hops wise both brews i have used athunum and are very very happy with it.
I have been using northern brewer for the 60min bittering additon, then 30g athunum 15mins and 30g for 5mins, this seems to be perfect for the beer iam after and it is in perfect balance.
i aim for 40ibu in a 1.060 brown ale

As a general rule of thumb i use is the higher the starting gravity the less crystal malt i'll use. So if you wanted to make a lower gravity one like 1.045 you could go the full 500g but for 1.060 sticking with 250g should be enough.

Anyway hope that gives you some ideas from my ideas on the style. to me it is more than one style as it could be discribed as many different styles of beer, ie a modern day home brewed darker IPA or a darker english ale, to me its just a perfect pint of beer in true cask ale style.

By the way i love the way you brew, to me its just like a all grain brewers approach but just swapping some DME for a portion of the pale malt, rather than the kits and bits techniquie many part mashes sometimes resort too.
anyway keep up the great work

Jayse

 

[johnno]

Thanks for the feed back jayse,
well then i wonder what i have made with the above recipe. Still tastes excellent though. Cant wait till its in the bottle.
Maybe a bastardized/crossover brown/porter :lol: :lol:
who knows.
I am getting some grain tomorrow for a part mash.
I was going to make an APA but I reckon I will make a style like this now.
Anyway I'm still not fully decided yet. Thats what I love about this hobby. You get to make new beer all the time and then drink it.
jayse, if you read this before 8 tomoorow morning can you recommend a yeast. I was going to use a 1056 but I do want to try something different.

cheers

 

[Doc]

jayse, if you read this before 8 tomoorow morning can you recommend a yeast. I was going to use a 1056 but I do want to try something different.

Johnno,

Just in case Jayse doesn't come back before tomorrow, he has been using the Wyeast British Cask Ale yeast 1026.

Beers,
Doc

 

[johnno]

Thanks very muchly Doc.

cheers

 

[johnno]

Got my Brown Ale on this morning.
I dont know if its American or english. But I do know the runnings and final result taste yum.

Grubby Brown Ale

100 gm Choc malt
250 gm amber malt
250 gm crystal 120 ebc
1 kg Light Munich
I kg ale malt
1.5 Kg Light DME

28 gms UK Challenger at 60 mins
28 gms Ahtnum at 30 mins
14 gm Ahtnum at 5 mins

Wyeast 1335 British II

I should have used another 500 gms dry malt as the OG was only 1040, But hey that will do for now.
Used my mash tun for the first time today and it was so good not stuffing around with pots and seives/strainers.
Mashed for 70 mins with 8 lites water.
Batch sparged with 9 litres for 10 minutes.
Ended up with about 15 litres at 1030 from the mash.
I think It may be an American Brown Ale. Any thought comments welcome.
Many thanks to all the ahb members and especially the ones that have helped me personally.

yours in lots of beers
johnno

 

[jayse]

Hi johnno,
Just reading this thread, sorry iam a few days late.
Anyway i think for these beers you can pretty much use any yeast you like, from memory i think daniels writes that in the NHC this style and other brown ales have no one favourite yeast by brewers and notes a large list of different yeast used.

Your recipe is lacking a bit of dry malt there, i would have used another 1.5kg of dried malt extract, that would have you up at 1.060 and still only using extract for around 50% of the fermentables.
The mash part of your recipe looks spot on but the hopping is a bit high for a brown ale at only 1.040.

Let us all know how its coming along.

heres what it would look like with the extra 1.5kg dry malt which i think would have made it spectactular.



BJCP Style and Style Guidelines
-------------------------------

10-D Brown Ale, American Brown Ale

Min OG: 1.040 Max OG: 1.060
Min IBU: 25 Max IBU: 60
Min Clr: 30 Max Clr: 43 Color in EBC

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (L): 22.50 Wort Size (L): 22.50
Total Grain (kg): 5.60
Anticipated OG: 1.059 Plato: 14.59
Anticipated EBC: 36.9
Anticipated IBU: 43.5
Brewhouse Efficiency: 60 %
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes



Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential EBC
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
53.6 3.00 kg. Generic LME - Light Generic 292.36 13
4.5 0.25 kg. TF Amber Malt UK 275.65 100
1.8 0.10 kg. TF Chocolate Malt UK 275.65 940
4.5 0.25 kg. TF Crystal UK 284.01 145
17.9 1.00 kg. IMC Munich Australia 317.42 12
17.9 1.00 kg. JWM Traditional Ale Malt Australia 317.42 7

Potential represented as IOB- HWE ( L / kg ).


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
28.00 g. Ahtanum Pellet 5.70 11.4 30 min.
14.00 g. Ahtanum Pellet 5.70 1.9 5 min.
28.00 g. challanger Pellet 7.75 30.3 60 min.


Yeast
-----

WYeast 1335 British Ale II



Jayse :chug:

 

[Trough Lolly]

Recipe looks good Jayse...
I made a similar brew the other day, except I used Bairds Amber and Stout malts in lieu of your TF Amber and JWM Ale Malt. Despite a 66C mash and 73C mashout, it was quite a bit heavier that expected - the FG out of the primary fermenter came out to 1.016 - I used 1028 London Ale yeast and roused the primary fermenter at day 3.

I've never tried 1335 - what's it like, attenuation wise?
Cheers,
TL

 

[jayse]

Hi TL
Thats johnnos recipe i posted above i just added another 1.5kg DME to show what i thought it was missing, other than that the recipe is prety much exactly what i have been doing.
I haven't tried 1335 so no comments there. As far as attenuation 1.016 is about right for the type of brown ale i have been doing, They key i think for the american ones is just think big beer with lots of malt and a reasonble amount of hops, just a tad darker than a IPA and very very well balanced.
I think it needs to finish at no less than 1.015 for the beer iam after as i want it fairly full bodied and with a awesome mouthfeel.

Anyway this beers is now one of my favourites of all time, i love a straight edge type big pint glass full of it, is more than just a beer, it's a experience. B)
I just sit there with a grin from ear to ear while i have a pint of this beer in front of me. B)

Jayse

 

[johnno]

I've never tried 1335 - what's it like, attenuation wise?
Cheers,
TL

TL, from the wyeast site.
"1335 British Ale Yeast II. Typical of British and Canadian ale fermentation profile with good flocculating and malty flavor characteristics, crisp finish, clean, fairly dry. Flocculation - high; apparent attenuation 73-76%. (63-75 F, 17-24 C)"
I origialy wanted the cask ale yeast but hey didnt have it. He would have ordered it but it would be a few weeks before it came in.
Jayse - yeah, more DME next time. It was at 1016 yesterday. I will rack to secondary sometime this week.
Im just really curious to see how the yeast turns out. I may do the same brew with a 1056 for comparison. But I know what will happen when I end up at the brew shop. It will be "oh i havent tried this before maybe I will give it a go"

cheers

ps: that recipe for the first beer I posted in this thread got bottled on the weekend and I am really happy with the taste so far.

 

[johnno]

Update on the Brown Ale I made for anyone thats interested.
SG 1040 FG 1012-14
Its been 6 days in the bottle and I have to say its a marvelous ale already. I can see myself making slight variations of the same recipe repeatedly. Maybe even make it the House ALe. If you like an ale I would really recomend this style. The amber, crystal munich and chocolate malts have blended awesomely to make a muddy brown beer. THere is no sweetness in it al all which suprises me as I have been using the same DME now for over 8 months and for a while I thought it was the dme that had a problem. It is very well balanced IMHO. Has that buscuity dryish taste about it. It finishes dry , probaly from the yeast. It is a bit hoppy but you can tell it will only get better with time. I think I fluked the hops combo as well but it sure turned out good.
I'm not sure if its the amber malt or the WYeast 1335 British Ale II. Probably a combination of both.
Jayse, from your comments on using more DME I can see where you are coming from but haveing made it like this I have to say I really like it.
I can see myself making it at a higher SG as well.
An ale like this at about 6 - 7 abv would be perfect for the colder weather.
At this strenght its perfect for summer. (not that this one will last that long)
Damn nice!!!

:chug: cheers

 

[jayse]

Thanx for the update johnno.
Sounds great, i was worried the balance may have been out with that beer being the low OG and high IBU,
looks like you are over the moon with the result though so thats great. :chug:

Keep up the great brewing.
Cheers Jayse