Brown Ale?

[ClownPrince]

One of my next brews will be a Brown Ale. Ideally this would come out something like a Newcastle Brown Ale.
I'm looking at one of two kits to achieve this, either:
Wilko's Sweet Newcastle Brown kit:
https://www.wilko.com/wilko-brewing-kit-sweet-newkie-brown-15kg-makes-40-pints/p/0318372
or
Mangrove Jack's Traditional Brown Ale kit:
http://www.thehomebrewcompany.co.uk...es-rustic-brown-ale-18kg-40-pints-p-4153.html

I know I'll need (well maybe I don't need) to buy yeast for the Wilko kit (I'm presuming Wilko Gervin Yeast will do the job), but does the Mangrove Jack's kit come with decent yeast? The Grapefruit IPA one I did did, but that was a Craft Series (and therefore more expensive) kit.

I'll add 1kg Light DME and 500g Demerara Sugar
I'm thinking I'll add 25g of Target hops on a 60 minute boil and 25g East Kent Goldings hops on a 15 minute boil
I'll let it brew for two weeks in the primary and then add a further 25g of each type of hops when it goes into the secondary for a week.
I might add 450g of honey when it goes into the secondary to add some sweetness.

Thoughts?

 

[terrym]

One of my next brews will be a Brown Ale. Ideally this would come out something like a Newcastle Brown Ale.

I think any homebrewer will be able to do better than the Newcastle Brown Ale I had a few weeks back. Awful stuff, a shadow of its former self.
Anyway if you are making up a dark full flavoured beer there is no real need to use light DME. That said amber/medium DME seems to brings its own roasty flavours to a beer. So the choice is yours.
But do go carefully with hop boils. Unless you have done these kits before you have no idea of how bitter they are and boiling up 25g Target hops for an hour will bring quite a lot of bitterness to the finished product, and that may not be in keeping with the style, since Brown Ales are not usually very bitter. Even your 15 minute boil will contribute some bitterness. But in any case the kits should have been supplied with the bitterness you require to suit the style. However if you want hop flavour in there, add a hop tea late in the fermentation.
And adding honey to the wort will not add much sweetness since the sugars will be fermented out. I wouldnt bother, use it for your toast.
Otherwise I wish you well.

 

[The Baron]

Totally agree with Terry target hops are used for bittering mainly and the kits will already be bittered and will probably put the kit into overkill as brown ale is only lightly bittered. Hop tea is the way to go for flavour and the kit will already be sweet enough and take it away from newkie brown if more sweetness is added.Cant remember which is the flavouring hop used in N/B but that is what I would use in the hop tea. Do a internet search for a recipe to find out the hops used

 

[ClownPrince]

Has anyone done both the MJ and Wilko kit and can they recommend which one's better?
And does anyone know what Yeast this MJ kit is packaged with and in what quantity?

Thanks for the advice Baron and Terry, i'll avoid boiling any further hops and have a look at what late hop additions I could make.