Nut Brown is batch #5

I feel very good about the nut brown ale I brewed last night. The main difference between this and the previous brews is that I decided to aim for the best utilization of ingredients possible. In practical terms, that meant:

• a nearly full boil in a 21-quart pot
• specialty grains loose in a strainer rather than in muslin bags
• hops thrown directly into the boil and strained out later.

The recipe:

6.6 lbs Munton's Amber Malt Extract (liquid)
1/2 lb. Munton & Fison Crystal Malt 60ºL
1/2 lb. Munton & Fison Carapils Malt 20ºL
1/2 lb. Briess Toasted Malt 25ºL
1/4 lb. Munton & Fison Chocolate Malt 338ºL
2 oz. Kent Goldings U.K. Hops (bittering)
1 oz. Fuggles Hops (finishing)
Wyeast # 1098 XL British Ale Yeast

The OG was 1.052, 4.75 gallons.

Every time I brew a learn a little more. I credit the higher gravity to better use of the specialty grains. I heated the water over the course of an hour from cold to about 168ºF with the grains loose in a strainer mostly submerged. During that hour I stirred the grains often and poured the water over top. The result: a nice dark malt tea.

It occurs to me that since extract brewing with specialty grains is an early step in the continuum from extract to all-grain brewing that I may do a mini-mash some time soon. From what I have read, that would mean just increasing the proportion of grain to prepared extract, and controlling temperature a bit more carefully. More grain, less extract, fresher tasting product.

The rolling hop boil has got to make a huge difference in the flavor of the final product. The hop plugs rehydrated and broke into individual flowers and leaves, recirculating freely. It was hardly more trouble than using the muslin bags -- I just strained out the hops at the end.

Heating and cooling were the real challenges in this batch. I have a small stove, and it took a long time to heat up the water. The pot was so big it crossed partway onto a second burner. So I turned on that burner to speed things along.

Usually I cool the brewpot in an ice bath. It turned out that 20 lbs of ice was barely enough to bring the wort from 212º to 80º. It may be time to invest in a wort chiller if I am going to do full boils.

Probably the most exciting thing is that I will bottle two brews at once in ten days - the Alt and the Nut Brown. That will be the first time I will have two brews available at the same time. And available in time for my anniversary! Definitely time for a party.