It’s the Wednesday before Thanksgiving so first a cheers to you and your family. We hope you are drinking homebrewed beers or ciders. Pairing your favorite dishes with your best creations. What better beer could there be for me at thanksgiving? That’s right English Brown Ale!!!

First of this beer remains largely unchanged since I last brewed it. I use Maris Otter for base malt and the rest of the character malts are crystal 60L, chocolate malt (350L) and Briess Special Roast. I have settled on these three malt delivering the balance of caramel, chocolate and roast that I expect from a good Brown Ale.

This time around I attempted to lighten the color slightly by backing off the chocolate a bit. I usually use the three in equal parts but this time I wanted something lighter in color to be more English like. My normal recipe seems more like a dark Brown Porter or an American Brown Ale base.

I experienced an early temperature drop about 4 days into fermentation. I want using active temp control at the time and I fear the yeast flocked out early. More English yeasts will do that regardless of how much sugar remains. So my FG was1.017. This makes this brew about 3.5-3.7%ABV. Not what I wanted but for the family feast it will be good to knock several of these back and not be too inebriated to carve the turkey.

Speaking of which it’s time to quit writing and get back in the kitchen. That bird isn’t going to brine itself and there are still potatoes to peel.

BREW ON!