I was going to make a British Brown with S04 but I’m seeing a lot of people saying there are much better options. I tried looking up other recipes and it looks like there is a huge amount of variation there. This is not a style I have experience with so I’m hoping I can get some guidance here
What is your favorite yeast for a British Brown Ale
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https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/english-ales-whats-your-favorite-recipe.472464/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/english-ales-whats-your-favorite-recipe.472464/
Steveruch
Well-Known Member
My go-to is nottingham.
rmr9
Well-Known Member
I just did a British brown ale with wyeast1469 and that turned out fantastic
What exactly do you expect from the yeast?
Especially, what shall it contribute to the flavour of the beer, if it should contribute something at all?
Golddiggie
Well-Known Member
Wyeast 1335 is my 'go to' for almost all of my recipes. It handles the British Brown style as well as others.
https://wyeastlab.com/product/british-ale-ii/
https://wyeastlab.com/product/british-ale-ii/
I'm just rediscovering this beauty. I didn't use it for ages because I remembered it as dropping out hop flavour. Then I recently tried it in a cream ale which turned out great and pretty much like us05 just with muuuuuuch better flocculation. I fermented it at the lower end of the temperature though, so that's probably the reason for it being so clean. I'm now brewing an apa with it with lots of dry hops, if this turns out well I'll probably use it for everything I would normally use a clean American ale yeast for.
How does this compare to1098? The description on the link sounds similar
I have only used Nottingham for ciders (which I love it for), I’m looking for something clean, not fruity, to let the malt shine. Maybe this is a better option than S04
Honestly hoping for a fairly clean fermentation, nothing particularly fruity. Making this beer for a visiting friend and his favorite beer is Newcastle. Not going to attempt to reproduce that but figured a simple clean brown would do the trick
This sounds like the perfect job for Nottingham to me. First two days, try to keep the fermentation temperature cold, 16-18c. After that, room temperature is fine, it's almost done at that point, notti is really fast.
Golddiggie
Well-Known Member
I've not used 1098 since I wanted to get to a single yeast for the vast majority of my recipes. 1335 hits all the marks needed for me. Depending on what temperature you ferment at, you'll get some different characteristics. I've found 70F is pretty much optimal for the strain. At least for what I want.
The only other strain I look to use is 1728 for bigger beers (since it can go to 12% ABV, or above). All but one of my beer recipes use 1335 (currently). I might create another BIG beer that also uses 1728 in the future.
Excellent, I need to go from brewing to drinking from the keg in 2 weeks lol guess I’ll go with ole notty!
Golddiggie
Well-Known Member
What ABV is your target? I've had 1335 finish in about a week (or so, depending on OG). I usually give the recipe two weeks from boil to when I start carbonating (in conical) and then package as soon as that's done. Get a HIGH flocculation rated yeast so it will settle faster (which 1335 is). Chilling the batch down will accelerate that process. Carbonating in fermenter will also get you to glass faster.
Personally, I'm good with three weeks from grain to glass for all my <7% ABV brews. I do have one that I like to put oak spirals into for a couple/few weeks, so that recipe is longer. But my pale ales (ordinary bitter, and English IPA) are 3 weeks from grain to glass.
IMO, if you need to go from grain to glass in two weeks, you're cutting things a bit close.
Personally, I'm good with three weeks from grain to glass for all my <7% ABV brews. I do have one that I like to put oak spirals into for a couple/few weeks, so that recipe is longer. But my pale ales (ordinary bitter, and English IPA) are 3 weeks from grain to glass.
IMO, if you need to go from grain to glass in two weeks, you're cutting things a bit close.
Low ABV, I’m shooting for around 4.8. I know I’m cutting it close, but it’s the timeframe I have to work with so I’m trying it out
Golddiggie
Well-Known Member
If you have good temperature control you can do it. Of course it also depends on your carbonation method.
I force carb in a keg
Golddiggie
Well-Known Member
You'll need the XX days for that to happen, and then equalize/stabilize for the batch. One of the reasons I like using the carb stone in the conical is I don't need to worry about any of that. I use the standard serving pressure chart to set my CO2 pressure level going into the stone (plus the 'wetting' pressure needed). Added benefit is that it's ready to drink immediately once put into serving kegs. Or when put into can.
According to American standards, that might be low abv, to German standards 4.8% is pretty close to the average 4.9%, but You're talking about English ale, that's not low abv for English standards, it's actually at the upper end of bitters, 3.5% would be low abv.
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I’m brewing this for a friend but I also brew for competitions so I’m following BJCP guidelines. The specs they list are:
OG: 1.040 – 1.052
FG: 1.008 – 1.013
ABV: 4.2 – 5.9%
Also it’s getting hot in Florida so I’m keeping things light and refreshing
EDIT: I see what you mean now. I meant “low” as in not big compared to the earlier post saying which yeast they prefer for big 12% beers. I’m looking for a fairy standard British brown ale abv which is on the lower end of beer in general
OK, i see.
I wouldn't look at bjcp regarding British beers. I mean, if you brew for their competitions, that's obviously the place to look for but don't expect their idea of British beer to necessarily reflect the reality of beers in Britain.
Yea that makes sense, I’m more concerned with making a tasty beer than making a perfect British example but if I can also get a medal out of it then I’ll be extra happy.
This is the beer I was planning on making, what do you think?
80% maris otter
7.5% caramel/Crystal 60
5% flaked barley
5% victory
2.5% crisp chocolate
EKG at 60 mins for ~23 IBU
Nottingham yeast.
SRM: 17
OG: 1.048
FG: 1.012
ABV: 4.76
Colour wise, it should be good. I have no experience with victory and I don't know if that's common in British beers I personally haven't seen that but brown ale was never a main focus of mine.
I would replace 10% of the Maris otter with invert number two or three. The ibus look fairly low, but I'm no expert in brown ales mainly brewed them by accident when my colour adjustments were a bit off
schmurf
Well-Known Member
I think victory is something like Amber malt? If so then I concur, it's a nice addition in browns and bitters. Personally I like my browns very smooth and no roast character, so I would up the flaked barley, or use flaked oats, at the expense of the chocolate malt.
Victory is a biscuit malt that is supposed to be sorta nutty, I saw it recommended for the style. That little bit of chocolate is mostly for color, I’m hoping there will be minimal or no roastiness coming through the finished beer.
Victory is Briess' biscuit-type, American. I'd use a UK biscuit-type such as amber.
If you're looking for just color, use black malt. Plenty of precedent for that in UK brewing. You'll need much less to hit your intended color.
And do use UK crystal. They're more interesting, less straight up caramel/sweet than US caramel malt.
By British Brown Ale do you mean something like Newcastle? Thats a pretty well known recipe you can find lots of info out there for.
This might be sacrilige, but the last 2 I did were with Wyeast 1272. It’s such a versatile yeast. Truth be told, I was trying for an Irish Red recipe and what I wound up with was much closer to Newcastle. I used a couple ounces of roasted barley, like 2 oz in a 3 gallon batch, and that really gives the Newcastle flavor.
This might be sacrilige, but the last 2 I did were with Wyeast 1272. It’s such a versatile yeast. Truth be told, I was trying for an Irish Red recipe and what I wound up with was much closer to Newcastle. I used a couple ounces of roasted barley, like 2 oz in a 3 gallon batch, and that really gives the Newcastle flavor.
Nottingham
Why not use 007. Nottingham is a cheaper alternative but 007 is in my opinion a better yeast for clean British ales. I would even use it with American pale ales. Makes clean and crisp beer.
speaking for myself,,, I do not like the taste of 007 in my homebrew. Also, I brew for a rather large extended family and their feedback indicates a preference for Notty ales.
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