6 replies to this topic

[BrewerGeorge]

I made sort of a kitchen-sink brew several weeks ago that I was hoping would be in the area of American Amber. It didn't turn out as planned, and instead is a weird hybrid.I didn't have enough of the dark crystal I needed to make the amber, but I did have a bag of specialties that I'd intended for 5 gal of Northern Brown - light chocolate, Victory, etc. I added a good quantity of crystal 60L and light munich and bumped the whole batch to 10 gallons. Then I hopped the crap out of it with columbus, amarillo, and liberty and fermented with S-05.What I ended up with is just weird. It has a big toasty background like an English brown, but with a very strong American hop presence. It's not caramel-ly enough and has too much hop to be an American Brown ale, too much toast for an American Amber, and WAY too much columbus for an English Brown.It will definitely get consumed, but I won't try that again.

[MtnBrewer]

India Brown Ale?

[johnpreuss]

I ended up doing something very similar about a month a go or so. But I ended up throwing in 4oz of RB. It's roasty. Check the thread here. Like you said, it will get drank but I definately will not make it again.

[stellarbrew]

It actually sounds like the perfect beer let sit for a few months. The toastiness/roastiness should smooth out, the hop character should subside, and you just might end up with an awesome American Brown.

[djinkc]

India Brown Ale?

[johnpreuss]

Ok I was wrong. Mine has aged abit and the roasty edge has faded and the hoppiness has come forward. This is a nice beer!

[BrewerGeorge]

Ok I was wrong. Mine has aged abit and the roasty edge has faded and the hoppiness has come forward. This is a nice beer!

Yeah, mine is too. It's taking on a toasty-biscuity flavor that reminds me of fat tire, actually.