Honey Brown Ale with an IPA twist (My Recipe)

This is a great, mid-range type beer which goes great with meals as well as just enjoying a cold one in the evening. Personally, I like to serve it just above the freezing point.
I like to dry hop the beer in the secondary fermentor as opposed to adding alot of hops to the boil. I like the IPA flavor of the finished beer, even though, because of this, it doesn't align itself in the end to any paticular style.

Brewer:	Paul Smith		Email:	split-routine@mailcity.com
Beer:	Honey Brown Ale with an IPA twist (My Recipe)		Style:	American Brown
Type:	Extract w/grain		Size:	26 liters
Color:	31 HCU (~16 SRM)		Bitterness:	15 IBU
OG:	1.045		FG:	1.003
Alcohol:	5.4% v/v (4.3% w/w)
Water:	I've never had a problem using just normal tap water, but boil all water used to drive off the chlorine smell/taste.
Grain:	500g American crystal 60L 100g British chocolate
Steep:	Steep grains in seperate bags for 30 min (but no more!). Nominal temperature for steeping would be at 71°C (160°F)but it isn't easy to control, so just boil, remove from heat and let stand 10 minutes, then place your grains in and steep for 30 min.
Boil:	80 minutes	SG 1.090	13 liters
	3kg Light malt extract 500g Honey
	-I allow 20 minutes of boiling for the hotbreak, then the hopping schedule begins for 60 minutes. -If you add the honey to the wort at the beginning of the boil, you increase the boil gravity to 1.090, (based on a partial boil of 13 liters or 3 gallons) which decreases the IBU input to 08. If you add the honey after completion of the boil, the boil gravity is decreased to 1.076 and therefore increases your IBU input to 15. It's much better to add the honey after the boil is completed anyway, so as not to loose the honey aroma through boiling. -I always add 1/3 stick of ground licorice because I like head retention, and seems to make the head nice and creamy on the finished beer.
Hops:	0.5 oz. Galena (12% AA, 60 min.) 0.5 oz. Cascade (5.1% AA, 30 min.)
Yeast:	I've used several types of dry yeast with good results every time. Coopers ale yeast seems to work well, but my favorite is Danstar Nottingham yeast, which has some lager taste qualities about it, producing less esters in the finished beer. I've always pitched 2 packs.
Log:	Primary fermetation for about 7 days (depending) which gives an S.G of about 1.004. Then Secondary dry hopped with 1/2 ounce of cascade leaf with isinglas and anti-chill haze (polyclar) for a minimum of 2 weeks, but better for 4 weeks. A quick note on the dry hopping: many people weight down the hop bag in the secondary fermentor. My experience with this has shown that the isinglas settles the sediment down on the bag and prevents the hop flavoring from working through the beer as much. Intead, I place the hop bag in the secondary fermentor prior to racking. As I rack the beer in, I make sure the hop bag is thoroughly soaked through with beer. The bag will still float, but just barely, letting all the hops being able to work through the beer. 1/2 ounce doesn't seem like much, but you'll be surprised how much hop flavoring will be in the finished beer after 3 to 4 weeks. Age in bottle for 1 month after that. I try to keep the temperature around 15.5° C (60°F) throughout the entire fermenting and aging period. This may seem a little low for ale yeast, but experience has shown that even though you have to wait a little longer, you end up with a better beer.
Carbonation:	2.3 volumes	Corn Sugar: 4.32 oz. for 23 liters @ 16°C
	If you can't find a method to weigh your priming sugar, this amount is equal to 3/4 of a cup plus 4 heaping teaspoons. (not tablespoons). Matter-of-fact, you can go by the rule of thumb that I've gone by: 3/4 cup for 19 liters, and 1 heaping teaspoon for every extra liter.
Tasting:	Don't be fooled with the IBU measurement of 15. I calculated it using the Tinseth method and might be a little low to what it actually is. I once added a full ounce of Galena, which according to the Tinseth method produces 42 IBU. But believe me, it ended up a helluva lot more then that, and I was telling people it was an English bitter! I thought I was drinking a Christmas tree.

Recipe posted 03/29/03.