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Author Topic: English brown ale  (Read 3263 times)

Offline greatplainsbrewer

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English brown ale
« on: May 24, 2013, 02:47:23 pm »
I have a friend ( no it isn't actually me :)) who brewed an older kit of brewers best English brown ale.  The beer tastes strongly of dried fruit and he's worried.  It isn't a particularly bad taste but I've never run across an English brown with really pronounced dried fruit tastes.  Any thoughts?

Thanks

Offline Joe Sr.

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Re: English brown ale
« Reply #1 on: May 24, 2013, 03:07:14 pm »
Old LME?  Older LME will give you off flavors.  It also darkens as it ages.

IIRC, over pitching helps reduce the old flavors.
It's all in the reflexes. - Jack Burton

Offline greatplainsbrewer

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Re: English brown ale
« Reply #2 on: May 24, 2013, 03:20:48 pm »
My understanding was that it was lme-I'm not actually familiar with the kit.  I thought old lme would be more of an oxidized flavor

Offline tschmidlin

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Re: English brown ale
« Reply #3 on: May 24, 2013, 08:04:01 pm »
Oxidized flavors can be like dried fruit, depending on the malt bill.  But it could also be the recipe, dark crystal comes across as dried fruit too.
Tom Schmidlin

Offline erockrph

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Re: English brown ale
« Reply #4 on: May 24, 2013, 09:28:58 pm »
But it could also be the recipe, dark crystal comes across as dried fruit too.

+1 - especially the darker English crystal malts. Personally, that plummy/toffee note is a flavor I really enjoy. I'm always sneaking some Extra Dark English Crystal into my malty English beers whenever I can (including my browns).

Eric B.

Finally got around to starting a homebrewing blog: The Hop Whisperer