My brother and I are novice homebrewers. We recently got a hold of some fresh locally grown Cascade that we are looking to use for a beer (they aren't "wet", they were picked a few days ago). The idea we have is for a hoppy brown ale. I have never built my own recipe, but I'm trying this time. Here goes, please give your critiques. We are partial/extract brewers at the moment. Looking for approx. 5.5% ABV / 55 IBU 5 gallon batch 6 lbs. Light DME .5 lb Crystal 60 .5 lb Vienna .5 lb Special Roast / Brown .5 lb Chocolate .50 oz. Warrior, Nugget or Columbus @ 40 mins 1 oz. " " " @ 15 mins .50 oz " " " @ 5 mins Fresh Cascade @ 5 mins (not sure how much?) Dry hop with fresh Cascasde? I've heard mixed things about doing this. White labs 001 Thanks everyone.
You may want to try a mini mash for these grains. When I was doing extract with grains I found that when I steeped roasted grains they didn't work well for me as far as final product flavor goes. Vienna can't convert, your roasted grains can't convert, the only thing worth steeping is your crystal. Other than that I would go for it. I like american reds and american browns though, so I am a bit biased.
Vienna needs to be mashed, and it has enough enzymes to self convert, plus a little to spare. And Brown Malt also needs to be mashed (but has no enzymes). The question is whether its enzymes will be spread too thin when the Vienna is only 25% of the total grist. If mini-mashing this grain bill, I'd definitely do a long one, or better yet, increase the amount of Vienna (or another base malt like pale/2-row). (And decrease the DME to maintain the gravity you are shooting for.)
The small amount of Vienna Malt will not add much to the beer. You could nix the 0.5 lbs. of Vienna Malt and you will not even miss it. If you utilize Crystal 60, Special Roast and Chocolate they could all be steeped. No need of conduct a mash with those specialty malts. I am assuming that your recently acquired Cascade hops are now dried, is that correct? Using dried Cascade whole hops for end of boil and dry hops is OK. It is not necessarily what I would do while making a Brown Ale but you mentioned you are looking to make a Hoppy Brown Ale. How much you want to add is up to you; how much Cascade aroma do you want? Maybe adding ½ - 1 ounce at the end of boil and dry hop will get you what you want? Cheers!
I'd either use the fresh hops for a dry hop, or throw them in at the end of the boil - cut the heat, toss them in, put the lid on and let them sit for about 30 mins before chilling, stirring occasionally. This is the easiest way to replicate the effects of a hop whirlpool at home, and it gets you a lot of hop flavor and aroma without much bitterness.
Why do you want to add Vienna malt?.In case you would like to increase maltiness you could change your hop schedule to : .50 oz. Warrior, Nugget or Columbus @ 60 mins 1 oz. " " " @ 5 mins .50 oz " " " @ 5 mins flame out
Your recipe is not unlike my oft brewed American Brown, which in its latest several incarnations looks like American 2-Row 8.8 lbs Crystal (70 - 80 L) 0.5 lb Brown 0.4 lb Victory 0.3 lb Carafa II Special 0.3 lb I used lots of Cascade near the end of the boil and in a hop stand, about 3.5 oz altogether. I used 1 oz magnum for bittering. It was brewed about 2 1/2 weeks ago and has been in the keg about 4 days, but already it is quite drinkable.
This looks pretty solid. I'd add about an oz of the fresh cascade either at 5 or flameout. Dryhop with another oz or more. Taste the beer before you dry hop it to see what you think. Don't taste for how the beer tastes, taste for hoppiness, if that makes sense?
The malt discussion is great, but I don't really see any indication as to how much of these fresh hops you have? I used 4 oz of Cascade pellets on a recent recipe, and it has plenty of hoppiness for my tastes. It's cool to brew a hoppy brown, but if you really want the hops to shine, an American pale ale or Irish red with late-addition Cascade hops would be a reasonable alternative.
