Averagely Perfect American Brown Ale - Poll #1 - ABV

Pete's Wicked was one of my first "microbrews" along with SNPA. I'm interested.

I like the idea of hoppy bitterness, but I see that coming from 60 min additions vs 5 min or flameout additions.

 

I find this beer tastes best after a good 6 months of aging. Enjoy.

By the way..... with Windsor, you'd be lucky to get a final gravity any lower than 1.020. But at 4% ABV it's still a good drinking beer. You can try other English yeasts if you want more attenuation.

 

I looked at @dmtaylor 's recipe for Pete's above and asked myself why isn't it a British Brown Ale? The numbers fit both American and British substyles, with OG, ABV and SRM falling into the overlap areas of the styles (IBU ranges are identical). So I looked at the style comparison section on the BJCP guidelines:

Style Comparison: More chocolate and caramel type flavors than American Pale or Amber Ales, typically with less prominent bitterness in the balance. Less bitterness, alcohol, and hop character than Brown IPAs. More bitter and generally hoppier than English Brown Ales, with a richer malt presence, usually higher alcohol, and American/New World hop character.

The Pete's recipe seems to not really reflect the modern interpretation of American Brown in terms of hops, lacking American/New World character and perhaps not really standing out as "more bitter" with so much crystal.

BJCP Guidenlines says:
Pete’s Wicked Ale was one of the first and best known examples, and inspired many imitations.

"One of the first" suggests others, or BJCP giving itself some wiggle room. My experience with browns in the US dates to 1985 and includes Newcastle and Samuel Smith imports. I wouldn't have come across Pete's until the early 1990s, I think, and I can't remember any other browns that I might have had (well, Anchor Steam was brown). By the late 1990s, it seemed every microbrewer had a brown in the repertoire. And then IPA hit​

 

Another thing that's interesting from the BJCP guidelines:
Most commercial American Browns are not as aggressive as the original homebrewed versions, and some modern craft-brewed examples. This style reflects the current commercial offerings typically marketed as American Brown Ales rather than the hoppier, stronger homebrew versions from the early days of homebrewing.

In other words BIGGER LOUDER HOPPIER may or may not be what we want to end up with here, but it does seem to be a historically justifiable interpretation of American Brown Ale. I'm normally happy to grouch about homebrewers and craft brewers buggering up understated classic euro styles by trying to add moar awesome, but in this case I guess it's all yours so knock yourselves out...

 

Voted 5 , but after reading posts am changing to 5.6.

Good points

 

I don't recall where I got this, except that that source whatever it was got the recipe from Pete himself, so it's definitely some version of the original. This might be the original original recipe. IIRC, Pete's recipe evolved over time as well... you know... the commercial breweries don't always use the very same recipe forever and ever either.

Regarding attenuation, I think Pete's unnecessary protein rest probably results in higher attenuation as well. When I brew it, I skip the protein rest, thus low attenuation. But I think if you coddle the mash parameters, you *might* be able to get Windsor to eat more stuff.

In any case, it tastes just like my memory of this beer. And I drank a lot of it.

Regarding bitterness, I thought this recipe resulted in pretty high bitterness initially, which faded only after that 6 months I mentioned above, which is part of the reason I recommend aging it before drinking. Another reason for the aging.... In the old days, craft beer would sit on the shelf for a loooooooong time in a lot of cases before anybody would drink it. So age it, then you can totally stroll down memory lane.

Pete kind of invented the style. So for people now to say that it doesn't fit the style is, I think, silly.

Apologies for this significant hijack, but you kind of asked for it.

 

M
You gave me this recipe a couple years back. Dam good an a easy drinker for sure. Thanks

 

5.6, and I'm voting for columbus and citra because #ipaeverything

 

next poll
https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...erican-brown-ale-poll-2-final-gravity.608147/