Codename : Old Brown Shoe
The chosen caramel & chocolate malts have higher Lovibond rating (darker colour) than the original recipe as I tend to prefer the darker ales. Paying hommage to the Beatles with the title selection.
Recipe inspiration
Ingredients
- 2 lbs Maris Otter malt
- 2 oz Caramel malt
- 2 oz Rye malt
- 1 oz Chocolate malt
- 0.20 oz East Kent Goldings hops at 60 minutes
- 0.10 oz Fuggles hops at 20 minutes
- ¼ Whirlfloc tablet
- 4 ml Nottingham ale yeast
Vital Stats
- Anticipated IBU : 26
- Anticipated ABV : 4.6%
- Target OG : 1.048
- Target FG : 1.013
- Arbitrary Brewhouse (in)efficiency : 55%
Brew Day
- Prepare 8L strike water, 154F
- Add the milled grains to the bag.
- Place the bag in the hot water, set the timer for one 90 minutes, and maintain the temperature at 149 F. Looking for SG 1.027.
- Calibrate the refractometer, aka the sonic screwdriver, the refractometer to ensure accurate measurements.
- Lift the bag out of the water, and allow it to drip into the pot.
- Bring wort up to 212F to boil for 10 minutes, then bring down to 210 F.
- Set the timer for 90 minutes. Add hops and Whirfloc as prescribed above. Looking for SG 1.048.
- Sanitise everything required for fermentation.
- Cool to room temp, an ice-bath or a snowbank work effectively.
- Prepare yeast mixture.
- Add wort to the jug. Pitch yeast.
- Store in a cool place for primary fermentation for 14-21 days.
Bottling Day
- Sanitise everything required for bottling.
- Transfer from carboy to bottling pot.
- Prepare 19g corn sugar with enough hot water to dissolve it. Add to pot.
- Bottle.
- Preferably conduct bottle conditioning for at least 2-4 weeks.
Brew Notes
- I hit pre-boil SG, 1.029.
- Towards the end of the boil, the SG was about 1.040, so with 15 minutes remaining, I opted to add about 2 tbsp of brown sugar, keeping with the brown theme to reach a final SG of 1.049.
- This is a clue that maybe a two hour boil might be in order.
- Fermentation gushed/trickled out of, and filled the airlock.




Tasting Notes
- Sampled during the bottling process, the cheat addition taste of brown sugar is a little too present for my liking.
- Now the beer has aged, the taste of the brown sugar has mellowed. The ABV is low, but it does have a decent taste.
Brew day : 25-Mar-2022
Bottling day : 8-Apr-2022