Amber Ale recipe

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lyacovett

lyacovett

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I am thinking about brewing something along the lines of an Amber Ale. I came up with the recipe below. Does this look like a decent recipe? Not sure if this would be considered an Amber Ale or not, but I'm pretty sure it falls within the guidelines for one.

What do you think?


A ProMash Recipe Report

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (Gal): 5.50 Wort Size (Gal): 5.50
Total Grain (Lbs): 9.63
Anticipated OG: 1.047 Plato: 11.72
Anticipated SRM: 12.1
Anticipated IBU: 37.8
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75 %
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes


Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
57.1 5.50 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row) America 1.036 2
20.8 2.00 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row) Great Britain 1.038 3
10.4 1.00 lbs. Vienna Malt America 1.035 4
5.2 0.50 lbs. Victory Malt America 1.034 25
5.2 0.50 lbs. Crystal 80L 1.033 80
1.3 0.13 lbs. Chocolate Malt America 1.029 350

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.25 oz. Columbus Pellet 15.00 16.8 60 min.
0.25 oz. Centennial Pellet 10.50 11.8 60 min.
0.50 oz. Centennial Pellet 10.50 6.3 15 min.
0.50 oz. Willamette Pellet 5.00 3.0 15 min.


Yeast
-----
S-05
 
I would sub the Vienna with a couple pounds of munich which should help ramp up your OG to 1.055-1.060. You also need more crystal. Ambers are heavy on the crystal malts. Don't be scared to use them I use 1.25-2.0 pounds in mine. Usually a mix of 2 different lovibonds, one lower, one higher. Hops look great, I like em about 40 where you have them (all about balance) but don't be afraid to throw in some aroma hops at flame out. Good luck. If you want an easy recipe that is damn near fail proof, try Jamils Evil Twin- it is an easy and tasty amber to whip up and is similar to yours. You can modify the hops how you wish.
 
I'll second bumping up the crystal. I'd shoot for 10-12% of the grain bill.
 
OK, this is what I came up with. I kept the OG reasonable, as I have been getting pretty good efficiency lately, and I'd prefer to keep this under 1.060.

Would you mash this at 152?

Amber

A ProMash Recipe Report

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (Gal): 5.50 Wort Size (Gal): 5.50
Total Grain (Lbs): 11.00
Anticipated OG: 1.054 Plato: 13.38
Anticipated SRM: 13.4
Anticipated IBU: 37.0
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75 %
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
50.0 5.50 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row) America 1.036 2
18.2 2.00 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row) Great Britain 1.038 3
13.6 1.50 lbs. Munich Malt Great Britain 1.037 6
9.1 1.00 lbs. Crystal 90L America 1.033 90
9.1 1.00 lbs. Crystal 20L America 1.035 20

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.25 oz. Columbus Pellet 15.00 16.4 60 min.
0.25 oz. Centennial Pellet 10.50 11.5 60 min.
0.50 oz. Centennial Pellet 10.50 6.1 15 min.
0.50 oz. Willamette Pellet 5.00 2.9 15 min.


Yeast
-----
S-05
 
You went from 5% to 18% for the crystal, think that's too much. I also would have kept the chocolate, 1-2% like you had it.
 
Agreed. Try 1 lbs Crystal 20 and a half pound Crystal 90L. That should get you close. Also agreed on the chocolate, a little is nice in the amber. Then adjust your base malt or the munich malt to give you 1.055 or so like you had it. This will be tasty.

Question: Why are you using both the base malts? (MO and US 2-row), one or the other is fine- I don't know if you are just using it up or what?
 
jlpred55 said:
You also need more crystal. Ambers are heavy on the crystal malts. Don't be scared to use them I use 1.25-2.0 pounds in mine. Usually a mix of 2 different lovibonds, one lower, one higher.
Click to expand...

This is what I decided to do. Maybe I will increase the 60 min Centennial a bit to adjust for the sweetness??
 
No, I prefer the taste and aroma of MO, but I was trying to use American Ingredients on this one, but I bent some for the MO.
 
lyacovett said:
No, I prefer the taste and aroma of MO, but I was trying to use American Ingredients on this one, but I bent some for the MO.
Click to expand...

OK. Either is fine, if you prefer the MO use it as all your base malt...no issue with that.
 
Dig the Wiki article on American Amber Ale.

Given the guidelines therein, I suggest you make the following changes:

Omit the UK malt. AAA is not necessarily a malt-forward beer; it is definitely a Crystal malt-forward beer. There's a difference. Munich, Vienna and Victory will all contribute to a different maltiness than Crystal malts. I'm not saying it's going to be bad; I'm saying it'll be removed from where one expects AAA to be. American Amber Ale is American from the ingredients used. The crackery, bready notes of MO are not appropriate for the style.

Use a broad spectrum of Crystal malts. Remember darker Crystal malts will contribute substantially more flavor and color than lighter; too much 90L will easily overwhelm 40L. I suggest no more than 10-15% of the grist be Crystal malts. In your recipe, I'd use a pound of 20L and a half-pound maxmimum of 80-90L.

If you use Munich, try not to exceed 5% of the grist. Omit Victory entirely.

Hops must be distinctively American varieties. Willamette, unfortunately,* is not one of those varieties. As Willamette is a Fuggles cultivar, and is a good substitute for Fuggles, it is not distinctive enough. Choose instead one of the American varieties which give that distinctive, American citrus flavor/aroma.

S-05 is the perfect yeast.

Have fun! It's gonna be a good beer no matter what you do!

Bob
 
NQ3X said:
Dig the Wiki article on American Amber Ale.

Given the guidelines therein, I suggest you make the following changes:

Omit the UK malt. AAA is not necessarily a malt-forward beer; it is definitely a Crystal malt-forward beer. There's a difference. Munich, Vienna and Victory will all contribute to a different maltiness than Crystal malts. I'm not saying it's going to be bad; I'm saying it'll be removed from where one expects AAA to be. American Amber Ale is American from the ingredients used. The crackery, bready notes of MO are not appropriate for the style.

Use a broad spectrum of Crystal malts. Remember darker Crystal malts will contribute substantially more flavor and color than lighter; too much 90L will easily overwhelm 40L. I suggest no more than 10-15% of the grist be Crystal malts. In your recipe, I'd use a pound of 20L and a half-pound maxmimum of 80-90L.

If you use Munich, try not to exceed 5% of the grist. Omit Victory entirely.

Hops must be distinctively American varieties. Willamette, unfortunately,* is not one of those varieties. As Willamette is a Fuggles cultivar, and is a good substitute for Fuggles, it is not distinctive enough. Choose instead one of the American varieties which give that distinctive, American citrus flavor/aroma.

S-05 is the perfect yeast.

Have fun! It's gonna be a good beer no matter what you do!

Bob
Click to expand...

This is no fun Bob. I am crying into my beer. Anyone made an amber with just 2-row and crystal in those amounts? I have, yuck!!! I personally love Victory in my Amber and so does Jamil.
 
Well, I am OK with not calling this an American Amber Ale .... or even an "Amber" for that matter. I was leaning towards an Amber ... but whatever. I already have the ingredients I listed ... didn't wait long enough for a reply. So I am going for the 2 lbs of crystal with the MO and munich. I really like the Williamette as well. I love the British hops.

From what I am gathering ... this recipe is part American Amber and part bitter ... or is there a better classification for this brew?
 
It is a hybrid amber but it is closer to an american amber than anything. In america our brewing is a hybrid that was passed on by the different brewing cultures of immigrants. So we can pick and choose and completely bastardize styles!

I also like williamette- I use it a bunch as a compliment to cascade or centennial- it seems to bring out the nature of those other hops even more. Should be good recipe, heavy on the crystal for me, but with enough hops etc you might not notice it when it is fresh.With age the crystal will make itself known. Good luck.
 
jlpred55 said:
This is no fun Bob. I am crying into my beer. Anyone made an amber with just 2-row and crystal in those amounts? I have, yuck!!! I personally love Victory in my Amber and so does Jamil.
Click to expand...

Hey, to each his own, man. You don't care for it and that's fine. Thousands of fans of such beers as Mendocino's Red Tail Ale and other famous benchmark Ambers might disagree, but it's your right as a brewer to go swim against the tide if it makes you happy.

God forbid we should gainsay Jamil! :rolleyes: I like Victory, too. I don't like it in Amber; it's too toasty-malty, and I don't find it appropriate for the style. I save it for Brown Ale and the odd Pale Ale. If you like it, use it.

Lyacovett -

Don't worry about style overmuch. Styles primarily help drinkers, not brewers. Styles are an easy shorthand as to what I might expect in the bottle. If I'm told I'm drinking an Amber Ale and it tastes like a Brown Ale or Bock from all the malt, I get confused - no matter how good it is, the beer won't taste like a good Brown Ale or Bock; it'll taste like a poor example of Amber Ale.

Styles also help brewers. It's wise to "dial in" one's skills trying to epitomize a certain style. If you can brew a Dry Irish Stout just as good as Guinness using Guinness's ingredients list, you're on to something. You can't go too far afield with ingredients in this pursuit or it won't turn out right.

See what I mean?

Cheers! :mug:
 

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