[rjharper]

Looking to brew a southern brown this weekend. How does this look? GF likes malty, brown and sweet hence 11B over 11C, but admittedly this recipe might be a bit of a hybrid. I like to keep things simple and I think this might be too messy. Was also planning to split half the batch onto roasted pecans. Mash at 154F?

Batch Size (fermenter): 11.00 gal   
Estimated OG: 1.042 SG
Estimated Color: 23.8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 19.0 IBUs

11 lbs                 Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM)               64.7 %       
1 lbs 8.0 oz          Caramel/Crystal Malt - 90L (90.0 SRM)      8.8 %         
1 lbs 8.0 oz          Special Roast (50.0 SRM)                        8.8 %         
1 lbs                   Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM)                           5.9 %         
1 lbs                  Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM)     5.9 %         
12.0 oz               Pale Chocolate Malt (180.0 SRM)               4.4 %         
4.0 oz                Carafa II (412.0 SRM)                              1.5 %         
2.00 oz               Fuggle [5.30 %] - Boil 45.0 min                19.0 IBUs     
2.0 pkg               SafAle English Ale (DCL/Fermentis #S-04)     

Thanks,

[troybinso]

Special roast is intense. That much paired with the biscuit malt might be overdoing it a little.

[rjharper]

Special roast is intense. That much paired with the biscuit malt might be overdoing it a little.

I was unsure if I even need the Biscuit with the Special Roast. So dial back Special Roast, drop the Biscuit, or both?

[troybinso]

I have never made this style of beer, so I don't want to come off as knowledgeable about that specifically, but generally my experience with "extra-dark munich malts" like Biscuit, Melanoidin, Aromatic, Special Roast, I try to keep them to about 1 lb for a 10 gallon batch.

[HoosierBrew]

Special roast is intense. That much paired with the biscuit malt might be overdoing it a little.

+1.  That's all I'd do, Ross - ie., drop the biscuit. That Special Roast will do it. Looks great.   

EDIT -  And MO is kind of biscuity, toasty to me, too.

[rjharper]

Special roast is intense. That much paired with the biscuit malt might be overdoing it a little.

+1.  That's all I'd do, Ross - ie., drop the biscuit. That Special Roast will do it. Looks great.   

EDIT -  And MO is kind of biscuity, toasty to me, too.

Makes sense to me. I'll drop the Biscuit and sub in another pound of MO.

[bboy9000]

This looks a lot like Jamil's recipe which is great.  You can't go wrong.  I brewed it about a year ago and loved it.  It wasn't as sweet as the style guidelines made it out to be but I've never had a commercial example.  Apparently the guidelines are based off one beer which may be one of the few remaining examples.  could be wrong but that's what I understand.   I liked the result but it could've been sweeter if the guidelines are accurate.  I used Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire yeast and loved the flavor profile.  Nutty the first week or so then more clean.

[rjharper]

12 lbs                Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM)            70.1 %       
1 lbs 12.0 oz       Caramel/Crystal Malt - 90L (90.0 SRM)   10.2 %       
1 lbs 4.0 oz         Special Roast (50.0 SRM)                     7.3 %         
1 lbs                  Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) 5.8 %         
12.0 oz               Pale Chocolate Malt (180.0 SRM)           4.4 %         
6.0 oz                Carafa II (412.0 SRM)                          2.2 %         
2.00 oz               Fuggles [5.30 %] - Boil 45.0 min          18.2 IBUs     
2.0 pkg               SafAle English Ale (DCL/Fermentis #S-04)

Here's the tweaked recipe. Dropped the Biscuit. Dialed back the Sp. Roast slightly, and upped the C-90 and Carafa II a touch to bring it a little closer to Jamil's, while shooting for the drier end of the style range with a little less Crystal and a touch more Sp. Roast than BCS, and mashing high to keep the body).

Thanks for the feedback everyone!   
       

[jeffy]

The BJCP had a presentation on this style at one of the NHC's (Cincinnati?) with samples of the beer in question, Mann's Brown Ale, brought over from London by the late Ant Hayes.  To me it tasted more like Coke than beer.  It was sweetened with some sort of artificial sugar after fermentation had been arrested.  Think very light body, no roast, very little hopping and artificial (non malt) sweetness.
I'm not saying anything about how well this would be judged in a competition, because the guidelines are more important than personal experience in this case.

[rjharper]

Jeffy,
Interesting; that's certainly not what I want to brew! Mann's is only 2.8% abv so I can see how it's hard to get much body in that. I'm going to stick to the almost-Jamil above, and see what happens.

[BrewingRover]

There was an interesting discussion of Southern brown on a UK forum I visit from time to time.
http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=70277