I have a kit that I don't want to just toss, but I also hate the idea of putting in any effort for the resulting beer. If anybody out there is good at modestly tweaking recipes, here it is... http://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/beerkits/NutBrown.pdf What I am looking to do is basically use what I have, but add to it. I would like a deeper body and a higher resulting ABV. And I can't really do the quick trick of twisting this into an India Brown Ale, as my GF (who I also want to enjoy this specific batch) is not a fan of hoppy beers. My initial thought was maybe some coffee malt and upping some of the chocolate and special roast, as well. But I am not hung up on that idea. The issue that I am coming up against is that I don't want something that is going to rattle my fillings with sweetness. I am just not sure of ratios, how the yeast holds up and balancing it with hops (without making hops a big part of the profile. Any ideas? BTW, old school brewer, doing my first batch in about 15 years. So be forgiving if I am forgetting some obvious stuff. I just want to do a quick batch using a starter kit and then jump into some normal recipes.
Welcome back to the hobby - and good luck with your first batch! If it were me, I'd probably tweak it toward an American Brown so that it's a little more robust than the Nut Brown, but not too hoppy for your friend. You can bump up the body with an additional .5-1 lb. of Carapils plus .5 lb. Crystal 40. Then I would augment the hops by using .75 oz. Northern Brewer at 60 min. and .25 oz. Northern Brewer at 5 min., and push the 1 oz. Fuggles out to 5 min. This should give you roughly 1.050-52 OG and 30 IBU. If you want to tone down the bitterness a notch, simply switch out the Northern Brewer with Cascade and that should be nice as well.
Treacle should keep it from rattling your fillings and provide some complexity...deeper body...not so much. Cheers
I do not think that the recipe looks too bad. If you want a Higher ABV add a pound or two of DME. I do not hop my english browns after 15 min. You could add another ounce there or not and you will still be good. Take care.
I like a half pound of chocolate malt and a pound of medium English crystal in my brown ale. To bump the ABV add another pound of DME. Welcome back and good luck
