I am looking to brew a brown ale this weekend and have come up with this. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
5 Gallon batch 6.5 gallon boil
8 lbs. Maris Otter
1 lb. Crystal 60
1 lb. Munich
.5 lb. Brown Malt
.5 lb. Biscuit
.25 lb. Chocolate
.5 oz. Northern Brewer @ 60
.5 oz. Fuggle @ 30
.5 oz. Fuggle @ 15
.5 oz. EKG @ 5
US-05 Yeast
Mash @ 152 for 60 min with 1.5 qts/lb.
70% effciency should give a OG of 1.057
I think it looks pretty solid. But I would definitely use a more British yeast - WY1968 or 1028 for starters. If you need to use a dry yeast S-04 would be a little more appropriate for the style.
Also Maris Otter has a toasty/biscuity quality, and with 8 lbs of it, I would definitely leave out the biscuit and add an extra 1/2 lb of Maris to compensate.
Looks like a good recipe. I would definitely go with an English yeast as suggested. I didn’t but your recipe into brewing software but at a glance it looks like there may be too much hops for the style. Other than that looks like a the start of a delicious brew.
Yeah, I think you guys aer right about the yeast. I will swap it out for 1098. Also if I get rid of the biscuit but add another .5 lb. of brown malt instead of more Maris would it be too overwhelming?
Not sure if it wood be overwhelming as haven’t used brown malt. If you want to add color without harshness try dehusked Carafa. I used some Carafa I in a Southern English Brown and it worked well.
I love this style, and I love brown malt. If I were going to up the brown, I’d probably half or eliminate the Crystal. Brown adds a character like darkly toasted bread. Not burnt or harsh at all, but like toast that is super crunchy. Much softer than even a lite roast chocolate malt.
I hear good things about brown malt but this is my first time using it. I think I may up it to 1 lb and cut the crystal to .5, while also increasing the Maris to 8.5 and eliminating the biscuit. Thanks for the feedback guys.
My experience with Brown/Amber/Pale Chocolate malts have been a little disappointing. I get a bit of a sour tang to all of them. I use pale chocolate in my brown and any more than .25# in 5 gallons is too much. The same with brown and amber. Use them for flavor, not color. Use a less attenuative British yeast (than us-05) and mash at 154. Use British (450L) Chocolate to adjust your color, chocolate gives you brown, Carafa gives you more of a red tint.
My $.02