The naming of beers is a difficult matter.

Events in my life work for me. That's where I've gotten names for them so far.

You might be wondering about Browncoat Ale. Well, it's a pretty good story. But first: from where the name? I'm a big geek. I named it because it will be complete around the time of the release of Serenity, a movie based on the TV show Firefly. The Browncoats are the Confederates in the sci-fi civil war, and they're the good guys. And it's a brown ale. Somehow the release of this movie counts as a life event.

Anyway, the browncoat looked like a flop when I started it. I saw no signs of fermentation for several days. I called the beer guys. They said it was probably fine. Maybe a slow start. Maybe a leak in the fermenter. I didn't believe it. Nothing indicated a leak--I smelled nothing like fermentation around the fermenter. Well, expertise is cool. They knew what the hell they were talking about. Fermentation on the Browncoat is nearly done. (I went to the beer store today to get some yeast to make fermentation happen. The guy said to take the gravity first. The gravity is 1.020, a full .032 less than the initial. This beer is mostly fermented. After I resecured the lid today, the airlock began to release bubbles...)

It's also tasty. I hauled a bit out with my sanitized ladel to get the gravity. I'm not putting that contaminated stuff back in once I've taken the gravity. I have to (get to) taste it. The taste is, well, like a brown ale. Good. The sweetness compliments bitterness. I think it might be thin, but you maybe can't tell that before bottle conditioning.

The color is lovely.

Here's the recipe that I used, based on "Elbro Nerkte" in the Complete Joy of Homebrewing:

5 lbs. Muntons Dark Dried Malt Extract
1/2 lb. 80L Crystal Malt
1/4 lb. black patent malt
2 oz. Fuggle hops (bittering), 4% alpha acid
1/2 oz. Cascade hops (finishing)
White Labs English Ale Yeast

O.G. 1.052