CS 3 - Ally Mcg's Bandicoot Brown

[Ally Mcg]

11b -English Southern Brown Ale

53% LME
15% Pils
15% Munich
7% Pale Choc
4% Choc
3% Carafa Special II
3% Melanoiden
NZ Hallertau 15IBU at 60
1pkt Nottingham Yeast
Chch Water

Keen to hear all feedback, good, bad, indifferent. Still trying to get my head round milds and browns so anything that will help me out will be appreciated.

Brewers note - serve warm and pour really hard.
Slainte

[James P]

Given I probably gave Ally the swine flu or some New Zealand mutation of it today, thought I would start with his beer....

Pours dark, some red highlights when held up to light. Thin tan head that dissipates quickly, minimal lacing on the glass, with no to low evidence of carbonation. Nose is a little like a flat bourbon and coke, maybe marmite, a little chocolate. Very few esters are noticeable.

Taste is a bit "zingy" with a thin mouthfeel. After taste has a tang to it, maybe a little burnt flavour (?) but nothing that has offended, nor has it enticed me. The closest thing I can think of was drinking Kid Chocolate cold, but with a little more bitterness.

Overall it is drinkable, and probably nicer than Black Francis was. I would be interested to see how the same malt profile would handle having the water treated. I have not used the yeast, nor brewed a mild, thus any of my suggestions would obviously be ad absurdum.

Cheers

Edit: Second glass has more flavour in it! Chocolate "type" of flavour noticeable, maybe a little sweet tang. Lacing has increased (with pour abuse)!

[Ally Mcg]

Cheers James - thanks for drinking and feedback

Agree re water treatment - not sure what/how but have a suspicion that would increase body and mouthfeel.

Pour abuse is the key - its a stunningly low level of carbonation (<1 vol as i recall) so needs the agitiation

[JoKing]

I had this one last night - and I could have sworn there was roasted barley in the recipe... I get on here and totally discerdity myself! I get bucket loads of roasted malt on the nose with not a lot else behind it. Probably a combination of the lightly roasted Choc and CaraFa. Trying not to get too complicated here... but it was quite the full on aroma - good work considering the gravity.

Flavourwise - nice balanced flavour - good use of roastd malt to control the bittersweet balance. Not too many IBUs which makes this a great quaffer. I didn't drink this one in sips... I had half a glass at a time. Approprite level of carbonation allows the flavour to come through. The mouthfeel is great especially considering the gravity of the beer.

I'm unsure about you tinkering too much with your water chemistry... Maybe a small addition of alkalinity in the mini mash that you do. With your LME - there is no need to add anything into the kettle: the LME is already loaded with minerals from it production.

One final comment... why the fuck am I mucking around doing full mash batches, when extract base beers taste this good?

Thanks Alley.

[Alasdair]

Gave it a bit of pour abuse to bring out the head - lingering milky-coffee head and excellent clarity.

Wholemeal toast and roast aroma. Some nice malt sweetness but dominated by dry, slightly acrid finish. Some tasty berry/currant flavour (from the yeast?) gives a nice complexity. A bit thin in the mouth though.

Easy drinking - a nice Monday night beer - but I'd beef up the body and tone down the roasted flavours a tad to bring out more of the toasty and yeasty flavours.

Cheers

[Ally Mcg]

Cheers Alasdair, thanks for drinking and for the feedback. I was a little disappointed by the thinness in the mouth too, think thats to do with the slight acidity that comes from the darker malts.

Thanks too Joking - really glad you enjoyed it and ta for drinking it.

I'll take all the feedback on and tweak it up for a mid spring brew.

[Reviled]

Drinking this now, Milds arent really my beer but one every now and then is nice!

Pours dark with an off white head, notes of coffee and roast on the nose with hints of chocolate, mouthfeel was no where near as thick as I was expecting from the aroma, what FG did you get? Dry roasted coffee finish...

Id try to up the body/mouthfeel if I was going to change anything, or just serve it through a handpump ;o)

Cheers mate!

[denimglen]

Roasty fruity-berry on the nose, some bread/toast too. Roasty flavour, like a cold coffee, some malty-fruitiness there too. Balanced well with the sweetness, bitterness and roasted malt. A little thin though, could do with a little cara-type malt to bring out a bit of body and sweetness. Is actually like a mini-porter to me rather than a brown. I don't know the brown category too well but I thought they were a bit sweeter and caramelly?

Overall, nice beer, well brewed - brew strong!

[Soren]

brown ale night tonight, just had Mike's american brown. In general I will say americans are more my style than english.
This one is well brewed though. The nose is mainly chocolate, a bit of bread and esters. The flavor is more bready, mild malt and chocolate. Slight tangyness. low bitterness, lingering tangy chocolate. very drinkable indeed.

Cheers!

[Barry]

My second beer of the swap.
Pours a deep dark brown, crystal clear with ruby red highlights held up to light. Thin tan head that dissipates quickly.
On the nose there is roast, quite a big whiff of it, and some cocoa-powderish chocolate notes.
I get some bready malt sweetness on the front of the tongue, sharply followed by a tangy roasty bitterness, almost smoky. Mouthfeel is a little thin and there's a bit of huskiness that I often find in my dark beers also. Finishes pretty clean. Nottingham was a good choice for this beer but I'd maybe mash a bit higher for some residual sweetness, that yeast can be hungry.

For me it lacks a bit of something, mouthfeel, bitter/sweet balance (maybe needs a touch more sweetness?), something slightly missing. One last look at the recipe and the glaring omission for me is crystal malt. I would definitely add some to the grist, at least 5 percent in a small malt-focused beer like this.

All that said, this kind of beer is a subtle art, one that I've yet to master, this is still a very nice beer. Liking the tangyness of the melanoiden and the mix of pale and regular chocolate is inspired.

Cheers!

[Ally Mcg]

Cheers for the feedback guys.

Agree on upping the body - Barry and Denim, cheers for the malt suggestions - it does lack a certain something in the body which I'd put down to not alerting the water. One to brew again and tweak i think.

Rev - FG was 1.011.

[Martin Bridges]

As instructed, I poured this hard, resulting in a creamy light tan head atop a dark brown beer shot through with red highlights. Excellent clarity.

Little aroma to speak of. Slight biscuityness on the early palate, but the dominant aftertaste is extract twang. Hops don't show through, as expected. Body is a little thin.

Sorry if this sounds a little harsh, it's not meant to be. This is at least as good as any of the extract-based beers I made. Well brewed, sir.

[Ally Mcg]

Cheer Martin

thanks for following brewers notes - yr comments are appreciated and didn't sound harsh at all.