Monday, July 14, 2008

American Brown Ale

I had a great brew session yesterday. I built a slight redesign of my MLT manifold in order to get better efficiency out of my system, and boy did it work. In three batches of fly-sparging, and a re-build of the manifold, I am up from 70% to a new high of 82%. This is all very good stuff to me, but back to the beer at hand.

After much research and several very average attempts at a good brown ale, I came up with the following recipe. I really hope this one lives up t my expectations. American Brown Ale is one of my favorite styles (and very under appreciated by most) and all I want to do is make one that is good. Anyhow, my fingers are crossed!

Recipe Specifications------------------------------
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 7.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.058 SG
Estimated Color: 14.3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 24.7 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 82.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients-----------------------------------------
9 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter
8.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine
8.0 oz White Wheat Malt
3.0 oz Roasted Barley
2.0 oz Black (Patent) Malt
1.50 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (FWH)
0.50 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (2 min)
1.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet
1 Pkgs SafAle American Ale

Mash Schedule------------------------------------
Saccharification: Rest 50 min at 152.0 F
Vorlauf: 1-2 gallons as needed for clarity
Fly Sparge: 45 min at 190.0 F

UPDATE 8/4/08:
English / American Brown Ales are a vastly underrated style in the world of craft beer. And I actually think its difficult to brew a really good one. But I think I have finally created a Brown Ale recipe that I like. This was my fourth attempt and I am actually really impressed with the results so far. It has a great creamy, smooth textured. The flavor is of sweet chocolate, with just enough bitterness and earthyness to balance out the malt. Its been carbed and on drought for just a few days, but it is really beautiful. This might be my best overall batch to date.

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