I came a across a sack of Simpson’s Brown Malt (it was free). I decided to add 12oz to my “west coast red” recipe (5 gallon batch) and much to my chagrin the result is a very hoppy brown ale. It adds a burnt toast character to the beer and I learned my lesson - only use Brown Malt in English Browns and Bitters and in smaller quantities.
Add Denny’s Bourbon Vanilla Imperial Porter to your list. Uses 1.5# Brown Malt per batch
It seems there is variation in brown malt between maltsters. Some (Crisp, IIRC) use the terms brown malt and amber malt interchangeably for 35L malt. Others (Fawcett, IIRC) call 70L malt brown malt. My recipe calls for the 70L stuff.
I also believe its Briess…I could be wrong, but I’ve also seen Cara-Brown malt and it comes in at 55-65L
Well hey… now its “West Coast Brown”.
Do you like it in a hoppy brown ale? I’ve been looking for some malt tweaks to my IBA - tried mild malt, but I wasn’t thrilled with it in the recipe.
Personally, I hate it when “toasty-biscuit” meets hoppy. I don’t like hoppy brown-malt rich brown ales or biscuity IPA’s or anything like that. I like brown malt in a malt-forward or roasty beer, but I don’t care for it (or biscuit malt, special roast, victory malt, or Vienna Malt, for that matter) in hoppy beer.
What do you think of DFH India Brown Ale?
It is fascinating. I used S-05 and I think the neutral Chico yeast makes for a sharper, burnt (almost acrid) taste. I am speculating that the fruitier English yeast rounds out the Brown Malt flavor. I am going to cellar the keg and let the hop bitterness mellow out.
It’s been so long since I tried that beer that I couldn’t tell you whether or not I liked it.
That’s what I was going for with mine. Great beer (and we dont get DFH in Indiana)
Big fan of it with WLP013 London Ale.