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Janet's Brown Ale by Mike "Tasty" McDole | 5 Gallon Beer Recipe Kit | All-Grain

Janet's Brown Ale by Mike "Tasty" McDole | 5 Gallon Beer Recipe Kit | All-Grain

Please select from the following option(s) to see pricing and availability.
Pre-Milled: 
Description

100% of the proceeds from this kit are donated to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, a leading nonprofit in the fight to cure cancer. We have donated over $3,600 to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society thus far. By buying this kit you are contributing to the fight against cancer.

  • Our Signature Series kits offer a selection of crazy, unique beers developed by MoreBeer! customers, associates, and homebrewing legends!
  • This iconic recipe comes from the late homebrewing legend—and our dear friend—Mike “Tasty” McDole
  • Includes Northern Brewer, Cascade, and Centennial hops
  • Estimated ABV: 6.5%
  • Estimated IBUs: 55-65
  • Makes 5 gallons of finished beer
This now iconic recipe comes from the late homebrewing legend—and our dear friend—Mike “Tasty” McDole. Mike is one of the best homebrewers we’ve ever known, and one of our original customers way back when the entire MoreBeer! operation fit inside a storage shed. Aside from brewing many award-winning beers, Tasty helped grow homebrewing as a hobby, and as a community, here in the Bay Area and well beyond.

Janet’s Brown Ale is the recipe for which Mike won the 2004 National Homebrew Convention gold medal in its category. He once told us the most important critique he ever received was from his late wife, Janet. She really loved this brown ale and it was her favorite of all Mike’s creations. When you’re done brewing this beer, we ask that you raise a glass and toast to the memory of Janet and Mike McDole.

  • Makes 5 gallons
  • Estimated Original Gravity:1.060-1.065
  • SRM (Color Range: 20-25
  • IBUs: 55-65
  • Estimated Alcohol Percentage: 6.5%
     

Our recipe kits DO NOT include grain bags, yeast or priming sugar. To find our yeast recommendations, choose your preferred kit option above and then select the drop-down menu under “Yeast Options”.  For more info, click on the recommended yeast(s) below in the “You Might Also Need” section below. All grains will come milled, unless you select unmilled base malts.
 
Community Q&A

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Why did you choose this?
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Classic recipe by a legendary brewer
Tony Schubert on Jan 27, 2023
Autumn is Brown Ale Season
Daniel Tate on Sep 14, 2022
Classic recipe by a legendary brewer
Tony Schubert on Jan 27, 2023
Brewed several time. Love this brew!
Samuel Jason N on Oct 17, 2022
Autumn is Brown Ale Season
Daniel Tate on Sep 14, 2022
Why not
Andrew P on Sep 12, 2022
Fan of the Brewing Network and a nod to the great Tasty!
Nate G on Sep 3, 2022
Looking for a brown ale to brew for the fall.
Nathan B on Aug 16, 2022
Club Competition - Proceeds going to Cancer research
Brian on Apr 21, 2022
It’s awesome!!!! Party in my mouth!
Alexandra O on Mar 3, 2022
Used this before. Really GOod!
Samuel Jason N on Jan 22, 2022
To support the lymphoma society.
Timothy W on Jan 22, 2022
Looking for a good brown ale to brew for a learn to brew day
Sounds really good.
Valued C on Oct 8, 2021
Love me some Bown Ale and 100% of the proceeds from this kit are donated to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society!
Andy H on May 4, 2021
Love Tasty, and the cause. Big Brew Day
TDKin3D on Apr 30, 2021
For the cause.
William E on Apr 23, 2021
Loved Tastey and its for a good cause
Bryan M on Apr 22, 2021
Brewing this on May 1 for the Tribute to Taste
Arthur D on Apr 22, 2021
Support for lymphoma & leukemia society+I love brown ale
Christina Mary N on Apr 20, 2021
Beer
Aaron K on Apr 16, 2021
Good for 5/1. Cheers to Janet & Tasty.
John on Apr 15, 2021
Great combination of malt and hops
Frederick B on Apr 14, 2021
Kit of the week deal
Philip D on Apr 14, 2021
Looks good
James B E on Apr 13, 2021
Looks good
Daniel O on Apr 13, 2021
Cheers "Tasty"!
Samuel Jason N on Feb 2, 2021
Tasty's passing
George Sparks on Jan 5, 2021
Great cause
Patrick R on Jan 5, 2021
Looks delicious and I hear good things
Micky B. on Dec 5, 2020
Tasty.
Robert K on Nov 16, 2020
Tasty just passed away and I want to honor his memory, give thanks for all I learned from him, and support the cause.
Jesse K on Nov 16, 2020
Big fan of Tasty.
John S on Nov 13, 2020
RIP Tasty
Stuart D on Oct 29, 2020
Tasty Tribute-RIP
swells0406 on Oct 20, 2020
RIP Tasty!
Eric on Oct 20, 2020
To celebrate the life of a legend I am brewing this up.
Mike W on Oct 9, 2020
it was available, most are not available pre-milled
ron m on Apr 21, 2020
Because Tasty is awesome
Jim P on Sep 18, 2019
I like brown ale. It had great reviews.
william c on May 21, 2019
Great beer kit.
Murf on Mar 11, 2019
very good beer
MIKE V on Feb 22, 2019
The best kit that I have tried. A truly great fall wintertime kit
Justin H on Oct 25, 2018
Love a good brown ale for the Fall
Harry K on Oct 5, 2018
Comparing brown ale recipes
Christopher Gaige on Aug 7, 2018
I like brown ales and this looks like a good one
Kurt P on Jul 27, 2018
Great recipe
Matthew L on Mar 8, 2018
Brewed several time. Love this brew!
Samuel Jason N on Oct 17, 2022
Why not
Andrew P on Sep 12, 2022
Do the grains come in one bag or different bags per grain?
Brian Sommers on Apr 8, 2021
BEST ANSWER: Yes. All of the specialty grains are individually packaged.
Reviews

4.8 / 5.0
9 Reviews
5 Stars
4 Stars
3 Stars
2 Stars
1 Star
7
2
0
0
0
Rated 4 out of 5
Tasty Brown IPA
Think of this as a brown IPA. Nicely balanced, with an old-school American IPA caramel malt sweetness and a light roasted malt flavor. For me there's too much crystal/caramel flavor in the finished beer, but I am a confessed crystal malt hater. I brewed only a half batch. The next round I'll swap out half the C60 with Vienna and see where that gets me.
February 23, 2021
Purchased
over 3 years ago
Rated 5 out of 5
Excellent lightly hopped brown ale
Just delicious. Made this BIAB for my wife who requested a brown ale. The hops make this a very unique. Cheers ?? to Tasty and Janet! Thank you for sharing this all grain recipe kit.
January 30, 2021
Purchased
over 3 years ago
Rated 5 out of 5
God I Miss Tasty
I haven't brewed from a kit since 2010, but I had to purchase this in support of our good friend Tasty. He was unfailingly kind and incomparably knowledgeable. He loved homebrewing and homebrewing loved him right back. He was the best of us and I miss him like hell. Cheers Tasty!
January 16, 2021
Purchased
over 3 years ago
Rated 5 out of 5
RIP Mike
I've made this kit several times over the years, at least 5 or 6 times. It makes a nice hoppy brown ale, on the dry side. It's a nice daily drinker. Even though I have the recipe from website or previous orders, I still buy this kit time and time again because Morebeer donates to ALS. RIP Mike, you've touched more homebrewers than you could possibly have known. Cheers to you!!!
December 28, 2020
Purchased
over 3 years ago
Rated 4 out of 5
High hopes for this batch
I was disappointed that I couldn't specify double crushing as I brew with the BIAB method. Also the grain was pre crushed and all of the grains were sealed in individual packages IE: 12 lbs of 2 row came as 1 10 lb bag and 2 1 lb bags. This tells me that they pre crush way in advance and warehouse the grain for who knows how long. I ended up borrowing a grain mill do it all worked out.
I was impressed that all of the hops we're pre measured and sealed in quality packaging. When I had to add 1 1/2 oz.i had a 1 oz pkg and a 1/2 oz.pkg. No half packages to waste. Also made keeping track of additions very easy. I just brewed the other day and it's still in 0rimary but I have high hopes for this batch. Can't wait to drink it!
Boil
Mashing in
Hang & squeeze
February 4, 2020
Purchased
over 4 years ago
Rated 5 out of 5
Perfectly balanced
Great balance of dark grains, hops, and fantastic aroma. Not heavy like a porter, but still has great flavor. Perfect easy-drinking beer for fall and winter, just don't have too many!
November 16, 2018
Purchased
over 5 years ago
Rated 5 out of 5
Great Beer
Pay attention to the alpha acid % in the hops. The ones that came with the kit in 2016 would have made the IBU's considerably higher than the original recipe in brewing classic style. It would have been fine as is, but it is easy enough to drop down the amount of hop additions to match the original.
December 19, 2016
Rated 5 out of 5
The most tasty of brews!
Wow. What an absolutely delicious brew! Very well balanced, great aroma, and fantastic hop profile.

I have brewed around 15 beers in the past year, and this is my favorite--just a delicious, hoppy brown with a really clean malt profile.

Do this one and do it again! One of my favorites....
November 6, 2015
Rated 5 out of 5
Sure Bet!
I brewed the Janet's Brown kit after taking a few years off of brewing. The kit was easy to use and had good instructions, but more importantly, it turned out great!
May 1, 2014