The JonnyFunFun Network » Newcastle Brown Ale

Last of the Newcastle Clone is gone

JonnyFunFun — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 18:32:21 +0000

So it just occured to me that there was no follow-up done with the Newcastle Brown Ale Clone that I created way back in April. Well, I should start off by saying that the entire 5.5 gallon batch of beer was drank and gone within a month and a half of opening the first bottle. There was only one bottle of it that managed to sneak past the radar, but that too has matched fate with its brethren. So here we go with the final result of the clone.

First and foremost, the clone did not come out exactly as I anticipated. The ale was darker than I felt it should be, and fermented a lot more than it should have. The flavor, however, was relatively close to that of Newcastle Brown Ale, with the exception that the clone came out a little bit more chocolatey than it should have. All of the above I am going to blame on there being too much fermentables in the beer, and the flavor on there being too much of the darker malts in the beer. As a result, the next time I try this recipe, I am going to cut back on the amount of grain, and definately cut back on the amount of the Crystal and Black Patent malts.

Revisiting Newcastle – (So far) a success!

JonnyFunFun — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:46:09 +0000

So today we revisit the Newcastle Brown Ale clone recipe from Saturday’s brewing session. Short of the fact that it took nearly an hour to grind almost 13 pounds of malt, the brew seems to be a success – so far. Within 10 minutes of pitching the yeast, fermentation already began. The next day, the airlock would not stop spurting out gas. So we seem to be doing well so far, although I am slightly concerned at how fast it is fermenting. Here is how the recipe turned out:

The Malt:

9lb. Marris Otter Ale Malt
8oz. Chocolate Malt
8oz. Crystal Malt
4oz. Black Patent Malt

The Hops:

0.5oz. Willamette Whole Leaf (bittering)
1oz. East Kent Goldings (finishing)

We will revisit the brew in approximately two weeks when it is taken in for bottling.

Newcastle Brown Ale Clone

JonnyFunFun — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 01:31:19 +0000

So after a great success with my first successful solo brew – an Irish Red Ale – and a second brew in the secondary fermenter – a Boston Lager – I have decided to move on to my third installment of the JonnyFunFun homebrew. This time: an all-grain clone of Newcastle Brown Ale, my personal favorite store-bought beer.

Now for those of you unfamiliar with Newcastle Brown Ale, or those of you who are not heavy beer connosieurs, Newcastle is technically a blend of two brewed beers, one light ale and one dark ale, which brings forth a very distinct taste. Newcastle itself is a very rich English ale, darker in color, with a very sweet and malty flavor. To me, Newcastle is one of the smoothest and richest ales that one can buy – and goes down very easy.

So the recipe that I am going with is a general approximation and guess of what Newcastle Brown Ale should be, so throughout the brewing process, I am going to end up doing a lot of tweaking to the recipe in order to get it to where I believe it should be. So for those of you who want the details, here it is:

The Grains (Total 9.5 lbs):

Marris Otter 2-row Malt – 9lbs.
Chocolate Malt – 3oz.
Crystal Malt (50L) – 3oz.
Black Patent Malt – 2oz.

The Hops (Total 1oz., approximately 30 IBU):

East Kent Goldings (UK) – 0.5oz. – Finishing
Willamette or Target – 0.5oz. – Bittering

The Yeast (Total 1800ml):

British Ale Yeast

Now for the hops, due to the recent hop shortage, I was forced to go with Willamette hops instead of the Target hops – a substitution which I believe should turn out alright. All of the ingredients are UK imports, so nothing is a domestic variety. The exact yeast I chose to go with was the Wyeast 1098 British Ale liquid yeast and accompanying 1090XL activator. All grain are coming to me whole grain, and will be dealt with on the day of the brewing.

The only problem I have with the above recipe, which seems to be an adaptation of a similar recipe I found on brew365.com, is the somewhat skewed malt-to-hop ratio, so the final brewing of this particular batch of beer is going to be adapted on-the-fly.

The scheduled date for this brewing session is going to be this Saturday, April 5th, provided that all necessary supplies come in before then. Anybody who knows me personally is invited to attend and lend a helping hand if they so desire. More details on this brewing endeavour will come soon!