Recipe for Northern English Brown Ale ???

skinnydipper · Jun 13, 2012

Hi Everyone,

I'm still a relative newcomer to homebrew and I'm now now planning my fourth extract brew and I thought I'd try a Northern English Brown Ale. Can anyone suggest a recipe based on the ingredients I have in store:

Crystal Malt (60L)
Black (Patent) Malt
Chocolate Malt
LDME
Fuggles, Goldings & Target Hops

I thought I'd use a Wyeast West Yorkshire Ale Yeast.

Thanks

Dieseljockey · Jun 14, 2012

Have you thought about using a recipe software program??, You've got a number of them to download and then you enter what bits & bobs that you have and see what comes out. You will find brown ale recipes on the forum and on the net, or you can make up your own, it's a good feeling when you do a brew and it's all your own.. :thumb:

Andyhull · Jun 14, 2012

Dieseljockey said:
Have you thought about using a recipe software program??, You've got a number of them to download and then you enter what bits & bobs that you have and see what comes out. You will find brown ale recipes on the forum and on the net, or you can make up your own, it's a good feeling when you do a brew and it's all your own.. :thumb:

This is the main reason i want to go AG, to design 4 brews (Bitter, IPA Stout and a Lager) that i love and will be able to replicate.

But how do you know what to add to get certain tastes?
I love a beer with either loads of body or heavilly hopped, im assuming the hopping bit is easy but it's choosing the right grains (etc) to get the correct background body and tastes that'll confuse me at first!

skinnydipper · Jun 14, 2012

Thanks Dieseljockey. Yes I have Beersmith. I guess the reason I asked is because I don't feel confident enough yet to try designing a recipe from scratch. I've found quite a few recipes for Brown ale on the net but they all seem to have a high proportion of Crystal Malt, between 12% and 15%. I thought this would be too much. I might have another look at some of the recipes on this site and do some more research on the style.

graysalchemy · Jun 14, 2012

Andyhull said:
But how do you know what to add to get certain tastes?

The best thing to do is find a clone recipie of something you like then addapt it. If you search on line there are sites which list the different types of malt and what you are likely to get out of them. also the BJCP style guides (although they are american) can be a help to. Designing great beers by ray daniels is a good read also :thumb: