American Amber Ale Caramel Amber Ale

I brewed this back in Nov. and loved it so much I had to brew it again! However, I decided to up the grain and hop bill. I up'd the hop bill the first time thinking my packs of hops I bought was only 1oz bags, turns out they were 2oz bags. So here is what my recipe turned out to be and I'm brewing it (10 gal batch).
Amount Item Type % or IBU
15.63 lb 2 Row (3.0 SRM) Grain 69.84 %
4.75 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 21.22 %
2.00 oz Chinook [13.00 %] (60 min) Hops 42.7 IBU
2.00 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (0 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -
2.00 oz Chinook [13.00 %] (0 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -
2.00 lb Candi Sugar, Amber (75.0 SRM) Sugar 8.94 %
2 Pkgs Safale American (DCL Yeast #US-05) Yeast-Ale

Brewed this up yesterday with a few changes...

7.5# 2-Row
1# C60

Other than that it's 1.050 5G happily bubbling away in tue firm at 64°.


Gonna be hard to wait a whole month!

I did a 2.5 gallon batch of this yesterday.
I halved the grain bill but maintained A WHOLE POUND OF 45* CANDI SYRUP.

Yes, I'm crazy like that.

Just checking in to say I didn't brew this today.

Actually, I asked my mother in law to bring me a bunch of ingredients when she came from Colombia this past December, one of which was panela (aka piloncillo) - basically an unrefined and packed cane sugar. I've been looking and looking for something to put this stuff in, and this was the recipe that I used to do it. Everything stayed the same as the original, except I had to sub the Chinook for Simcoe.

I try to only buy hops by the pound to save money, and I had Simcoe on hand, and I think even OP said that would be the closest.

Technically, not the same beer, but this is what I used as inspiration, and it seems pretty similar.

Ok so I brewed this as per the recipe, waited a month on primary then a week on secondary. I bottled it the other day, but the sample I tasted seemed sour? This is only my fourth brew and all my others have come out just fine. Can someone tell me is it supposed to be this way? Will it get better after bottle conditioning? Any feedback will be greatly appreciated!

Ok so I really really want to brew this up. According to what I have seen, this beer is sure perfection and I like that. Ok so here is my deal, I have been in this long time search for a Carmely goodness that I can make all the time, and then come the holidays, spice It up and even add pumpkin to make a holiday brew. I feel like this has the perfect structure to do that. What is your thoughts?

Bmorebrew said:

Just checking in to say I didn't brew this today.

Actually, I asked my mother in law to bring me a bunch of ingredients when she came from Colombia this past December, one of which was panela (aka piloncillo) - basically an unrefined and packed cane sugar. I've been looking and looking for something to put this stuff in, and this was the recipe that I used to do it. Everything stayed the same as the original, except I had to sub the Chinook for Simcoe.

I try to only buy hops by the pound to save money, and I had Simcoe on hand, and I think even OP said that would be the closest.

Technically, not the same beer, but this is what I used as inspiration, and it seems pretty similar.

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Your avatar sucks. I thought I was drunker than I am

Finished brewing this beer on this gorgeous day in MD! Thanks for the recipe!

Hey everyone. Im new to all grain and hoping to make this my first go at it. What size batch is the ingredient list for? Also, where do you get your strike water temp, volume, and sparge water temp and pre-boil volume? Is everyone using software to get this info? Did not see it in the recipe. Thanks in advance for any help.

The original post says it is a 5.5 gallon batch but often that means that is how much they fermented to come to a 5 gal. finished product (after losing volume to trub and you will never get every ounce of liquid and keep it clear).
I get my water temps and such from the recipe or from my brewing software. I love my beer smith program because I like to adjust my IBU’s, color and final gravity from the original recipes I find on here (or ones I throw together from knowing what hops make what aroma’s and yeasts, etc). I wish I’d had this program years ago!
Bit of advice from my first brew that I had fails on… use a small plate or something to run the strike water onto your grains so you don’t disturb the grain filter and make sure you have more water then you HAVE TO HAVE so your not tempted to press your grains for that lost wort held prisoner within the grains LOL. Hope this helped, happy brewing!

Thanks hmmm beer. I downloaded beer smith last night and haven't had much time to play around with it yet, but looks pretty sweet at first glance. I built a 10 gallon MT with SS false bottom and a pex sparge arm in the top for fly sparging. Looking forward to trying it out!

Gonna brew this one in the next few weeks. I bought ingredients for a stout for my BF, but he hasn't been in a stout mood. So, I was left behind with 6 lbs MO, 2 lbs flaked barley, 1 lb roasted barley, a lb of willamette hops and a tube of san diego super yeast witha bestby date of April 4th! Well I am content to sit on ingredients, I won't let $7 of yeast go to waste, so in searching, this seems like the perfect recipe. I was going to create a new style, and call it the yankee pub brown ale... And make it like a English brown, but with American yeast and dry hopping. But a lot of my experiments go wrong, and the promise of caramel got to me. So, today I made the syrup. I actually made a 270 & a 290. They looked great, but after pouring into the jar to store for a bit, the whole thing turned solid. KB, do you have any solutions on that? Did I do anything wrong? They both taste great. Before I had decided on this recipe, I had bought 2 lbs more of MO and only 1lb crystal 80... So I also stewed up my own crystal malt tonight from 1 lb of MO. I have no idea of the degree, there was quite a bit of variation in the grain, so I'd average a guess at 100 L. After it mellows for a few days, I will compare it to the 80L and see where it is. If close I'll use it for the other 1/2 lb, but if not and it's higher, maybe 1/4 lb. I was also thinking of blending the 2 syrups... Anyone have any thoughts on that?
So at this point my recipe looks like this:
7 # Maris otter
1 # crystal 80
1/2 # homemade crystal 100?
1 # candi syrup (3/4 lb 290 & 1/4 lb 270)
1 oz chinook hops 11.3% AA (3/4 oz 60 min, 1/4 oz 0 min)
1 oz willamette hops (I have a lb, may dry hop with this too)
WLP 090 San Diego Super Yeast

Do you think this recipe will turn out good with the minor substitutions...MO, homemade crystal, and scaling back to about 30 IBUs?

p.s. I plan on making granola with the extra flaked barley. I'll let the roasted barley chill in my brew warehouse that is getting kinda full!

I don't see any problem with those subs. That should be a good beer, and it will be cool to try your homemade crystal malt in it. I don't know why the syrup would have seized up. Maybe it didn't fully invert for some reason? And you added water at the end to bring the temp down to 240, right?

Yep. The syrup was amazing looking going into the jar. Dead on for color, great taste. I'll have to do a little research, and see if I can't figure out what went wrong. I have plenty of stuff to make more, so I might try to see if I can liquify it.

Edit: I stirred the pot... And maybe boiled off too long. I think I'll experiment with heating the syrup up slowly, then carefully add a bit more water... Might help. If not, $1.25 lost.

Has anyone tried this with the hard amber candi?

mcbethenstein said:

Yep. The syrup was amazing looking going into the jar. Dead on for color, great taste. I'll have to do a little research, and see if I can't figure out what went wrong. I have plenty of stuff to make more, so I might try to see if I can liquify it.

Edit: I stirred the pot... And maybe boiled off too long. I think I'll experiment with heating the syrup up slowly, then carefully add a bit more water... Might help. If not, $1.25 lost.

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I had the same problem. I added back some water and all was good.

Looks awesome. Question: how is the candi syrup different from a store bought version?

mlevings12 said:

Looks awesome. Question: how is the candi syrup different from a store bought version?

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way cheaper!

lschiavo said:

I had the same problem. I added back some water and all was good.

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I added a bit of water and heated it in the microwave. At 30 - 60 second intervals, and broke up the chunks. Brought it to boiling in the glass jar, then left it alone to cool in the counter. I added a bit too much water and it was thin like coffee syrup. After it sat in the fridge overnight it was the right thickness, like ice cream syrup.

I am intrigued by this recipe. My LHBS doesnt have Chinook hops though, can I sub Nugget? They dont have the DAP either so I'll need to check around for it. Very excited to try this beer.

Also I am still a noob at this: My LBHS has Rahr 2-row and Rahr Pale Ale malt. Which is the one I want to use?

mychalg9 said:

I am intrigued by this recipe. My LHBS doesnt have Chinook hops though, can I sub Nugget? They dont have the DAP either so I'll need to check around for it. Very excited to try this beer.

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mychalg9 said:

Also I am still a noob at this: My LBHS has Rahr 2-row and Rahr Pale Ale malt. Which is the one I want to use?

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I wouldn't use nugget but if it's all you can find then it will work. Simcoe, Centennial and Cascade would all be OK though. You should be able to get the chinook and DAP online pretty easily if you can't get it locally.

Either the 2-row or pale ale malt will work for this recipe. The 2-row will be a bit lighter with a touch less malt flavor and the pale ale malt will be slightly darker and have a bit more toasty, malty flavor. Use whichever sounds better to you.

KB: This beer is fantastic. Thanks for the recipe.
I did a 2.5 gallon batch halving your recipe (with a full pound of store-bought amber candi syrup because...well what else would i do with the leftover half pound?) and it turned out great.
My fifth batch of beer and head-and-shoulders above the rest.

Thanks!

My attempt.. Does the color look ok?

kapbrew13 said:

My attempt.. Does the color look ok?

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Looks about right to me

I just tried this beer. I think it's the best one I've brewed. Great balance, beautiful color and crystal clear. I think I've found my house ale. Thanks for sharing the recipe!

Mb2658 said:

Looks about right to me

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Agree, color looks good to me too. I've made about 20-30 gallons of this beer and I'll keep making it every time I get close to being out! AMAZING beer!

making a 3gal BIAB tonight!

Thanks!! Can't wait to try it.

OK I tasted my first bottles last week after only one week of conditioning and tried one today (two weeks' conditioning). Delicious! Great recipe,

So I tried to use beersmith to make this into a 10 gal recipe. I just got the program and am not sure I did it right. So I've posted what I got below, Just wanted to see if it looks right to you.
1.25 Chinook at 60min
1.75 Chinook
2oz Willamette
2lbs of the candi sugar
2.6 oz crystal 80l
13.5 lbs of two row

Can't wait to brew this. Thanks for your help.

Thedagem said:

So I tried to use beersmith to make this into a 10 gal recipe. I just got the program and am not sure I did it right. So I've posted what I got below, Just wanted to see if it looks right to you.
1.25 Chinook at 60min
1.75 Chinook
2oz Willamette
2lbs of the candi sugar
2.6 oz crystal 80l
13.5 lbs of two row

Can't wait to brew this. Thanks for your help.

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I'm guessing you mean 2.6 lbs of crystal 80, not 2.6 oz, right? Otherwise it looks close.

HA, yeah, that's exactly what I meant. It wouldn't be quite 2 pounds of candi sugar either, the original recipe is for 5.5 gallons. So I'm guessing it would be more like 1 pound 13 oz or so. Anything else you noticed that I should change?

Thedagem said:

HA, yeah, that's exactly what I meant. It wouldn't be quite 2 pounds of candi sugar either, the original recipe is for 5.5 gallons. So I'm guessing it would be more like 1 pound 13 oz or so. Anything else you noticed that I should change?

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I noticed the flameout addition ratio of chinook and willamette aren't 1:1 in your version. Shouldn't make a huge difference, though.

Yeah, I don't know why, but beersmith never makes the recipe 1:1 when you double it from 5 to 10 gallons. Should I just forgo what the program says and just double everything?

Thedagem said:

Yeah, I don't know why, but beersmith never makes the recipe 1:1 when you double it from 5 to 10 gallons. Should I just forgo what the program says and just double everything?

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Yeah, you'll probably come in over gravity and under bitter though. It's hard to say without knowing your methods. Do you aim for 10 gallons of finished beer, or 10 gallons in the fermenter, meaning that you really only have like 9 by the time it's ready to drink? If you aim for 10 gallons of finished beer, I'd say double the recipe and don't look back. The recipe is for 5.5 gallons so that I get about 5 gallons of beer in the keg.

Just bottled my second attempt at this, first with temp controls. This has been in the bottle for a week after two weeks in primary and even though it seems impossibly early, it might be the best beer I've brewed so far.

Lots of caramel and fruit in the nose and a nice balance of hops and malt, finishes clean, and a great house beer.

I'm having a hard time deciding whether or not to leave in the bottle for a little while longer.

Just made this over the weekend. I used 9 lbs of 2 row to up my numbers because I feel that my mash has a low efficiency. I ended up hitting 1.040 off the mash tun and 1.060 after cool down in the ferment bucket. The syrup was super easy to make. I have half a corny left of wee heavy and just filled my other with cream ale so this will have plenty of time to clear out.

I just opened up a bottle of this last night and it's the best beer I've ever brewed (only my 6th homebrew, so really it's not that much of an accolade, but still amazing). I upped the finishing hops, and increased the grain bill by a bit just to get a little bigger flavor and aroma and to also compensate for my inefficiency. King Brian, thank you!

BarronVonBrew said:

I just opened up a bottle of this last night and it's the best beer I've ever brewed (only my 6th homebrew, so really it's not that much of an accolade, but still amazing). I upped the finishing hops, and increased the grain bill by a bit just to get a little bigger flavor and aroma and to also compensate for my inefficiency. King Brian, thank you!

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You're quite welcome!