Mr. Z's Nutty Man Brown Ale

monk · Post by **monk** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 7:55 pm

Would love to try that Mann's Brown you like, Daab.

monk · Post by **monk** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 7:56 pm

mysterio wrote:Sounds good monk

I had a sip of my 70/- from the FV while I was kegging today, it's promising.

Did you use the recipe with specialty grains, or the caramelized one?

mysterio · Post by **mysterio** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 8:10 pm

The one with about half a dozen speciality grains. It's got a distinct toffee-ish aroma, might be a spot of diacetyl from the cool fermentation temp. I might try the caramelised one if this is any good.

iowalad · Post by **iowalad** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 9:23 pm

Sounds like this one is a keeper.
Will wait what you and Mysterio think of your brews over time.
I may have to break down and buy the book.
All those grains - flies in the face of my keep it simple mantra for recipes.

monk · Post by **monk** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 10:29 pm

iowalad wrote:Sounds like this one is a keeper.
Will wait what you and Mysterio think of your brews over time.
I may have to break down and buy the book.
All those grains - flies in the face of my keep it simple mantra for recipes.

I know, I felt a little sheepish with 5 different grains steeped in an extract recipe...but I can't deny how good it tastes.

Not all of the grain bills are so diverse. His pale ale has only pale malt, crystal, and a dash of munich. The Hef is just wheat LME. It appears that the darker brews get more specialty grains, and that he tends to throw a bit of Victory malt into many recipes that would otherwise be fairly simple. I'm willing to give it a shot...experimentation is fun (and tasty.)

steve_flack · Post by **steve_flack** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 10:44 pm

DaaB wrote:Sounds a bit like a stronger version of Manns Brown Ale which I quite like

Curiously enough that's exactly what it is. The 'Southern English Brown' BJCP category is essentially Mann's Brown Ale (Harveyâ€™s Nut Brown Ale and Woodfordeâ€™s Norfolk Nog are also given as examples)

Stonechat · Post by **Stonechat** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 11:03 pm

Daab, it's only because I'm a computing thicko that a photo of your avatar is not winging its way to the Mann's site for you to receive your Mann's Goodie Bag. Whatever that may be

But others may have the "technic"

Barley Water · Post by **Barley Water** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 6:54 pm

After reading all the posts praising Mr. Z's efforts, I ordered up my copy of the book from Amazon and it was delivered a couple of days ago. I like the fact that now I can decide which style I want to brew then find a formulation which will get me in the ball park which is known to be good. Like other posters here though, I have a lot of trouble leaving well enough alone. I can probably get myself to brew according to the recipie the first time but I know I will fool with things after that.

I also suspect that Mr. Z is not giving up his intermost brewing secrets (or maybe the text is just dummed down for the unwashed masses). I notice most of the beers are basicly made using a pretty simple infusion mashing procedure. I would be willing to bet the Mr. Z didn't win all those metals doing just simple infusions. Still, using his formulations with more advanced techniques should provide for endless hours of experimental fun and produce some pretty good beers.

By the way there Daab, you should try getting out of the "bitters box" once in a while. I noticed Mr. Z's book has a recipie for a Belgian Dubbel as well as one that looks to be similar to Leffe Blonde. There is nothing quite like sitting down with a big glass of complex, high gravity ale after a long week of work, God I am getting myself all worked up just thinking about it.

Barley Water · Post by **Barley Water** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 8:14 pm

That's interesting, I guess part of my problem is that I pretty much like it all. I can only think of a couple of styles that I really try to stay away from. For some reason, smoked beers never sound good to me and I am also not into the really over the top hoppy stuff (I guess I am a wimp) although a pale ale with a reasonable amount of hops is one of my favorites. Everything else being equal, I would rather have a brew where you can taste the various malts and also the contributions that the yeast make.

Rather than count pints, I try to avoid drinking beer during the work week (except for special occasions). We have a contest in our club which focuses on lower gravity beers and I am trying to develop some good lower gravity brews both for that and because they are more refreshing during the long and very hot summers we have here (in August here it sometimes does not get below 90F even at night). I would have to say that drinking a ton of very high gravity beer year in and year out will probably cause problems at some point (and I am not as young as I once was).

monk · Post by **monk** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 9:24 pm

I'm also trying to develop some nice lower-gravity brews. I took a trip down to San Diego at the beginning of the week and tasted several local brews. They were tasty, but I didn't ever want to drink another--they were just overhopped and too big to go down easy. Obviously, that's what their fans are looking for, but I found myself dreaming of a nicely hoppy amber ale that was under 1050, almost unheard of out here, it seems.

Vossy1 · Post by **Vossy1** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 9:25 pm

Yeah, I ditched a smoked beer not that long ago, I knew I wouldn't like it when I bought it but I thought i'd keep an open mind, I wish I hadn't now

Ditto

monk · Post by **monk** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 9:28 pm

DaaB wrote:Yeah, I ditched a smoked beer not that long ago, I knew I wouldn't like it when I bought it but I thought i'd keep an open mind, I wish I hadn't now

That's me, too. I bought a 22oz bottle of a famous "smoked porter" and was repulsed by one sip. Seriously, the most automatic response I've ever had to a beer. It was so bad I had to take it around to all of my family members and say, "Taste this...it's terrible!"

Other styles I will not buy again: Barleywine, Flemish Sour beer, and any IIIIPA over 8% abv (they're so thick you can spread them over toast).

monk · Post by **monk** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 9:44 pm

DaaB wrote:I always drink 4% beers or less, occasionally 4.5% if i'm feeling daring

I like MO malt for my beers as it stands alone as a great malt. I use simple recipes but get 25% (ish) of my bittering additions from late hops (10mins) as well as steeping a decent handfull at 80 deg (as recommended by David Edge), it works really well with low abv beers. Most of my mates drink ESB/HSB/Old Thumper and the likes but they all like my beers (or at least they tell me they do ) so unless they just like them because they are free then they must stand up against the aforementioned beers taste wise.

I think you're right, a lower grav brew can certainly stand up to most heavier competition when it comes to flavor, so long as you formulate the right recipe. That's why I don't quite see the point in upping the abv to 7 or 8%. If I wanted to get trashed quick, I'll just follow my pint of pale or bitter with a shot or two of Tequila

. But usually I don't!

Speaking of Old Thumper, I'm going to try to make a lighter (in gravity) version next. Graham's book BYORAAH says the grist is the same for 49er, just divide the quantities by 1.2. That sounds good to me.

monk · Post by **monk** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 10:02 pm

Oooo...that looks good. I think I'll try that. I'll need to make a couple adjustments for ingredients though--my pale malt is Optic and I don't have any Progress hops. Think it'll do much damage to the recipe?

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Mr. Z's Nutty Man Brown Ale