My first recipe - Brown Ale

[turkeyjerky214]

I finally decided to try my hand at making up a recipe on my own. I've read a bunch of stuff on Brown Ales to see the basics and then used my limited experience to add in extra stuff that I like.

I'd love to get some feedback on this before I brew it.
Here's the basics:

5.5 gallon batch

9# 2-Row (73.5%)
1# Brown (8.2%)
.5# Chocolate (4.1%)
.5# Caramel 120L (4.1%)
.5# Flaked Oats (4.1%)
.5# Carpils (4.1%)
.25#Munich 20L (2%)

.5 oz Columbus (60 min)
.5 oz Cascade (30 min)
.5 oz Fuggle (5 min)

Opinions?

[beermikester]

Is this an American Brown or an English Brown? Your hop selection suggests sort of a hybrid.

American Browns are going to tend to be a little more bitter with more hop flavor, especially from American hops. Your selection of Columbus for bittering hop should get you in the right neighborhood for bitterness for an American Brown. However, by boiling the Cascades for 30 minutes, you are going to lose a lot of their flavor, and so most of the flavor and aroma will come from Fuggle, which is more of an English hop.

So if, in fact, you are going for an American Brown, I would probably keep the bittering hops as-is, but have Cascades for 15 minutes and 5 minutes.

On the other hand, if you are going for an English Brown, I would probably scale back the bittering hops just a bit, and use Fuggles for 15 minutes, and possibly also for 5 minutes.

[turkeyjerky214]

I actually couldn't decide which I wanted to do when I started putting the recipe together so I figured I'd do kind of a hybrid. Would these hops not go well together, or would it just be out of style?

[bmock]

I actually couldn't decide which I wanted to do when I started putting the recipe together so I figured I'd do kind of a hybrid. Would these hops not go well together, or would it just be out of style?

It's just about the style. The hops will probably compliment each other, but it's a bit of blend. Fuggles are mild, soft, grassy, with a floral aroma. A bit nondescript, but very common in British ales and not so often in Americans.

[RobertHSmith]

using the darker munich will give it a good flavor. I would back off on the C120 a little so the roast will come through a little more.

I would use that other half oz of columbus for your 5 min addition. Columbus has a litte resin in the flavor that goes well with the roast.

all of this would be my personal perference though. I would encourage you to brew your recipe the way it is first then change it next time.

[turkeyjerky214]

I would use that other half oz of columbus for your 5 min addition. Columbus has a litte resin in the flavor that goes well with the roast.

Do you mean in addition to the Fuggles or in lieu of them?


Also, does anyone know where to get Munich 20L? StL Wine and Beer didn't have any, and I can't seem to find anyone online that does. I checked Norther Brewer and a couple smaller ones.

[bmock]

I would use that other half oz of columbus for your 5 min addition. Columbus has a litte resin in the flavor that goes well with the roast.

Do you mean in addition to the Fuggles or in lieu of them?


Also, does anyone know where to get Munich 20L? StL Wine and Beer didn't have any, and I can't seem to find anyone online that does. I checked Norther Brewer and a couple smaller ones.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/b ... unich.html

15.5L. That's about as dark as it gets. I'm sure there is a range where they call it 20L.

[RobertHSmith]

I would use it in place of the Fuggles

[turkeyjerky214]

I entered this into the Microfest Homebrew competition, and I'm pretty happy with how I did for it being both my first recipe and my first competition (got a 31.5). The biggest thing that both judges kept saying was that it was a little too sweet and that more hops, especially bittering and flavor, would've made this beer great. Here's the final recipe I ended up using after the feedback I got on my original plans.

Brown Ale
10-C American Brown Ale
Author: Brian Schmittgens



Size: 5.5 gal
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 180.49 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.054 (1.045 - 1.060)
|=================#==============|
Terminal Gravity: 1.014 (1.010 - 1.016)
|=================#==============|
Color: 20.74 (18.0 - 35.0)
|==========#=====================|
Alcohol: 5.33% (4.3% - 6.2%)
|================#===============|
Bitterness: 37.4 (20.0 - 40.0)
|=====================#==========|

Ingredients:
9.0 lb American 2-row
1 lb Special Roast Malt
.5 lb American Chocolate Malt
.5 lb Cara-Pils® Malt
.25 lb Crystal Malt 120°L
.25 lb Munich 10L Malt
.5 lb Oats Flaked
.5 oz Columbus (15.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
.5 oz Cascade (5.5%) - added during boil, boiled 30 min
.5 oz Columbus (15.0%) - added during boil, boiled 5 min
1.0 ea WYeast 1028 London Ale

Notes
Mash Temp: 154º


As you can see, from BeerTools's calculations, I was already at 37.4 IBUs, so any bump in the hops would put me out of style. I'm wondering if I just got really bad hop utilization or if maybe the beer was under attenuated and that's why the sweetness of it overpowered the hops. I realized that I didn't take a final gravity reading, so I've got a little bit warming up to room temperature so I can see if it actually was under attenuated.

The other comment I got was that the head retention wasn't that good. In order to boost that, do you think maybe throw in a half a pound of flaked wheat?

[siwelwerd]

How fresh were the hops? Just because they were 15% when they were tested at the farm doesn't mean they were 15% when you got them, or 15% when you used them. Did it taste like 37 IBUs?

[RobertHSmith]

Although I think our club has some of the best judges in the country, you should submit it to multiple comps. Scores can vary.

[turkeyjerky214]

How fresh were the hops? Just because they were 15% when they were tested at the farm doesn't mean they were 15% when you got them, or 15% when you used them. Did it taste like 37 IBUs?

I got the hops from StL Wine and Beer, and I went straight home and put them in the freezer. I think I used them about a week or two later. I still consider myself a novice when it comes to knowing what the ingredients should taste/smell like, but they smelled very fresh to me.
I barely taste the hops at all. I'm not entirely sure what 37 IBUs tastes like, but if I had to guess comparing it to other beers, I'd say it tastes around 20. If we don't get rained out tomorrow, I'll be bringing a few bottles to Worm's Way to get some more opinions.

Although I think our club has some of the best judges in the country, you should submit it to multiple comps. Scores can vary.

I actually agree with what the judges said (it's also a little under carbonated), so I'll probably just finish off this batch and then brew it again to enter in other competitions.

[Witch Doctor Dale]

IBU's are a measurement of bitterness, not the hop flavors like piny, citrus, floral, etc. Bitterness is used to counter sweetness, so comparing two beers of the same IBU's if they are of different OG's will give greatly different perceived taste. A beer that finishes at say 1008 at 40 IBU's will taste a lot more bitter than one that finished at say 1018 at 40 IBU's.

[JE]

My two cents on the whole thing...

As far as the IBUs go, it can really vary depending on the scale you are using (Tinseth, Rager, etc.). I have noticed, in playing with my Beer Tools calculators that the IBUs almost always vary between scales. Just an opinion.

As far as the head retention and carbonation issue, there are so many different things that could cause issues...not enough priming sugar, not bottled long enough, not a good seal on the cap, etc.

Really, I'd take some of the judges comments lightly...sometimes you just get a "bad" bottle.

Cheers!

[JE]

IBU's are a measurement of bitterness, not the hop flavors like piny, citrus, floral, etc. Bitterness is used to counter sweetness, so comparing two beers of the same IBU's if they are of different OG's will give greatly different perceived taste. A beer that finishes at say 1008 at 40 IBU's will taste a lot more bitter than one that finished at say 1018 at 40 IBU's.

+1