Apparently the definition of mishmash is a "confused" mixture. While this is definitely a mixture, it wasn't confused. I chose the ingredients deliberately in an effort to make something resembling a brown ale. In any event, this beer is made up of several leftover malts I've had around for quite some time. A brown ale sounded good, so I thought I'd pull together what I had and make one.
Nearly all of the malts are pretty old, probably at least a year for most of them, except the 2-row, which makes up the bulk of the grain bill. The chocolate malt is really old though. I bought five pounds of it from a shop in Fenton, MO in June 2014 and have used it here and there over the years, but I still have a lot left.
I like to experiment with beers to see what I can come up with. So that's what I did here. A little of this, a little of that, let's see what we get. I did do some research to try to stay within the guidelines of a brown ale; not to keep it within style per se, but just to make sure it tastes like a brown ale. For example, I reviewed an "averagely perfect" brown ale at Beer Advocate's homebrew forum, which has some ingredient overlap with my recipe.
Appearance: Deep brown with ruby on the edges and if you hold it to the light. Good clarity without use of gelatin. Light tan head.
Aroma: Roastiness. Coffee. Chocolate.
Flavor: Dark bread. Coffee. Dark chocolate. Modest hop bitterness, but definitely some astringency from roasted/kilned malts, but it's not unpleasant. Good carbonation. Fairly light body, but not thin. A good balance between sweetness and bitterness. Not overly dry and not sweet. No discernible hop flavor. I wonder if the old chocolate malt changes the flavor. Maybe kind of a dark fruit, oxidized flavor? I feel like when I've used fresher chocolate malt in the past, including in a January 2018 stout, there was a fresher, chocolatier flavor. Something to keep in mind for next time I guess. The flavor has sort of changed over time. I think I got a little of the brown malt when I first started drinking this beer, but it's completely lost now and I only taste the chocolate malt.
If I made this beer again, I'd probably cut back the chocolate malt to six ounces and maybe use less special roast too, but I think that malt is supposed to add "toasty" and "biscuity" flavors, so the heavy roasty, astringent flavor probably isn't coming from that. Another thing I'd do is use fresher chocolate malt. It was generally okay in this beer, but fresher malt would probably enhance the beer.
Brew date: 1/22/2020
Keg date: 2/1/2020
OG 1.052
FG 1.008
~5 gallons
US-05
Recipe:
5.5 lb 2 row
2 lb German pale ale
8 oz pale chocolate
8 oz caramunich I
8 oz brown malt
7 oz special roast
1.9 oz caramel 120
1 oz Willamette hops (4.2 AA) at 60 minutes for 17.42 IBU
