Review: Leaf Turner - Fresh Hop Brown Ale

Fall is quickly setting in here in Eugene.  The temps are dropping, sunlight fades, massive cloud cover the sky, rain pours down, the leaves change to brilliant hues of reds and yellows.  As it is clear that the warmth and vibrancy of Summer is gone, much of the desire for a crisp, dry, light, pale beer, and this beer does a great job of quenching the thirst of a shifted palate.  Smokey, fruity, mild chocolate, full, sweetish, balanced, malty, just enough alcohol to help warm you on a cool night.  The name is truly fitting.

Look: Thick creamy super sticky beige head sits atop a clear brown beer with ruby highlights.  Sticky lace.

Aroma: Smoky wood and campfire present themselves first with milk chocolate following close behind. They lead into pecans, biscuits, and fruits, figs & plums as well as peaches.  Citrus rind and light pine finish off the nose, very subtle and fruity.

Flavor: Much like the nose the flavor begins with smokey chocolate leading quickly to sweet caramel and toffee, toasted biscuity malt, nuts.  Fruitiness hits as well with more peaches, followed by Christmas tree and sweet breads.  As it warms there is a distinct roasty bitterness.

Mouthfeel: Big creamy mouthfeel like Nitro, balanced.  Lightly astringent finish when cold, not sure if it is from the roasted grains or the Pickling Lime.  Carbonation cleanses the palate.  Bitterness is perfect.

Overall: For a Wet Hop beer the hops are subdued, but it actually works perfect for this balanced Brown.  The smoke malt is more pronounced in my beer than in Sierra Nevada's Tumbler who I stole the malt bill from, bringing a pronounced smokiness up front.  The yeast plays very nice in this beer keeping it malty, nutty, fully attenuated and yet full and creamy.  Lots of layers in this beer.  The finish is off though, the astringency takes away from an otherwise great beer.  Definitely want to re-brew this one next year.

Recipe: Leaf Turner - Wet Hop Brown Ale

Wet Hop brew # 3 in 3 days... should I do a Black IPa, or Brown Ale... hmm... I already have a Red IPA, and a White IPA, so the Black IPA would work.  But then again, it is headed into Fall, and a Brown sounds pretty good.  Brown it is, and seeing as I am loving Sierra Nevada's Tumbler right now, I decided to use their malt bill for my batch, just boosting the gravity with more base malt.  Of course I switched up the hops and went with what I have in terms of Wet Hops, lots of Chinook and some Cascade.  Much of what I have read on American Browns is that you want a present American citrus hop nose and flavor, so the grapefruit and citrus from the hops will work well, and the pine from the Chinook will help add some depth and bite to it so it isn't so bright, bringing it back to more of a Fall flavor.  Giving it an addition of Pickling Lime (first time using it) to keep the pH up from the dark malts, and balance it out some.  Finishing it off with West Yorkshire yeast as it "produces ales with a full chewy malt flavor and character, but finishes dry, producing famously balanced beers. Expect moderate nutty and stone-fruit esters." (Wyeast).  Chewy mouthfeel, yet dry finish, nutty, and moderate fruity esters, along with a citrusy hop nose, caramel and chocolate malt, sounds like the description of an American Brown to me, starter wort from the Red IPA tasted great too!

This beer was, again (the third beer now), to suffer an unexpected drop in efficiency (extract).  Everything is the same, the only things that might have changed are the water (tap) or the "illegal" to adjust the gap grain mill at the home brew shop was adjusted.  Hopefully I get it figured out soon, constant jumps in efficiency is not an option when you have a specific beer in mind to make.

Stats:

5.5 gallons (5.875 gallons, only added 5.5 to fermenter, the rest is getting soured... go figure)

1.067 OG

1.014 Fg

6.9% ABV

45 IBUs

24 SRM

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Fermentables:

12.75#  GW Pale Malt

1.0#  Crisp Crystal 55/65L

0.75# Briess Chocolate Malt

0.50#  Weyermann Rauchmalt

0.25# Rice Hulls

45 Minutes @ 152*F

74% Extract Efficiency

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45 Minute Boil:

45 mins - 0.5 oz Zeus 16.4AA% (Commercial)

WP @ 150 20 mins - 12.0oz Chinook (Wet) 

WP @ 150 20 mins - 4.0oz Cascade (Wet) 

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Fermentation:

WY 1469 West Yorkshire - 1L Starter (a little 001 as well for good measure)

Aerated 25 minutes

6 gallon Better Bottle

3 days @ 66-67

11 days @ 70

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Additional:

Gypsum 3/8 t (mash), 1/2 t (boil)

Calcium Chloride 1/2 t (mash), 1/2 t (boil)
Pickling Lime 3/4 t (mash)

Whirfloc Tab (15 mins)