Old Brown Ale

[Nosybear]

Part of the booty from the brewery bankruptcy was 5 pounds of brown malt. For no apparent reason and likely because it's a little too warm to chill lagers effectively, I was thinking of making something British with it. Quite a bit of study later and I came up with this vaguely Barklay Perkins recipe:

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1021347/old-brown-ale

I am having an issue: The Water Calculator is coming up with a mash pH of 4.02! Anyone else experiencing the problem and how are you getting around it?

 

[GFHomebrew]

Part of the booty from the brewery bankruptcy was 5 pounds of brown malt. For no apparent reason and likely because it's a little too warm to chill lagers effectively, I was thinking of making something British with it. Quite a bit of study later and I came up with this vaguely Barklay Perkins recipe:

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1021347/old-brown-ale

I am having an issue: The Water Calculator is coming up with a mash pH of 4.02! Anyone else experiencing the problem and how are you getting around it?

Nope made a recipie yesterday water chemistry side played nicely for me.
You got you Metabisulphate in twice.
Hope it goes well for you.

 

[Nosybear]

Nope made a recipie yesterday water chemistry side played nicely for me.
You got you Metabisulphate in twice.
Hope it goes well for you.

I add meta both to the mash and the sparge. I have a theory on the chemistry - may have to do with the "roasted" malt. If the chemistry calculator is based purely on RA and color of the malt, it'll come out too acidic.

Like you, I don't have problems with "normal" malts.

 

[BarbarianBrewer]

I think 52% Brown Malt is just too much and that is knocking the pH way down. If you switch the amounts of Brown Malt and Pale 2-row, the pH jumps to 4.5. So maybe drop some of the Brown Malt, add more 2-row and add some (debittered?) Black Malt to keep SRM the same.

 

[Megary]

I think 52% Brown Malt is just too much and that is knocking the pH way down. If you switch the amounts of Brown Malt and Pale 2-row, the pH jumps to 4.5. So maybe drop some of the Brown Malt, add more 2-row and add some (debittered?) Black Malt to keep SRM the same.

+1

52% just seems way out there. I use Crisp Brown Malt in my browns and porters but rarely go beyond 8-10%. Usually more like 4 or 5.

 

[Nosybear]

+1

52% just seems way out there. I use Crisp Brown Malt in my browns and porters but rarely go beyond 8-10%. Usually more like 4 or 5.

It was supposedly an old English recipe from Ron Pattinson (Barclay Perkins). I was looking at another recipe along the lines you mention. I've never brewed with brown malt so am not very familiar with it.

 

[Nosybear]

I think 52% Brown Malt is just too much and that is knocking the pH way down. If you switch the amounts of Brown Malt and Pale 2-row, the pH jumps to 4.5. So maybe drop some of the Brown Malt, add more 2-row and add some (debittered?) Black Malt to keep SRM the same.

Was my thought on the pH as well, though if the calculator is purely based on SRM, it'll go too low on roasted malts.

 

[Nosybear]

I could drop back and do this one:

Fuller’s London Porter clone
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.054 FG = 1.015
IBU = 30 SRM = 46 ABV = 5.0%

Of all porters on the market, this one is by far my favorite. The beer exudes dark jammy fruits and roasted, nutty aromas and flavors. The Fuggle hops provide a deep earthy finish that blends intoxicatingly well with the dry bite of the brown malt on the finish. The touch of sweetness in this beer ensures that this beer balances out to one perfect dram.

Ingredients
7.5 lb. (3.4 kg) Halcyon pale malt
1.5 lb. (0.68 kg) brown malt
1.0 lb. (0.45 kg) English crystal malt (75 °L)
0.75 lb. (0.34 kg) chocolate malt
6.25 AAU Fuggle hops (60 mins) (1.3 oz./38 g of 4.7% alpha acids)
0.67oz. (19 g) Fuggle hops (15 mins)
Wyeast 1968 (London ESB) and White Labs WLP002 (English Ale) yeast (1.5 qt./1.5 L yeast starter)

Step by Step
Mash at 153 °F (67 °C) for 60 minutes at mash thickness of 1.3 qt./lb. Boil for 60 minutes. Cool wort, transfer to fermenter and pitch yeast from the yeast starter. Ferment at 62 °F (17 °C).

 

[Megary]

I could drop back and do this one:

Fuller’s London Porter clone
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.054 FG = 1.015
IBU = 30 SRM = 46 ABV = 5.0%

Of all porters on the market, this one is by far my favorite. The beer exudes dark jammy fruits and roasted, nutty aromas and flavors. The Fuggle hops provide a deep earthy finish that blends intoxicatingly well with the dry bite of the brown malt on the finish. The touch of sweetness in this beer ensures that this beer balances out to one perfect dram.

Ingredients
7.5 lb. (3.4 kg) Halcyon pale malt
1.5 lb. (0.68 kg) brown malt
1.0 lb. (0.45 kg) English crystal malt (75 °L)
0.75 lb. (0.34 kg) chocolate malt
6.25 AAU Fuggle hops (60 mins) (1.3 oz./38 g of 4.7% alpha acids)
0.67oz. (19 g) Fuggle hops (15 mins)
Wyeast 1968 (London ESB) and White Labs WLP002 (English Ale) yeast (1.5 qt./1.5 L yeast starter)

Step by Step
Mash at 153 °F (67 °C) for 60 minutes at mash thickness of 1.3 qt./lb. Boil for 60 minutes. Cool wort, transfer to fermenter and pitch yeast from the yeast starter. Ferment at 62 °F (17 °C).

Agree that Fuller’s is a great beer.
That recipe looks real nice. I would be very interested to hear how the yeast pairing works out. Good luck with it.

 

[Nosybear]

I don't think I'll pair the yeast. I reread the article and it didn't give any explanation as to why two yeasts were used. WY1968 and WLP002 are supposed to be the same strain and why there would ever be a need to do a starter when pitching two packets of yeast into a beer of this OG make me tend to believe the "and" was a typo. I'll use whatever's freshest at the LHBS.

 

[Mark Farrall]

How old is the recipe? The brown malt in the older recipes is the stuff that can convert itself and was the standard base malt before hydrometers and indirect heat kilns. I'm constantly reading that the older brown malt is completely different to modern brown malt.

I think the break between the two is around the late 18th century when hydrometers became common and it showed English brewers how much more efficient the new pale malts were compared to the cheaper, traditional brown malts. So, of course, they started using the blonde malt with caramel colouring. Less cost, less tax, same colour, everyone's happy.

 

[GFHomebrew]

I'm sure Gladfield brown malt converts itself from memory @Mark Farrall . I've tried just Browning standard pale malt for a porter style beer before.

 

[Craigerrr]

Fuller's London Porter, one of my favorite brews! If sharing with a friend, get a Pride as well and blend them. Affectionately referred to as The Pride & The Porter.

 

[BarbarianBrewer]

Fuller’s London Porter clone sounds very tasty and is now on my short list of future brews.

 

[Nosybear]

Fuller’s London Porter clone sounds very tasty and is now on my short list of future brews.

Happy to be of service, sir!

 

[Daniel Parshley]

I could drop back and do this one:

Ingredients
7.5 lb. (3.4 kg) Halcyon pale malt
1.5 lb. (0.68 kg) brown malt
1.0 lb. (0.45 kg) English crystal malt (75 °L)
0.75 lb. (0.34 kg) chocolate malt
6.25 AAU Fuggle hops (60 mins) (1.3 oz./38 g of 4.7% alpha acids)
0.67oz. (19 g) Fuggle hops (15 mins)

I was told to NOT use noble hops like Fuggle other than for a 60 min. boil. I see an addition at 15 min. No problems or grassy flavors? I like the Fuggle in my English Brown and Ambers.
Next... past around 4 oz of chocolate malt in 5 gal., mine tastes more like coffee. Love the flavor but how do you add 12 oz. and avoid a coffee flavor?

 

[jmcnamara]

I was told to NOT use noble hops like Fuggle other than for a 60 min. boil. I see an addition at 15 min. No problems or grassy flavors? I like the Fuggle in my English Brown and Ambers.
Next... past around 4 oz of chocolate malt in 5 gal., mine tastes more like coffee. Love the flavor but how do you add 12 oz. and avoid a coffee flavor?

If he's capping the mash it'll cut down on the roasty flavors a bit