Accidental Brown Ale - Homebrew Recipe
Sometimes we look down at what grains, hops, and yeast we have left in stock and wonder what sort of concoction we have accidentally made. This is where homebrewing creativity comes in, for as the wise men say: Waste not, want not.
November and December were blessed with holiday food and cheer, and a homebrew stout and porter respectively. That left us with some fantastic dark malts and Belgian yeast. So, with a little ingenuity Mrs. Brew and I were able to construct our own Accidental Brown Ale recipe with the remains of 2021.
Recipe:
Malt:
In goes the mash at 150℉ for 1 hour:
1.75 lbs. 2-row
0.25 lbs. Caramel 60
0.25 lbs. Special B
0.0625 lbs. (1oz.) Chocolate Malt
0.0625 lbs (1 oz.) Black Malt
After the sparge, we went on to a 75-minute boil and dropped the quantity of hops at the following times.
Boil:
75 min. (Start of boil) drop 0.1 oz. Willamette hops.
10 min. Drop 0.3 oz. Golding hops
Very simple on the hop additions. Willamette hops have a slightly higher alpha acid (7.1%) compared to the alpha acid content of Golding hops (5.6%). With that in mind, we added Willamette hops at the start for a touch of bitterness. In hindsight, they might have had a greater flavor effect later in the boil. Live and learn. We then added the Golding hops in a larger quantity toward the end for more floral aromatics and flavor. We then let it cool to 70℉, added approximately 4 grams of S-33 preactivated yeast, and fermented for two weeks before we added maple syrup (3 TBSP) priming sugar and bottled it.
First Impressions:
On the Eyes--Nearly black, but still able to see through it. Good clarity with a nice khaki-colored head formation.
On the Nose--Malty sweet. A little chocolate; a little caramel/toffee and raisin. Not much in the way of hoppy aromatics.
On the Palate--Floral hoppy notes hit from the start, followed by a hint of chocolate, but not as much chocolate as some Brown Ales have. I actually get more of the caramel and raisin flavors, which is not surprising considering the larger portions of Caramel and Special B malt compared to the amount of Chocolate Malt. It has a medium mouthfeel and a body to match.
Verdict:
It is quite balanced, but it could have used more oomph, in my opinion, though Mrs. Brew adored it. I really enjoyed the hoppier side of it which is a bit non-traditional for a Brown Ale, as is the use of Belgian yeast—but hey, it was all accidental.
If I were to brew this one again I might tone down the Special B (maybe even omit it altogether, but it did its job nicely) and double the chocolate malt. I missed the depth of chocolate I didn’t realize I liked so much until it wasn’t there. I enjoyed the amount of hops, but next time I would space out the Golding hops a bit more. I would also consider upping the amount of malt altogether for a bit more body, even though it was quite pleasant where it was at.
Overall, not too bad for a Mr. and Mrs. Brew Accidental Ale.
Cheers!
Mr. Brew