Janet's Imperial Brown Ale

[jgaarder]

This is my next adventure in brewing, however when I enter the information for recipe listed on AHA into my software I get a much higher OG (1.082) than what is listed (1.074). I'm only doing a 6 gallon batch not 12 as listed so I'm just halving the ingredients. I've triple checked the numbers and set the software for a 6 gallon batch size at 70% brewhouse efficiency. If I lower the efficiency to 63% then the OG is right. I've just brewed the APA and I believe other recipes that Mr. Tasty McDole has shared usually have a 70+% brewhouse efficiency listed. Could it be something as simple as a typo in the recipe listed? More OG is fine by me I just don't want to screw up a good thing. Thanks.

[spiderwrangler]

Assuming you are following this one? http://wiki.homebrewersassociation.org/JanetsBrownAle

It comes out a bit higher than reported on my software, but it may just be that a split recipe is planning on 6 gallons going into the fermentor, with that much hops there is going to be a decent amount of wort left behind with the hop trub. There isn't a pre-boil gravity listed, but I'm assuming that you've got significantly more wort going into the boil, and over 6 gal in the kettle before transfer to the fermentor, which would put your starting gravity around where you want to be. I say go for it.

[spiderwrangler]

Also, welcome to the forum, as I see that was your first post!

[jgaarder]

Yes that's the recipe and thanks for adding the link which I should've listed in the first place. I try to have close to 6 gallons at the end of the boil and have 5.5 gallons into the fermenter leaving behind trub and hop goo, with eventually 5 gallons packaged. I guess it's part of the debate of what to call a batch size, is it 6, 5.5 or 5. For me it's 6 since the OG remains constant from that point (unless of course adding adjuncts during fermentation). Thanks for the help and the welcome. I've been lurking for awhile now, soaking up a lot of good info, hopefully at some point I can contribute to the discussion.

[coastalbrewer]

Did you brew this yet? Just wondering how it turned out. I brewed a batch of this using the same recipe about four weeks ago. My OG was 1.078 and finished at 1.014 which puts it about 8.3 abv. I kegged at two weeks and its just starting to clear and get that clean taste at four weeks. I think this beer would really peak in a few more weeks but unfortunately its just about gone. I brewed this and a Little Sumpin Wild clone for a party this past weekend and everbody was loving the Brown. It has a flavor unlike any other. The combo of malty goodness and loads of hops make it very tasty. Thank you McDole for a wonderful recipe.

[jgaarder]

I decided to first brew the regular Janet's Brown recipe, then tackle the imperial next time. From the sound of your success it's going to be sooner than later. I just brewed it up 3 days ago it's happily chugging along. The only slight deviation I made from the recipe was to first wort hop instead of mash hopping. I'll have to give mh a try next time to taste the difference. Did you mash hop your imperial? On a side note this was the first time that I repitched yeast from a previous batch, Tasty APA at that. I harvested the yeast about 9 days previously from the primary. I boiled two one quart jars with some distilled water and split the cake. When I pitched one of the jars into the wort I was a bit worried because of a slight sulfur smell from the jar, though I read in Palmer's book that may occur but not to worry, however I have a little worry. Any input on that would be greatly appreciated.

[TastyMcD]

Did you brew this yet? Just wondering how it turned out. I brewed a batch of this using the same recipe about four weeks ago. My OG was 1.078 and finished at 1.014 which puts it about 8.3 abv. I kegged at two weeks and its just starting to clear and get that clean taste at four weeks. I think this beer would really peak in a few more weeks but unfortunately its just about gone. I brewed this and a Little Sumpin Wild clone for a party this past weekend and everbody was loving the Brown. It has a flavor unlike any other. The combo of malty goodness and loads of hops make it very tasty. Thank you McDole for a wonderful recipe.

You've figured it out! Malty AND hoppy. I don't know if I should be happy or annoyed that no one is making a similar beer commercially.

Glad you liked the recipe. Someday I should run a survey to see how much of this beer is actually homebrewed in a year. For myself, I brew it more than any other. I simply love it and it's the only place I can get it.

Tasty

[rhino777]

Yep, YEP, yup, YUP, yep!