Help!! - American Brown Ale

[Brewer #350616]

Hi everyone,

I am new to the brewing community and looking forward to undertaking my first brew day. I have attached my proposed recipe - a take on an American brown ale. Any thought or comments would be much appreciated before I undertake this. I have high expectations for my first brew !!!

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1128570/american-brown-ale

Thanks and happy brewing,

Ken.

 

[Brewer #350616]

Within the recipe, I have 1.5kg traditional dark (LME) and 1.5 golden light (LME) and 1 kg of ale base malt (grains). What do you think of this combination?

I was tempted to change to 3kg of traditional dark and 1 kg of ale base malt. But I was thinking with the speciality malt, it may be too much and the golden light (LME) might balance it a bit better. Any thoughts?

currently, I have 33% gain and 67% extract ratio. this equates to the approximate percentage below

66% base malt - 22% Grains within the partial mash (gives an overall 42 DP value) and 44% within the extract
18% Munich Malt 10L - within the extract
5% medium crystal 60L - Grains within the partial mash
5% Carafa Special Type 2 - Grains within the partial mash
4.5 Caramel Malt 60L - within the extract
1% black malt - within the extract
0.3% carapils - within extract

Should I add any Maltodextrin for head retention, and if so how much? I want that nice creamy white head!!

 

[Donoroto]

Overall it looks good. You can get away with a single packet of yeast, but a second packet does no harm.

Depending on how you buy hops (for me it is an ounce packet, 28 gr) you can go with an ounce of each.

The head will be fine with that grain bill.

I'm not sure fermentation will take 11 days, and 22 days on secondary seems way excessive. But wait for others to comment.

 

[Bubba Wade]

The recipe is spot on for BU/GU ratio for a brown ale. There are a couple of things you can do to promote head retention.

- Substitute in about a half pound of wheat malt or Carapils for some of the base malt.
- Add about 4 ounces maltodextrin. This will also increase mouthfeel if you think there beer is a bit thin.

I typically use wheat, but that's because I always keep a fair amount on hand. But the others work too.

 

[Minbari]

personally prefer liquid yeast and a starter is great idea too. One of the best things I started doing for my beer.

Are you really doing 10g batch?

 

[J A]

What you're likely to find is that it will be darker and more roasty than predicted. I'd suggest knocking the Carafa II back to less than 3 percent.
Looks pretty good overall, though. Brew and keep notes and make changes as needed.
Good Luck!