i am going to try and make an English style brown ale and would like to hear some of you experienced
(AHA certified) judges, what you think the characteristics of the style are
i am thinking of using:
4 lb Light Liq Extract (Alexander's)
2 lb English 2 row malt
1/4 lb chocolate malt
1/4 lb black patent malt
1 - 3/2 lb light brown sugar
1 oz. GOlding boiling
1/2 oz Cascade boiling hops and finishing
Ferment with ale yeast.
Comments on this recipe from :From: tony@spss.com (Tony Babinec)
What about hops? As indicated, I don't know whether the hopping is intended as:
1 oz Golding in boil..................1 oz Golding in boil
1/2 oz Cascade in boil......OR...1/2 oz Cascade for finish
1/2 oz Cascade for finish
Assuming a one-hour boil, the left hop schedule will produce something like 30 IBUs, which is better suited
to a porter, while the right hop schedule will produce something like 25 IBUs, which is suited to a brown
ale.
A brown ale is brown in color and malt-accented in flavor. While there are different variants of brown ales,
sample some Newcastle Brown Ale or Samuel Smith's Nut Brown Ale.
How about getting some color and flavor from dark crystal malt? For example, assuming a 5-gallon batch
and 75% extract efficiency:
7-8 # pale malt (OR 5 # dry malt extract)
1 # 80L (dark) crystal malt
should produce an appropriate flavor and body. For an attempt at a "nut" flavor, try instead:
7-8 # pale malt (OR 5 # dry malt extract)
1 # 10L (light) crystal malt
2-3 ounces roasted barley
In either of the above, you can substitute some brown sugar for the pale malt or dry malt extract. I wouldn't
use more than 1 pound of sugar. While pure refined sugar will ferment perfectly, brown sugar has some
added molasses that will leave some residual unfermentables and their flavors in the beer.
Samuel Smith's Nut Brown ale is very nicely hopped. To get some hop flavor, which I think I taste in this
particular beer, try a hop addition at 20 minutes to end of boil. Samuel Smith's uses a unique yeast and
fermentation setup. For a bit of diacetyl (butterscotchy) flavor in the beer, perhaps Wyeast Irish ale yeast
might be tried.