Brown Malt

Josh Hughes

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As I prepare to order grain for my next 5 brews I am also fluid in planning for them. I have a pound of brown malt from my last order and wanted to ask a few things. I know I could search but I respect the people that respond on here now and only see old information elsewhere.

1. If I replaced caramel 60 with brown in a recipe what will change? Like in a bitter?
2. I will use some for a porter late fall but how about in a brown ale?
3. Does brown malt “replace” another malt for any particular reason?
4. If I did a 90/10 Maris otter and brown malt what would that be and be like?

I’m sure conversation will turn to more questions lol. I didn’t buy “just because” I just do small batches so I’ll have plenty left while still being able to use it in a Porter later on. I also realized Brewers friend is blocked at my school, so VPN it is lol
 
Can you give some specifics on the "Brown Malt"? Is this dark extract or something else?
 
It is Simpson’s brown malt 60L. Northern brewer Crushed grain.
 
I've only used Crisp Brown Malt, so take this for what its worth. When I did a mini-mash of all my dark grains, my notes from the Crisp Brown was:
Aroma: Slight roast
Taste: roast, slight ash, burnt toast, dry
Use: <= 5% of grain bill.

That is my personal experience with Crisp Brown. Again, YMMV.

If you replaced C60 with Brown, in my opinion, you would get a very different beer. Less sweet, more dry, more roasty etc. I'm not really sure Brown would be a replacement for any grain in particular, but if you wanted to kick up some roasty flavors, add a little Brown for the base malt. If you wanted to back off on the roast, you might use Brown in place of Chocolate or something like that.

But taste is so subjective that only you can say what works best for you.

Good luck!
 
I've only used Crisp Brown Malt, so take this for what its worth. When I did a mini-mash of all my dark grains, my notes from the Crisp Brown was:
Aroma: Slight roast
Taste: roast, slight ash, burnt toast, dry
Use: <= 5% of grain bill.

That is my personal experience with Crisp Brown. Again, YMMV.

If you replaced C60 with Brown, in my opinion, you would get a very different beer. Less sweet, more dry, more roasty etc. I'm not really sure Brown would be a replacement for any grain in particular, but if you wanted to kick up some roasty flavors, add a little Brown for the base malt. If you wanted to back off on the roast, you might use Brown in place of Chocolate or something like that.

But taste is so subjective that only you can say what works best for you.

Good luck!
It is actually crisp. Had to check inventory.
 
I should have mentioned that I used to use Brown in my Porters but I don't anymore. The only recipe that I use Brown in is my Brown Ale. 3.7%. And that recipe is currently "under construction". :)
 
I've only used Crisp Brown Malt, so take this for what its worth. When I did a mini-mash of all my dark grains, my notes from the Crisp Brown was:
Aroma: Slight roast
Taste: roast, slight ash, burnt toast, dry
Use: <= 5% of grain bill.

That is my personal experience with Crisp Brown. Again, YMMV.

If you replaced C60 with Brown, in my opinion, you would get a very different beer. Less sweet, more dry, more roasty etc. I'm not really sure Brown would be a replacement for any grain in particular, but if you wanted to kick up some roasty flavors, add a little Brown for the base malt. If you wanted to back off on the roast, you might use Brown in place of Chocolate or something like that.

But taste is so subjective that only you can say what works best for you.

Good luck!
That is a much better description than anything I’ve seen. I appreciate it. It would be very intentional in what I do with it
 
That is a much better description than anything I’ve seen. I appreciate it. It would be very intentional in what I do with it
Josh, I would love to hear your take on the malt when you do use it. What might taste "roasty and ashy" to me, might be like "slightly toasted" to someone else.

If you have any extra, crush an ounce, put it in a coffee cup and add 150° water to it. Stir it up, let it steep for 30 minutes or so and give it a taste. See what you think. You could add the grain to a hop bag if you want to pull the grain after the steep, but it doesn't really matter.
 
For what it is worth, I find SIMPSONS Brown malt to have a coffee taste. Smooth. I used quite a bit in a porter and everyone thought I put coffee in it. I like the Simpsons a good bit. I have been hoping to do a blonde ale with 5-10% Simpson's Brown just to get a better idea of the taste without any other specialty malts.

There are many BRANDS of brown malt and they all taste slightly different - I saw a great podcast on it from Genuis (spelling?) Brewing.
 
As I prepare to order grain for my next 5 brews I am also fluid in planning for them. I have a pound of brown malt from my last order and wanted to ask a few things. I know I could search but I respect the people that respond on here now and only see old information elsewhere.

1. If I replaced caramel 60 with brown in a recipe what will change? Like in a bitter?
2. I will use some for a porter late fall but how about in a brown ale?
3. Does brown malt “replace” another malt for any particular reason?
4. If I did a 90/10 Maris otter and brown malt what would that be and be like?

I’m sure conversation will turn to more questions lol. I didn’t buy “just because” I just do small batches so I’ll have plenty left while still being able to use it in a Porter later on. I also realized Brewers friend is blocked at my school, so VPN it is lol
1. Brown malt does NOT replace caramel malts! You'll lose the caramel sweetness and gain a roastiness, I liken it to chocolate but it's not exactly that.
2. Depends on the result you want in the brown ale. If memory serves, it's a sweeter, caramel-flavored beer. Brown malt is roasty - think chocolate, coffee, burnt toast.
3. Brown malt seems to be an intermediate between black malts and base malts. I use it in porters, stouts, etc. Closest replacement I can think of would be light chocolate.
4. You'd get a respectable Porter.

Cheers!
 
I personally like Brown Malt over C-60 for reasons of flavor in most recipes. Dark Belgians would be the exception but if I want an American Amber or Brown Ale or any English beer with color, I'd rather not have the burnt-raisin sweetness of C-60. To balance caramel sweetness and ever-so-slight roast, I like some C-40 and Brown malt together and maybe a little chocolate malt thrown into the mix. That C-60 flavor is perfect for dark Belgians, American Pre-pro Porter or, if you're so inclined, a Pumpkin Ale with a little color to it.
 
I personally like Brown Malt over C-60 for reasons of flavor in most recipes. Dark Belgians would be the exception but if I want an American Amber or Brown Ale or any English beer with color, I'd rather not have the burnt-raisin sweetness of C-60. To balance caramel sweetness and ever-so-slight roast, I like some C-40 and Brown malt together and maybe a little chocolate malt thrown into the mix. That C-60 flavor is perfect for dark Belgians, American Pre-pro Porter or, if you're so inclined, a Pumpkin Ale with a little color to it.
Agreed - I prefer brown malt over Crystal. I do like C60 in some of my brews - the chili beer, the Kentucky Common but brown malt definitely wins out in most applications.

It seems that early in homebrewing, almost every beer had some Crystal in it and C60 came up most often. I think we've outgrown that to the point that, except for foam-enhancing malts, I seldom use Crystal/Caramel, exceptions as noted in JA's post, along with some British styles.
 
Josh, I would love to hear your take on the malt when you do use it. What might taste "roasty and ashy" to me, might be like "slightly toasted" to someone else.

If you have any extra, crush an ounce, put it in a coffee cup and add 150° water to it. Stir it up, let it steep for 30 minutes or so and give it a taste. See what you think. You could add the grain to a hop bag if you want to pull the grain after the steep, but it doesn't really matter.
I’ll try that
 
Thanks guys, gives me a lot to think about.
 

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