Brown Malt

Planning to brew the Old Rasputin recipe from July/August 2007 Zymurgy.

It calls for 0.5lb Brown Malt.  I’ve never used brown malt that I can recall and the LHBS does not list it on their website.

I understand brown malt can impart roast flavors.

What could/should I sub?

It’s a relatively small amount of grain in a strong dark beer, so I’m assuming there’s a lot of latitude.  But not knowing what brown malt brings to the party I’m not sure.

Yeast will be a neutral ale yeast, probably US-05.

I think it’s sort of like a mix of chocolate, biscuit, and with a slight roasted barley aspect. It’s great in a porter. I would actually use brown if you can find it. If not, a combination of the three.

I can order it from NB or somewhere and have time to get it.  Just not available on the way home.

I have ordered it from Northern Brewer before and used it in a Nut Brown. The flavor is pretty assertive and I felt it threw my Brown a little off balance, due to it’s overt nuttiness and production of a dry/slightly roast flavor. I think it would be perfect in a stout. I say go for it!

It seems like I’ve bought it at Brew & Grow before, but don’t know if they’re convenient to you. I used it in a Fuller’s porter clone and it has a really nice roastiness that’s different than you get from roasted barley.

They’re not, really.  Used to be.  Drove past them on Mother’s Day, and they were open.

Wife and MIL did not think I should stop and run in.

Spoilsports. What says Mother’s Day more than a trip to the LHBS :wink:

I’d say get the brown malt.  It’s a mainstay in my BVIP and I’ve never found an adequate sub.  Be aware that what some maltsters call brown malt others call amber.  What you want is the 70L stuff, not the 35L.  Here’s some info from a froens who was looking for brown malt…

Thought I’d give you a heads up on something.  A while back I was asking about Baird brown malt, and whether it was really brown and not amber since the sack indicated both “brown” and “amber” (55-70L).  Weird.  The folks at Baird told me that it could be either brown or amber  depending on what the customer wanted it to be, that the two malts are interchangeable.  B.S!  Anyway, I purchased some Crisp amber malt (35L) from Greg Beron at Culver City Homebrew in So. Cal., and it is visibly identical to Baird.  Furthermore, I just received some Thomas Fawcett brown malt from North Country Malt and it is easily, visibly darker then the Baird.

Thanks.  I’ll place an order today.

I have a few other miscellaneous things to get anyway.

Never heard that about the amber malt, Denny. I’ll be sure to get the 70L from here on out. Thanks for the info !

I used brown malt in a brown porter and had a definite smoke flavor in the beer. I’ve also had a special porter from Founders that had a similar smokiness. I’m a little leery of brown malt at this point.

Well, I’ve order a pound of Crisp Brown Malt.  I’ll brew per the recipe and let you know what I think.

Old Rasputin is a favorite, so if I can come close it will be dangerous.  And then I’ll need to oak age it…

In all the times I’ve made the BVIP with brown malt, I’ve never gotten any hint of smoke.  Do you recall what maltster yours was from?

According to my LHBS’ website, it was Crisp Brown Malt.

Me too! Is there a link to that recipe you’re using? I brewed a dry stout with WLP004 and after aging for a year, I got a flavor reminiscent of Old Rasputin from the yeast. I cannot explain it, but I have a feeling they may use WLP004 in Old Ras

No link, but when I was going through old Zymurgy’s last week it popped out at me.

5 Gallons
14 lb two row
1 lb carastan
1 lb 120 L crystal
0.5 lb chocolate
0.5 lb brown makt
0.25 lb roast barley
2.0 oz Cluster (7%) 60 minutes
1.0 oz Northern Brewer (9%) 2 min
1.0 oz Centennial (10.5%) 2 min
American or California ale yeast

We’ll see how it turns out.

I can sure vouch for the Crisp brown malt.  That stuff is magic, well, when in Denny’s BVIP for sure!

I have gotten a phenolic ‘smokiness’ from a beer that had Crisp Brown from the same LHBS.

Since I’ve also had other homebrew/commercial examples that use the same malt with no such defect, I assumed it was a misstep on my part.

Perhaps they got a bad bag?

Kyle,

I agree. However, the fact that that special Founders brown porter that I had about 6 months ago at a tasting event suggests that it may be more than just a bag. That Founders porter has the same smokey character as my beer does. It was good…just unexpected.

I have a bit of a hard time weighing in, since both times I’ve used it for BVIP I’ve added medium or medium plus toast French oak.  My recollection of tasting the extra beer at kegging, prior to adding vanilla and toasted oak, does not include smoky phenolics… just a very expressive porter.  So expressive in fact, that I had no qualms about adding the vanilla and bourbon to balance it out a bit.

By the way, I’ve only sourced Crisp brown malt via MoreBeer.  The only other beer I’ve made that used it was Jamil’s McQuaker Stout, but that was only a pound in 10 gallons of beer.

This last batch I had previously bought Thomas Faucett for the brew and decided that I knew how good Crisp worked last time so bought it instead once I re-sourced it.