American Amber Ale Fat Sam Amber Ale

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Yooper

Ale's What Cures You!
Staff member
Admin
Mod
HBT Supporter
Joined
Jun 4, 2006
Messages
75,110
Reaction score
13,259
Location
UP/Snowbird in Florida
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
1056
Yeast Starter
Yes!
Batch Size (Gallons)
5
Original Gravity
1.057
Final Gravity
1.010
Boiling Time (Minutes)
60
IBU
40
Color
11.9
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
14 at 62
Tasting Notes
Yum! Maybe not a true American Amber- it\'s very balanced with malt and hops.
This beer came about from a mistake. I wanted to make a Fat Tire clone, but AHS was out of Munich malt, and the hops I wanted. So, I subbed the malt, and then subbed the hops. The result was a beer that tastes like a cross between Fat Tire and Sam Adams Boston Ale. It's easy to drink, and most people love it. Hence the title- "Fat Sam".

The beersmith file is attached for those who have Beersmith. View attachment FatSam.bsm

The recipe is:

10 pounds pale malt (I used maris otter)
1 pound biscuit malt
1 pound crystal 60L

1 ounce centennial (to get you to 28-29 IBUs) 60 minutes
I used an ounce of 7.7 and .25 ounce of 8.5% AAUs
1 ounce Liberty (4.5%) 30 minutes
1 ounce crystal (3.3%) 2 minutes

Clean, well attenuating ale yeast. I've used Pacific ale yeast, WLP001, and Wyeast 1056, as well as Nottingham with good results.
 
Trying to use beersmith to convert this to extract with steeping grains.

Any idea what to do with the biscuit malt?
Just steep it anyway?

Thanks this looks like a good recipe
 
After a little over two weeks on gas, I just pulled my first pint of this last night. This is probably the best beer I've made to date. Great malt flavor, plenty of bitterness, with a pretty good hop nose. Definitely one I'll do again!

The only thing I changed was I used Cascade for the second two hop additions, and WLP001 for the yeast.

Thanks for all you do on this board, all the great advice you've given me, and the great recipes. You, Revvy, EdWort (to name only a few) have helped me improve my beer far past I would have ever gotten on my own.

Thanks!
 
Thanks for all you do on this board, all the great advice you've given me, and the great recipes. You, Revvy, EdWort (to name only a few) have helped me improve my beer far past I would have ever gotten on my own.

Thanks!

Thank you for the kind words. I'm glad the beer turned out so well for you!
 
Yooper, I'm going to brew this this weekend. What mash temp and time do you recommend? I have a bunch of local New Mexico grown cascade hops. They seem to have a slightly higher AAU than store bought cascade. How do think they will do in this recipe. I used them in an Irish Red and the flavor and bitterness made it out of style but it was a great tasting beer anyway.
 
Yooper, I'm going to brew this this weekend. What mash temp and time do you recommend? I have a bunch of local New Mexico grown cascade hops. They seem to have a slightly higher AAU than store bought cascade. How do think they will do in this recipe. I used them in an Irish Red and the flavor and bitterness made it out of style but it was a great tasting beer anyway.

I mashed it at 153 or 154, I believe. I don't know about the cascades. I LOVE cascade, but this recipe isn't citrusy with the hops I chose, so it'd be a big difference. I think the malt bill will work fine with it, but it won't be anything like the recipes I've done.
 
I mashed it at 153 or 154, I believe. I don't know about the cascades. I LOVE cascade, but this recipe isn't citrusy with the hops I chose, so it'd be a big difference. I think the malt bill will work fine with it, but it won't be anything like the recipes I've done.

I got ingredients for 10 gallons. I am going to split it to 2 five gallon batches. One will use the hops recommended here although they did not have Crystal so we subbed Mt. Hood. The other 5 gallons will be with the local DeSmet Farms Cascades. Should be interesting to taste the difference.
 
Well Air, how'd it turn out???

I just tried one of each this weekend. They still need some more time to carb up a little more and there isn't much head yet. But they both taste really good. I don't have a great palate and have difficulty decerning between different hop tastes but you can taste a difference. The local hops are a little hoppier and more bitter. You can tell the difference. The local hops are grown in a town called Bosque Farms, NM. (BTW, the Spanish pronouciation is "Bows-kay" and it means the forest of trees along a river). The farm is just oustide the bosque along the Rio Grande. I will name the new recipe Bosque Amber.:mug:
 
Just placed an ingredient order for this recipe. Midwest was out of stock on the liberty, so I substituted Mt. Hood. I'm using Caramel 60L instead of Crystal 60L since that's what I have on hand. Also, i'm pitching this onto a 1056 yeast cake from a previous batch. I'll post back in a month or so :D
 
This beer is great! For me it starts like Sam Adams... crisp with the hops and all that. But it finishes with that roasty/biscuit-y taste that Fat Tire has.

Great all around. Probably will put this in my usual rotation.

Thanks Yooper!
 
Well I just spent $55 to make this my second brew. It's gonna be extract, so look over and make sure it's ok. Hopefully it wil be great so I can brew tomorrow or else I'll have to wait till next week. Just steep the malts for 30?

6.6 lbs muntons light malt extract
1 lb Carmel malt 60L
1 lb biscuit malt 22L

1 ounce centennial 9.9%
1 ounce liberty. 4.3%
1 ounce crystal. 4.3%

Dry yeast safale us-05
 
Srceenplay,

Looks good to me.

I'm sitting here drinking one of these as I type. Brewing a 10gal version Monday. Along with my Pale Ale, it's become one of the house brews.

Great beer. One of my favorite recipes, along with BierMuncher's Centennial Blonde.

Scott
 
Entered this into a homebrew comp. I was very surprised I scored a gold in the amber ale catagory. 4th place over all best of show. I'll will post score sheet when I get it.
 
My score sheet.

image-2423606077.jpg
 
As Yooper says, this is a great everyday drinker. My first batch of this has been on tap about 2 weeks and is excellent. This will definitely enter the rotation! Thanks for the great recipe!
 
Just made this yesterday as my 1st AG batch. Looking forward to tasting this.

O.G - 1.060

I used Safale US-05, but otherwise stuck to the recipe.
 
I was at my friend Mike's funeral yesterday. His daughter (who I haven't seen since she left for college about 3 years ago) told me that her dad was always talking about my Fat Sam beer. He loved it, more than any other beer. He had told me that before, but I didn't realize that he actually went around telling others about how much he enjoyed this particular brew.

Today I'm brewing a batch, so I decided to make it Fat Sam as a tribute to Mike.

Mike always brought a ton of crappies to our annual Memorial Day fish fry, so the plan is to drink this at the Memorial Day get-together and lift our glasses to Mike.
 
Just brewed this yesterday as my first all grain brew and my first brew that wasn't a kit. So what should I use and how much for sugar when it's time to bottle? I made the 5 gallon batch.
 
Just brewed this yesterday as my first all grain brew and my first brew that wasn't a kit. So what should I use and how much for sugar when it's time to bottle? I made the 5 gallon batch.

I use .75- 1 ounce priming sugar per gallon, so usually 4-5 ounces (by weight) of corn sugar.
 
Hello,

Made this beer 6 weeks ago.
It is really really good.

Apparently folks dont like Sam Adams or Fat Tire otherwise this recipe would get more attention :)
It is also resembles Negra Modelo.

I followed the recipe except I used a some Crystal and Willamette for the final hops, for a total of 37.4.
I also used Pacman yeast. (and will be using it again for sure)

This beer is great with food and easy to drink any time.

thanks again Yooper for a great recipe !

7512465522_53f477e68f_c.jpg



thanks again Kevin
 
I made this a few weeks ago with some homegrown cascade hops from the garden. Just bottled it today and it tastes great! A simple recipe that creates a great beer.
 
I'm thinking I might brew this up with Crisp Amber Malt in place of the Biscuit, and perhaps some homegrown centennials added at flameout for some added hops aroma (which I enjoy in my ambers). S-04 in the low 60s (controlled) as well. Really looking forward to something with a bready note and a touch of hops bite. I know it'll be a bit different than Yooper's original recipe--mostly if I add the centennials--but I bet it'll be a tasty variant. Fingers crossed, anyway!
 
I was at my friend Mike's funeral yesterday. His daughter (who I haven't seen since she left for college about 3 years ago) told me that her dad was always talking about my Fat Sam beer. He loved it, more than any other beer. He had told me that before, but I didn't realize that he actually went around telling others about how much he enjoyed this particular brew.

Today I'm brewing a batch, so I decided to make it Fat Sam as a tribute to Mike.

Mike always brought a ton of crappies to our annual Memorial Day fish fry, so the plan is to drink this at the Memorial Day get-together and lift our glasses to Mike.

It was a good beer, and Bob really enjoyed it. We drank several toasts to Mike, and we enjoyed the beer.

That said, I've "retired" this beer, and will never make it again. It was such a melancholy feeling, drinking Mike's all-time favorite beer without him.

Here's one last picture (I've posted it before) of me and Mike drinking this beer. It's particularly unflattering for me, but Mike and I were having a great time:
DSCF0050.jpg
 
Sorry about your friend.. I went to a memorial service for a great friend today.. he was a teetotaler.. but, same feelings....

I keep apologizing for my lack of knowledge in AG and especially BrewSmith :).. Help me understand the different volumes in the BS recipe data.

Batch Size in the Fermenter: 5.5G
Boil Size: 6 G
End of Boil Vol: 5.34

So far so good.....

Final bottling: 5.5G.. more than the 5.34G

Is this due to a topping up? Did you plan on bottling 5.5G and ended up with less and had to bring it up or ??????

Thanks again for the education...

Bill
 
Sorry about your friend.. I went to a memorial service for a great friend today.. he was a teetotaler.. but, same feelings....

I keep apologizing for my lack of knowledge in AG and especially BrewSmith :).. Help me understand the different volumes in the BS recipe data.

Batch Size in the Fermenter: 5.5G
Boil Size: 6 G
End of Boil Vol: 5.34

So far so good.....

Final bottling: 5.5G.. more than the 5.34G

Is this due to a topping up? Did you plan on bottling 5.5G and ended up with less and had to bring it up or ??????

Thanks again for the education...

Bill

Ha, no it's not topped up or anything. I guess my volumes were wonky, but I generally just ignore that anyway. I look at the amount in the fermenter that is clear beer, and just plan on my priming sugar for that amount. Usually, I start with 5.25-5.5 gallons in the fermenter and just package the clear beer that is left- usually right at 5 gallons.
 
Yooper said:
I used an ounce of 7.7 and .25 ounce of 8.5%
I am sorry to hear you retired this beer, but if you don't mind, I do have a question about the above-mentioned addition. Was this centennial or another hop, and when was the addition? I will brew this this weekend. The hop pellets I bought are higher AAU, but that's ok by me! Thanks, and I am sorry for your loss.
 
Wow. Plus one for quick response!! Thanks for all of your help, even the help you have given and don't realize! Been reading your posts for a bit, good to finally have a reason to ask ya something!
 
Yooper, sorry to read about the loss of your close friend.

I was curious to know if using Nottingham yeast instead of US-05 would be OK for this recipe. I have not made it before and I am out of US-05 until my next mail order but have plenty of washed Notty from my last brew session.
 
Back
Top