So my Brown Ale seems like it is flirting with a Brown Porter. But it might be the other way around as well. The beer tastes fantastic and I always have it on hand. Just wanted to post my recipe to see if someone could tell me which style it leans towards more. Only reason I wanna know is there is a comp in Juneau that I wanna mailing to. Last time I did a competition the judges said I entered a beer in the wrong category. So here it is
8lbs Briess Two Row
.75lbs crystal 120
.5lbs carafa special 2 ( this was on accident but it tastes great)
1lb Munich 10L
Centennial .5 oz 60 min
Cascade .5 oz 30 min
Cascade .5 oz 15 min
Centennial .5 oz 2 min
Mash schedule
Strike grains at 162.4 with 3.86 gallons of water
Mash at 152 for 75 min. ( it mashed at 153 )
Vorlauf and Lauter
Sparge with 4.72 gallons of 168 degree water
Total running a should be 7 gallons
Boil was 65 min
SG- 1.054
FG- 1.010
Fermented for 5 days at 63 and brought it up to 66 degrees for 8 more days
So the carafa special 2 was a complete accident but I went with it anyways. Beer is dark and I know that is mainly from it. Just wanted to add that. So tell me what you think this falls under please
Seems more like an American Brown to me. A porter would have more roasted malts? Also, I think with all the citrusy, piney American hops, it’s going to be more appropriate as an American Brown.
So hard to tell without tasting. Especially when it’s between two styles that already have similarities. I’d try to find a good local judge and see what they think.
Or, pour a sample with the guidelines in front of you and go down the list of attributes. The style that hits the most is it.
I vote American Brown. The carafa II would only give a minimal roast, less than the typical chocolate malt that’s in most American Browns. The late American hops obviously fit the style, too.
Side by side comparison would be a good idea. The carafa special 2 must have just made it super dark. This beer tastes great. I will post a pic in a while. So proud of the head it has. I showed it to my kids
I’d go to a good bottle shop and pick up a couple of bottles of commercial Am. Brown Ales and Brown Porters to get a good idea of the spread of those styles. Then, taste yours and see how it stacks up.
FWIW, The citrusy late hops (granted - half oz additions are somewhat small for most recent Am styles, but still there are several of them in your recipe) makes me lean towards Am brown ale too. The crystal and somewhat small amount of carafa aren’t enough to hit into porter, and in my experience, even hoppy brown porters can sneak into Am. Brown without getting docked very much for too much roast. Flavor wise, that upper roastiness boundary for Am. Brown is a fuzzy line to draw, since the judges tend to get distracted by the hop presence.
If its a toss up, the next thing to consider is which sub cat tends to do better in its style? For example, at NHC APA dominates cat 10 and Robust dominates cat 12. You might look at that competition’s history and see which sub cat does better. Again, if it couod fit as either, why not rule out the style they tend to kick to the curb?