Critique my Honey Brown ale!

Beer Recipes
1

Ive never used Brown malt or honey malt. So if the levels are too high, let me know! I want some honey character in the beer for sure!

I was also thinging about adding some hops near the end of the boil to maybe add a floral nose to it… thoughts? Would that be too much?

Honey Brown Ale

Method: BIAB 
Style: American Brown Ale  
Boil Time: 60 min 
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons  (fermentor volume) 
Boil Size:  6.8 gallons 
Boil Gravity: 1.044  (recipe based estimate) 
Efficiency:  74%  (brew house)

Original Gravity:

1.054

Final Gravity:

1.014

ABV (standard):

5.33%

IBU (tinseth):

27.36

SRM (morey):

25.7

Fermentables

Amount  Fermentable  PPG  °L  Bill % 
6.5 lb United Kingdom - Pale 2-Row 38 2.5 58.8%
1.9 lb United Kingdom - Brown 32 65 17.2%
0.4 lb United Kingdom - Chocolate 34 425 3.6%
1.5 lb Canadian - Honey Malt 37 25 13.6%
0.75 lb Torrified Wheat 36 2 6.8%
11.05 lb  Total

Hops

Amount  Variety  Type  AA  Use  Time  IBU 
0.5 oz Magnum Pellet 15 Boil 60 min 27.36

Hops Summary

Amount  Variety  Type  AA 
0.5 oz Magnum Pellet 15

Mash Guidelines

Amount  Description  Type  Temp  Time 
5.5 gal  Infusion 155 F 60 min

Yeast

White Labs - American Ale Yeast Blend WLP060

Attenuation (avg):
76% 
Flocculation:
Medium

Optimum Temp:
68 - 72 °F
Starter:
Yes

Fermentation Temp:
70 °F 
Pitch Rate:
1.0 (M cells / ml / ° P)
278 B cells required

2

I don’t know 1.5# of honey malt seems like a lot to me. I think it can be pretty potent when compared to more traditional crystal malts. Personally, I would bring it down to 1# and adjust future recipes from there.

I used equal amounts of brown malt and carafa in a brown recently and it turned out great but I think it was only at amounts of 4%. I was going for a light, smooth roast character. I can’t really comment on brown malt at higher percentages.

3

Brown malt is pretty roasty and biscuity IMO. That much brown plus the chocolate malt puts you in porter territory pretty firmly.
Personally, I’d keep the chocolate, drop the brown, add 12 oz of Crystal 80L, and drop the honey back to a lb. I’d also bump IBU to 40 IBU to balance out the sweetness. Just my $0.02. .

4

$0.02 is exactly what I am looking for. Like I said… never used those malts, nor have I done a brown ale! I will adjust accordingly!

Thanks! to the both of you!