I tried the first of my recent batch of brown ale last night; not bad at all but perhaps not quite the style of beer that I would describe as brown ale. In fact, it was more of a stout, thick, dark and tasty. Definitely not a failure but I would like to see if I can produce something different next time.

One factor might be to change the mixture of grains used in the brewing; I would expect that just pale malt and crystal malt with no chocolate malt would produce something lighter. I might also need to think about some way of clarifying the wort, which might produce a more translucent result. The hop level could also be further raised; despite what the wort smelt like, it still doesn’t have the very strong hoppy kick I was expecting.

So, it sounds like it is almost time for me to get experimenting again.