Northern English Brown 2.0 – Recipe and Brewday

n-brnUpdate 3/22/14: Tasting and Review

For those who were able to get entries into the 2014 National Homebrew Competition, time is running short to brew and select the beers your want to enter. For 2014 the AHA has enacted a four-entry limit, a dramatic shift from past years, which were wide open, and a direct testament to the competition’s growing popularity.

For those hardcore competition enthusiasts, the NHC has always been a numbers game. Chasing prizes like the Ninkasi was about brewing and entering as many high-quality beers as you physically could. At first glance, the new limits seem to even out the playing field. This is generally true and dramatically changes the meaning of prizes like the Ninkasi. The opportunity, however, still exists for those wishing to play the numbers game in a more nuanced manner. Taking a look at the pre-competition selection side of the game unveils another opportunity to strategize. In many ways, the new limits not only force you to test your skills as a brewer, but also the analytic skills a brewer must use in order to select the beers they believe are the truest interpretations of their respective styles.

In order to best increase my chances, I have a pool of approximately eight beers from which I plan to select my four entries. One of the beers I’ll be selecting from is a Northern English Brown ale. This is the first time I’ve brewed this beer since it won a gold medal in the second round of the 2012 NHC. The recipe remains true to the original with slight changes for recipe size and availability of specialty grains.

Northern English Brown Recipe

Size: 3.25 gal – My goal is to net 2.75 gallons into the fermenter.
Efficiency: 64%
Attenuation: 75.0% (estimated)

Original Gravity: 1.050 SG
Terminal Gravity: 1.013 SG (estimated)
Color: 17.62 SRM
Alcohol: 4.95% ABV (estimated)
Bitterness: 25.3 IBU (calculated)

Grist:
4.75 lb (65.5%) Maris Otter (Crisp)
1.5 lb (20.7%) Vienna Malt (Weyermann)
4 oz (3.4%) Special Roast Malt (Briess)
4 oz (3.4%) Victory® Malt (Briess)
4 oz (3.4%) Crystal 60 (Thomas Fawcett)
4 oz (3.4%) Pale Chocolate Malt (Thomas Fawcett)

Hopping:
20 g East Kent Goldings (5.8% AA) –  60 m
0.25 oz Styrian Goldings (3.2% AA) – 5 m
0.125 oz East Kent Goldings (5.8% AA) – 5 m

Kettle Additions:
0.5 ea Whirlfloc Tablets – 15 m
0.5 tsp Wyeast Nutrient – 10 m

Yeast:
WYeast 1469-PC West Yorkshire Ale – 1L 1.040 Starter on Stir Plate

Mash Regiment:
Saccharification Rest – 152 °F – 60m
Mashout – 168 °F – 5m

Fermentation:
1. Chill to 60°F and let rise to 64°F. Hold until activity begins to slow.
2. Raise temp to 70°F until all activity is complete.
3. Crash to 32°F 2 days then package.

Northern English Brown Recipe

This is not a Newcastle Brown clone recipe.

Not that there is a problem with Newcastle per-say. It is a fine beer (especially on draft) NHC Gold Medalbut simply not what I was looking to get out of this beer. I wanted to design something that focused more on the nutty and toasty characteristics of the style and minimized some of the sweeter full-flavors you can get with too much crystal malt. That being said, I also wanted to provide a hint of one of my favorite crystal malts – Crisp C77 which I think has a wonderful toffee and raisin characteristic. I also wanted to test some of Gordon Strong’s theories about using large portions of Vienna malt and no-sparge techniques in British beers. I think it worked. Please note that an erroneous copy of this recipe featuring brown malt appeared in the September / October 2012 issue of Zymurgy. This is the correct recipe that won gold in the second round of the 2012 National Homebrew Competition.

Specifications

Volume: 6 Gallons
Original Gravity: 1.051
Terminal Gravity: 1.013
Color: 18.21 SRM
Alcohol: 4.99%
Bitterness: 27.8
Efficiency: 57% (tweak recipe to match efficiency of your brew house)
Boil Length: 60 Minutes

Ingredients

10 lb (66.1%) Maris Otter; Crisp
3 lb (19.8%) Vienna Malt; Weyermann
12 oz (5.0%) Special Roast Malt; Briess
8 oz (3.3%) Victory® Malt; Briess
8 oz (3.3%) Crystal 77; Crisp
6 oz (2.5%) Pale Chocolate; Crisp
42 g (74.8%) East Kent Goldings (4.7%) – added during boil, boiled 60 m
1 ea Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) – added during boil, boiled 15 m
.5 tsp Wyeast Nutrient – added during boil, boiled 10 m
.25 oz (12.6%) East Kent Goldings (4.7%) – added during boil, boiled 5 m
.25 oz (12.6%) Styrian Goldings (4.3%) – added during boil, boiled 5 m
1 ea WYeast 1469-PC West Yorkshire Ale – 1800ml starter on stir plate

Water

Carbon-filtered Seattle water which is very soft.  All salts added to grist before mashing in.
2.0 g Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)
4.0 g Calcium Chloride (Calcium Chloride)
2.0 g Epsom Salts (Magnesium Sulfate)

Mash

60 Minute Saccharification Rest at 152° F
10 Minute Mashout Rest at 170° F (I do a second hot water infusion to mashout)
No sparge. Add sufficient volume of water to simply drain mashtun and hit pre-boil volumes.

Fermentation

  1. Chill wort to 60° F and pitch yeast slurry.
  2. Slowly ramp temperate over the course of 5 days to 68° F and keep there until terminal gravity is hit.
  3. Crash to 32° F and package.

Keys to Brewing

  1. The West Yorkshire yeast strain is fairly unique and helps it stand out among other beers in the category. I picked up a nice apricot ester from it.
  2. Use authentic British maltsters. They are unique and help lend to a more authentic flavor.

Awards

The beer brewed from this recipe has won awards as a BJCP Category 11c. Northern English Brown:

  • 2012 NHC First Round – 1st Place
  • 2012 NHC Final Round – 1st Place