A Brown Ale Baffler from a newb

Discussion on brewing beer from malt extract, hops, and yeast.
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Duncndisorderly

A Brown Ale Baffler from a newb

Post by Duncndisorderly » Tue Apr 08, 2008 11:54 am

I found this recipe in a book for a Brown Ale, im listing the ingredients in the order of addition to the brew

225g crushed crystal Malt
3kg of liquid malt amber
1 0z northern brewer pellets
1 pound belgium candi sugar
1/2 oz of cluster hop pellets
1 tsp irish moss
8 oz of brown sugar
8oz mollasses
1 oz whole leaf goldings hops
1 ale yeast
8-10oz of maple syrup after 3 days primary ferment

but i havent been able to get all the ingredients so im gonna substitute a few things as follows

instead of northern brewer hops im gonna use northdown hops
instead of cluster hop pellets im gonna use Challenger hop pellets
instead of brown sugar im using dark muscavado
and finally instead of mollases im using the same weight in treacle

what i want to know is, will this dramatically reduce the chances of this beer working out and if so is there something i should be using instead of one of my substitutes?

if anyone wants to know the book is "An enthusiasts guide to Homebrew Beers by Sam Calgione" not sure if that helps really but hey :roll:

mysterio

Post by mysterio » Tue Apr 08, 2008 12:23 pm

Yes, your substitutes are very close. Isn't mollases the same thing as treacle?

I've never used cluster but I wouldn't worry at all about substututing challenger for it.

One last thing, if you're looking to make a simple brown ale there's really no need for all those varieties of hops. Try not to think of it like curry where you need a blend of spices or it will be one-dimensional. If you're interested we could probably point you in the direction of a simpler recipe, probably only using pale extract, a bit of crystal and chocolate malt and one hop variety. Especially as a newcomer, it will help you greatly to be able to identify the flavour a single hop brings to the beer, whether you like it or not, how much to use in future recipes etc. I can't help but think that 4 different kinds of sugar is taking the piss a bit.

Duncndisorderly

Post by Duncndisorderly » Tue Apr 08, 2008 12:35 pm

......If you're interested we could probably point you in the direction of a simpler recipe, probably only using pale extract, a bit of crystal and chocolate malt and one hop variety. Especially as a newcomer, it will help you greatly to be able to identify the flavour a single hop brings to the beer, whether you like it or not, how much to use in future recipes etc.....
please point away as that sounds like a good plan, thanks.

Tbh the amount of diffrent sugars didn't seem odd at first as the book was my first step into homebrew, having spent a week or two mooching round this forum since the sugar levels do no seem a little on the extreme side

mysterio

Post by mysterio » Tue Apr 08, 2008 12:41 pm

I'm just flicking through Wheeler's Brew Classic European Beers at Home and it's got recipes for Samuel Smiths Nut Brown Ale & Newcastle Brown Ale... any preference for either of those?

Do you have a suitable pot/boiler to do a full volume boil by the way?

Duncndisorderly

Post by Duncndisorderly » Tue Apr 08, 2008 2:55 pm

I have a 7 gallon stainless stell brewpot which has never been used in anger and as for preference the sam smiths sounds good

mysterio

Post by mysterio » Tue Apr 08, 2008 4:51 pm

Here's the recipe, I've put it in Beersmith format because the original recipe is in all grain and I needed to convert it to extract. The original recipe also had Fuggles for the bittering hop but I switched it to East Kent Goldings because I promised you a single hop recipe. You could, of course, just switch it back to Fuggles if you wanted to stay true to the original. I think the dark crystal malt is best for this recipe if you can get it. For the extract, John Bull Bulldog Blend Maris Otter gets a good name, or Brupaks. Works out as 2 x 1.6 kilo tins.

A nice touch, if you can be bothered, is to roast your own amber malt. Just get some uncrushed pale ale malt and spread it out on a roasting tray, stick it in a cold oven and let it heat up to 180C. Once it's hot, give it half an hour, mixing it about occasionally. It should have a nice nutty smell coming out of the oven. Then crack it all with a rolling pin until it looks like the rest of your crushed grains. Then steep all the grains together with the extract in a grain bag while the extract is heating up as normal. Of course, you could just buy Amber malt :=P

Yeast, I would probably use a sachet of rehydrated Safale SO4 but you could use Nottingham if you like it a little drier.

Samuel Smiths Nut Brown Ale
Northern English Brown Ale


Type: Extract
Date: 08/04/2008
Batch Size: 25.00 L
Boil Size: 28.62 L
Boil Time: 60 min

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
3200.00 gm Pale Liquid Extract (10.0 EBC) Extract 73.31 %
550.00 gm Caramel/Crystal Malt (200.0 EBC) Grain 12.60 %
540.00 gm Amber Malt (43.3 EBC) Grain 12.37 %
75.00 gm Chocolate Malt (900.0 EBC) Grain 1.72 %
58.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [5.30 %] (60 min) Hops 30.5 IBU
20.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [5.30 %] (15 min) Hops 4.6 IBU

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.048 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.012 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.57 %
Bitterness: 35.1 IBU Est Color: 36.6 EBC

Duncndisorderly

Post by Duncndisorderly » Tue Apr 08, 2008 4:59 pm

Many Thanks mysterio, im gonna give this one a bash over the weekend, i'll keep you informed as to the results, i may even try taking some pictures, so if i norse it up its well documented :lol:

MightyMouth

Post by MightyMouth » Tue Apr 08, 2008 6:37 pm

mysterio wrote:I'm just flicking through Wheeler's Brew Classic European Beers at Home and it's got recipes for Samuel Smiths Nut Brown Ale & Newcastle Brown Ale... any preference for either of those?

Do you have a suitable pot/boiler to do a full volume boil by the way?
I had some samuel Smiths Nut Brown Ale last weekend and its far and away better than Newcastle Brown.

mysterio

Post by mysterio » Tue Apr 08, 2008 7:09 pm

Aye, it's delicious stuff, probably my favourite of the Sammy Smiths beers.

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