Pimp my brown ale

[DaveyT]

Hello
I'm looking for ways of tweaking a brown ale with interesting additions. It's currentlyfermenting with Windsor and I want to add something in a few days.
At present, I'm considering ginger and lemon, perhaps with a few coriander seeds. I was thinking of molasses instead, but I think that's too dark. Dates perhaps?
Any suggestions would be welcome.

Cheers

[Sadfield]

I was wondering whether an addition of whisky (carefully pre-heated to remove alcohol) would quickly add a barrel aged quality, and smokey quality if a peaty whisky was used, to the beer. Is this at all possible?

Apologies in advance to all you whisky connoisseurs, for the disrespectful waste of whisky.

[Jocky]

Get some oak blocks from the malt miller and 'barrel age' it by leaving them in it for a while.

A few drops of hazelnut flavouring might also work.

[ajclarkson]

I've added whisky and oak to a stout before and it turned out great.

I didn't pre-heat the whisky because I didn't mind the addition of a small amount of alcohol. I soaked some oak chips in Isle of Jura for roughly 2 weeks while the beer was in primary. For a 20L batch I used 110ml whisky and around 30g oak chips, then added the whole lot to secondary for a further 2 weeks racked and bottled. Turned out really well, the honey sweetness of Jura really shone through.

[Barley Water]

I agree with previous posters. You could add oak, or whiskey and oak (use the booze to sterilize the oak). Another thing you could do is add vanilla but be very careful because just a little bit of that stuff can completely over-power a beer. I would probably use some vodka, make a vanilla tincture then add a little at a time until you get the taste you want. You could also try adding fruit, really not my thing but you could end up with something very interesting.

[ajclarkson]

Vanilla is also a good option, I'm halfway through my Vanilla Porter at the minute. Made 10L of that and after primary did 1-2 weeks with 1 vanilla pod (sliced, scraped but everything in) that had been stewing in a small vial of vodka for a couple of weeks. It would have definitely stood having more vanilla flavour though.

My opinion on fruits are that they work better in lighter beers to be honest, but could end up with something good!

[Jocky]

Vanilla builds on the palette as you drink your way through a pint.
The first taste should only have a hint of vanilla, as by the end of the pint you'll be breathing it!

[Barley Water]

I agree with Jocky, you need to be very careful with that stuff. It tends to make beers taste really rich also so if you are looking for a quaffer maybe vanilla isn't such a great idea. On the other hand, a big, boozy brown ale to drink by the fire in the winter and around the holidays might really work out well.

[Jocky]

I really loved the vanilla I added to a stout. I used vanilla extract (not essence or flavouring), where a tablespoon roughly equals one vanilla pod, but I only used 2 teaspoons in 5 litres.

[DaveyT]

Thanks for the excellent advice. I was going to ask whether they were quaffing recipes as it'll be a relatively small beer at 4.5%. It's actually based on Randy Mosher's Old Nut Case recipe that Jocky did recently, but I've added some crystal and left space for a sugar addition in the secondary.
I have some miel de caña (basically golden syrup mixed with molasses) I thought would go nicely with some vanilla but this'll be ready around the hottest time of the year (late August into Sept) so that might be too rich as BW said. This was my reasoning behind the ginger and lemon additions; I wanted something with a bit of bite. There are lots of commercial shandies and lagers about in Spain now which inc lemon and I thought a malty number with lemon would be a nice showcase.
A homebrew club has formed here and I want to make beers for a wider audience. What I want is a beer people want to drink on the beach then come back for more. Perhaps brown ale was a bad starting point! There a excellent cherries about atm and plums too. Ajclarkson has a point about lightr beers being perhaps better but I've had good plummy brown beers (Sam Smiths?) so I tempted there. Prob need a god kilo for the six litres I've got.
I won't be able to get any oak chips in time so I'll have to try that another time. Thanks for the idea, though; esp here where people really go for anything wine-like such as cask aging.
I thought brewing two FVs would make life easier as I would have more options, but it hasn't!

[DaveyT]

Have been a bit restricted with this but, luckily, I have some chestnut honey (previously unopened) and it's very chestnutty, so really pleased to whack that in to make up 12% of the fermentables.
In the second one I went for my original lemon/ginger combo with the honey too. Cough medicine, bascically! I don't want to spund unappeciative. Like I say, I couldn't get to a shop or order supplies online in time. The lemon smelt amazing, so high hopes, like.
It's been ages since I've had a beown ale. I'm really surprised at the flavour of this. Reminds me of McEwan's Best Scotch which many people south of Scotch Corner might not know about. Does that mean I've got a northern brown ale as opposed to a southern one? Can't for the life of me work those out.
Thanks for the advice; oak chops ordered for Xmas.

[gibbiem]

I've just done an american brown ale and I added 450g of muscavdo sugar! was meant to add as a 15min boil addition but forgot so just added to the FV about an hour after pitching yeast. Really good beer, dont think it'll last long

[DaveyT]

I'd be interested to see your recipe. Is it on Jim's already?

[gibbiem]

I'd be interested to see your recipe. Is it on Jim's already?

You mean mine?

[DaveyT]

I'd be interested to see your recipe. Is it on Jim's already?

You mean mine?

If you don't mind.
Mine was this:

12 litres
Est OG 1.041 4.5% 19 IBU

1kg mild ale malt
420g biscuit malt
250g crystal malt (medium)
250g chestnut honey
100g brown malt
90g oats

5g Flyer hops 60min
20g EKG 10 min

I wasn't going to add the oats, but they were just there in the kitchen an I coudn't help it. Bit obsessed with them atm.
I was going to make it more bitter but I wanted to stay within the OG:IBU of the style. I got 0.46 for this which doesn't look right now. I'll look it up again.