Toasty

I want to brew a really toasty beer (not roasty, but toasty). I just brewed a brown ale with grain bill of 8 lbs Pale, 4 oz Crystal 120, 6.4 oz Chocolate, 8 oz Special Roast and 8 oz Victory. Single step mash at 154 deg. F. It doesn’t have the toastiness I am looking for. Am I on the right track with the Special Roast and Victory, maybe just increase percentages of one/both? Any other grain recommendations?

Could try some Bisquit Malt
and/or try toasting some of your own

I agree with James. Toasting your own is an especially great idea. Also, if you want the taste of bread crust, there’s nothing better than Munich malt for that.

isn’t victory and biscuit about the same thing?
and i agree with munich, check out doppelbocks

Try toasting some flaked grains at 350 for 15 - 20 mins. Oats, wheat, barley, nice toasted flavor. Stir occasionally to keep from burning. :cheers:

If you want to keep it simple, just up the Victory malt four ounces or so next time. I find that one pound of Victory is too much in my 5-gal batches. Victory and ‘bisquit’ are the same thing, the way I understand it: Victory being Briess’ brand name for a Belgium-like bisquit malt.

I always smell inside the bag and chew up some of the grist before I use it. That gives me a decent idea of what I’ll smell/taste from the upcoming brew.

Victory/bisquit = toast.

I think the next closest thing is easily: Vienna malt. It’s close to Munich malt, but whereas Munich is plain “bready,” Vienna is less sweet and more “toasty.”

I would use Brown malt for some nice toasty flavor.

If you are not totally committed to the Brown Ale, might I suggest doing a traditional Munich Maerzen or Dunkel? Can’t get much more like liquified bread crust than that.

Can use up to %100 Munich. Barley Sandwitch!

I make an ordinary bitters with british 2 row and about 8oz munich and 4oz biscuit. victory is similar, but IMO biscuit has a slightly better flavor. In a light beer like that, 8oz of biscuit or victory is a little too much and seems a little harsh to me, but 4oz gives a really nice toasty flavor. Using fairly mild-flavored british type hops makes a difference too. I’ve made that recipe with centennial for bittering, but the flavor is more smooth and balanced with equivalent IBU’s from something like Soverign for bittering, making the toasty flavor more noticeable. try varying the amount in the recipe a little until you get what you want, but be aware that sometimes less is more, if you know what I mean.