Janets Brown using Weyermann malt

[kristfin]

hi all,

i want to try out janets brown, which i have heard so many great things about. i've never done brown ale and i think that would be a great first.

however, i only have weyermann malt and not a huge selection of it. being in iceland makes it pretty hard and expensive to get. this is the malt i can get from a local brewery

Premium Pils (1,7 lovibond value)
Pale Ale Malt (3,3)
Munich I (7,1)
CaraMunich II (63)
Caraaroma (178)
Carafa Special III (470)
Smoked malt (2)
Roasted Barley
Wheat malt (2)
and
CaraPils (2)

here is my stab at the recipe with weyermann malts, from page 143 of THE BOOK

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Janet's Brown
Brew Type: All Grain Date: 25.11.2009
Style: American Brown Ale Brewer: Kristján Þór Finnsson
Batch Size: 22,71 L Assistant Brewer: 
Boil Volume: 26,00 L Boil Time: 60 min
4,95 kg Pale Malt (Weyermann) (3,3 SRM) Grain 77,5 %
0,52 kg Carafoam (Weyermann) (2,0 SRM) Grain 8,1 %
0,41 kg Wheat Malt, Pale (Weyermann) (2,0 SRM) Grain 6,4 %
0,35 kg Caramunich II (Weyermann) (63,0 SRM) Grain 5,4 %
0,16 kg Carafa Special III (Weyermann) (470,0 SRM) Grain 2,6 %
33,61 gm Northern Brewer [8,50%] (60 min) Hops 27,0 IBU
26,59 gm Northern Brewer [8,50%] (15 min) Hops 10,6 IBU
40,83 gm Cascade [5,50%] (10 min) Hops 7,7 IBU
26,59 gm Northern Brewer [8,50%] (60 min) (Mash Hop) Hops 4,3 IBU
43,00 gm Cascade [5,50%] (0 min) Hops - 
57,00 gm Centennial [10,00%] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops - 
0,30 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10,0 min) Misc 
2 Pkgs SafAle US05 Ale (DCL Yeast #US-05) [Starter 25 ml] Yeast-Ale 

Beer Profile Estimated Original Gravity: 1,066 SG (1,045-1,060 SG)
Estimated Final Gravity: 1,017 SG (1,010-1,016 SG)
Estimated Color: 19,7 SRM (18,0-35,0 SRM) Color [Color]
Bitterness: 49,6 IBU (20,0-45,0 IBU) Alpha Acid Units: 4,3 AAU
Estimated Alcohol by Volume: 6,4 % (4,3-6,2 %) Actual Alcohol by Volume: 0,6 %
Mash Profile Name: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge Mash Tun Weight: 5,00 kg
Mash Grain Weight: 6,38 kg Mash PH: 5,4 PH
Grain Temperature: 22,2 C Sparge Temperature: 75,6 C
Sparge Water: 15,74 L
Name Description Step Temp Step Time
Mash In Add 16,65 L of water at 74,4 C 67,8 C 60 min

Notes
replaced 560gr of crystal 40 with 380gr of caramunich ii
replaced 227gr of chocolate malt 420 with 180gr of carafa special iii
ferment at 19°C, carb 2-2.5, brewing classic styles page 143


can u please comment.
cheers from iceland.

[brewerTristan]

The would think the flavour from the caramunich is going to have a bit more character than the US crystal 40 and it is 20 L higher, so you may want to reduce the amount a little. It's too bad you can't get any Weyermann malts in the 40L range. For the chocolate malt sub, I've never used carafa, but if it's the dehusked type, I should think it would be pretty different to regular chocolate malt. So what though? You might not get an identical beer to Janet's Brown, but it'll still be damn good, and how could you know the difference anyway?

[kristfin]

The would think the flavour from the caramunich is going to have a bit more character than the US crystal 40 and it is 20 L higher, so you may want to reduce the amount a little.

i allready scaled the crystal 40, from 560gr to 380gr caramunich ii. do you think i should go lower?

but good point about me not knowing the difference, but i would like this to be as good as possible so my brewing buddies can brew it as well.

[TastyMcD]

The chances of actually making Janet's Brown Ale seem remote. That doesn't mean you can't make a great beer. Given your limited choice of specialty malts, I think you should consider home roasting and make your own roasted malts. Keep track of your technique so that you can pass it on to your brewing buddies. Here's just one reference: http://oz.craftbrewer.org/Library/Methods/Sanders/roasting.shtml

Tasty

[kristfin]

ok. thanks.

i allready created jamils robust porter, where i roasted, according to those, guidelines the chocolate malt i was missing. i made one mistake, i used the roasted malt the day after and that resulted in a sour/roasty flavor, which is fading a way now after what 8 weeks.

i'm going to wait a bit with janet's brown, until i have roasted the malt and let it recover for some weeks.

i absolutely love THE BOOK and i have brewed several recipies from it. could you suggest what recipies i should be focusing on given my malt selection?

[brewerTristan]

i absolutely love THE BOOK and i have brewed several recipies from it. could you suggest what recipies i should be focusing on given my malt selection?

Since you only have access to Weyermann malts. I would start with some of the German style beers in there.

[kristfin]

Now I have been spending some time reading up on roasting the malt on my own -- Hey, what could go wrong.
I have the book by Palmer and Randy Mosner (I had yet to look at those chapters, but now i did)

I wanted to just summarize, and perhaps get some comments if whether I'm understanding this right.


So to roast my own, I put the grains in a pan, not deeper than 1 inch of grain, insert into a preheated oven and stir the grain every 15 minutes so it is roasted evenly.
Once done, i remove from the oven, spread on a sheet, cool it down quickly and store in a paper bag for 2-3 weeks in to let it mellow

From Randy Mosher's book, "Radical Brewing"

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L   Min   Base malt   Â°F   Â°C  Color        Flavor   
_10   20   Pale Ale   250   121   Pale Gold    Nutty, not toasty   
_20   25   Pale Ale   300   149   Gold         Malty, Caramelly, rich, not toasty   
_35   30   Pale Ale   350   177   Amber        Nutty, Malty, Lightly toasted   
_65   40   Pale Ale   375   191   Deep Amber   Nutty, toffee-like, crisp toastiness   
100   30   Pale Ale   400   204   Copper       Strong toasted flawor, some nutlike notes   
125   40   Pale Ale   400   204   Deep Copper  Roasted, not toaasted, like porter or coffe   
175   50   Pale Ale   400   204   Brown        Strong roasted flawor                        


From "Home Grain Roasting", by Graham Sanders and Steve Lacey
Wet the malt slightly to maintain the caramel edge for caravienna, caramunich and special B
Roast the malt without wetting it and you get crystal malt

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L   Min   Base Malt   Â°F   Â°C   (Wet) / Dry
_20   _60   CaraPils   248   120   (Cara-Vienna)/ Crystal 20   
_38   _75   CaraPils   248   120 () / Crystal 38   
_55   _90   CaraPils   248   120   (Cara-Munich) / Crystal 55   
118   120   CaraPils   248   120   () / Crystal 118   
180   150   CaraPils   248   120   (Special B) / Crystal 180   


Stolen and copied from:

• http://oz.craftbrewer.org/Library/Methods/Sanders/roasting.shtml
• http://www.barleypopmaker.info/Roasting.html
• http://homebrewingadventures.blogspot.com/2008/09/making-brown-malt.html
• http://www.brew-monkey.com/brewschool/maltguide.php

So for Janet's Brown i need Crystal 40, which would be like 80 minutes of CaraPils on 120°C but how do i get the Chocolate 400L?
Do i just roast the Pale Ale for some 90 minutes or until it matches the color of my Carafa Special III?