Amber Ale Recipe Review - *Newbie warning*

Hey there,

I'm a complete newb, but I wanted to throw this extract+grains recipe out there and see if you guys think it's sane or not. It's a variant on one of the popular Fat Tire Clone recipes, based on the ingredients carried by my LHBS. I'm heading out there with a friend tomorrow so he can buy a brew setup, and I was thinking about picking up ingredients for my secondbrew. (also, should I stock up on hops? I'm getting skerred reading about the impending shortage...)

[extract]
6.0 lbs muntons plain light LME
?? 1 lb muntons amber DME ??

[steeping]
0.5 lb american briess crystal malt (20L)
0.5 lb american briess crystal malt (40L)
0.5 lb american briess carapils malt
0.5 lb american briess chocolate malt
0.5 lb american briess special roast malt
0.5 lb american briess light Munich malt

[hops]
3 AAUs Willamette pellet hops (60 min)
2 AAUs Fuggle pellet hops (20 min)
1.33 AAUs Fuggle pellet hops (end)

[misc]
1 tsp irish moss

[yeast]
Windsor ale yeast (dry)

free2brew said:

Hey there,

I'm a complete newb, but I wanted to throw this extract+grains recipe out there and see if you guys think it's sane or not. It's a variant on one of the popular Fat Tire Clone recipes, based on the ingredients carried by my LHBS. I'm heading out there with a friend tomorrow so he can buy a brew setup, and I was thinking about picking up ingredients for my secondbrew. (also, should I stock up on hops? I'm getting skerred reading about the impending shortage...)

[extract]
6.0 lbs muntons plain light LME
?? 1 lb muntons amber DME ??

[steeping]
0.5 lb american briess crystal malt (20L)
0.5 lb american briess crystal malt (40L)
0.5 lb american briess carapils malt
0.5 lb american briess chocolate malt
0.5 lb american briess special roast malt
0.5 lb american briess light Munich malt

[hops]
3 AAUs Willamette pellet hops (60 min)
2 AAUs Fuggle pellet hops (20 min)
1.33 AAUs Fuggle pellet hops (end)

[misc]
1 tsp irish moss

[yeast]
Windsor ale yeast (dry)

Click to expand...

I personally think that's way too much special roast and chocolate. You'll lose the munich malt with all that chocolate and special B. I would change it to something like this:

.25 pounds chocolate (or not use it at all)
.25 pounds special b (or not use it at all.)

I guess it depends on your goal for the beer, though!

My Fat Tire Clone only has extract, Munich, and Caramunich malts in it. No Crystal (don't need it with the caramunich) and no chocolate or special roast as they are not appropriate for the style IMO.

As for stocking up on hops, it really depends on how much you plan to brew. Some of the folks who are really worried about the shortage brew over 150 gallons a year (you know who you are) so they are going through lots of hops. It also depends on what beer styles you plan to brew since some need more hops than other. I'd wait to see how much you enjoy the hobby before spending a ton of cash on hops.

I agree save yourself a few bucks and take out the chocolate and special, they are more for porters or stouts not ambers.

I'll play devil's advocate and say "go for it!"

It won't taste like Fat Tire, but then again, who cares? If you want Fat Tire go and buy some from the grocery store.

It could be interesting!

As noted the dark grain doesn't fit the style but I'd try it out with a much reduced qty of both. See what it does to amber abd chalk it up to experiments .25lb total of choc plus special... Ie 1/8lb each. Let us know how it turns out?

If u won't go that low on it I'd skip it all together...

Hey guys,

Thanks for all the feedback. I just got back from the LHBS and I did as many of you suggested and moved down the chocolate and special malt to 2oz, as well as dropping the Munich in favor of biscuit.

Here's the updated (and final) recipe:

[extract]
6.0 lbs muntons plain light LME
1 lb muntons light DME

[steeping]
0.25 lb american briess crystal malt (20L)
0.25 lb american briess crystal malt (40L)
0.50 lb american briess carapils malt
2.0 oz american briess chocolate malt
2.0 oz american briess special roast malt
0.25 lb american briess light buscuit malt

[hops]
4 AAUs Willamette pellet hops (60 min)
2 AAUs Hood pellet hops (20 min)
2 AAUs Hood pellet hops (end)

[misc]
1 tsp irish moss

[yeast]
Fermentis Safale S-05 American Ale Yeast (dry)
(Similar to White Labs WLP001 and Wyeast 1056)

Hopefully, I'll get to brew tomorrow evening.. hell, I might even do it this evening if my youngest gets to sleep at a decent hour (no toddlers in brewing)

Thanks again for the feedback, and I'll report back to let you know how it turns out!

- Chris

I go along with Brett. Special roast will add a nice nutty character (but it won't be an amber even with it), but it will turn out great. Probably closer to a nut brown, but there's nothing wrong with that style either. I would have kept it the way you had it; sounded good with the initial recipe.

For the hops, I've been told by my LHBS that both Saaz and East Kent Goldings are going to be scarce. Maybe even Yakima in the 1# bags (stock up on bittering, seeing as you typically only need 1/2 oz Yakima/batch).

Thanks, I'm certainly planing on going in with a buddy to get 4 lbs of whole leaf hops (2 lb for bittering, 2 for aroma) and vacuum/freezing them. I made some game time decisions on the brew, and added 1/4 cup of molasses, and moved up the hops schedule for the first Hood addition to 30 minutes to help with bittering, since there seemed to be a ton of fermentables in the wort. Everything is looking good so far, vigorous fermentation, and a wonderful aroma coming from the fermenter. Thanks for all the advice. Will update when finished!

So the brew is dark, somewhere in the brown ale area, and smoooth. I had a taste yesterday, and it's got a wonderful mellow flavor, but with a good kick. The molasses is still noticeable, but it's nice. Bottling in a couple days, then 3 weeks to bottle condition and carbonate. Very happy, so far