Trilby Brown Ale

[FedoraDave]

Almost from the beginning of my homebrewing journey, I've wanted to craft a signature brown ale. My inspiration was Newcastle, but I didn't want to make a clone; I wanted something with a more pronounced caramel profile, but still maintaining a certain nuttiness to offset. I actually began with Mr. Beer Nut Brown Ale HME as a base, progressing through extract+specialty grain, and finally to AG recipes. It changed every time, and I was still no closer to the taste I knew I wanted. All-grain proved most frustrating of all until I finally told myself (as I have so often) to simplify things and build up from a basic recipe, rather than deconstruct a more complex one.

My latest batch has been in the bottle only three weeks, and even though the two bottles I brought up were in the fridge about 24 hours, I tried one last night.

I like the color initially. It seemed a little dark at first, but I poured it into an English-style dimpled mug, so that would make it appear darker. When I held it to the light, I could see a reddish-brown tinge around the edges. I'm going to pour the next sample into a pint glass to get a better sense of the real color. The head was full and an off-white, nearly tan, but somewhat short-lived, leaving just a thin layer of foam after falling. Mild aroma.

The mouthfeel was good; rich and full, but not quite chewy, the way stouts are. Just full-bodied and almost creamy. The blend of flavors is very pleasing. No one taste dominates, so the mixture of roasty, nutty, sweet, and bitter creates a nice balance.

I'll know better after having some more samples (and I'm interested in seeing how extended conditioning affects it). But aside from potential minor tweaks, I'm really pleased with this.

[JohnSant]

Sounds like you are close (if not there) Dave.
It never seems to amaze me how most of the Borg can take a basic recipe and tweak it to get to your goal. Although I'm a newbie I'm look for the day that I'll be able to do what most of Borg are doing to brew their beer. Reading these posts and researching what all the different types of items produces or effects the fermentation of beer has on overall outcome is mind boggling. My only hope is I live long enough to get to that point. Ha Ha.

[FedoraDave]

John, you'll get there. If you want to learn and progress from kits and extracts to full AG batches, you'll learn and you'll progress. There's a wealth of knowledge out there, and once you get your feet wet in one area, be it grains or hops, you'll be amazed at the leaps you'll take. My signature house brew, FedoraDave's American Ale, began when I decided to learn more about hops, so I created a simple extract recipe and used a different type of hops every time I brewed it. I didn't have to go through every hops strain, but I learned a lot, and eventually I settled on a hops, turned the recipe into all-grain, made some slight adjustments, and it's a darn good APA.

Not only that, but the knowledge and experience I gained with this experiment has carried over and influenced a lot of my other recipes.

Keep in mind, too, that this forum is a wealth of help and information. Use this Borg whenever you need a question answered. It's what we do.

[Kealia]

Am I the only one that thinks it's rude to review your own beer without having sent out samples to the Borg?

[FedoraDave]

It's in the mail! Along with your Borg Member Rebate.