Amber Ale - % of dark grains in recipe

I am planning to brew an Amber ale this weekend. The recipe i came up with is:

63% - 7lb Pilsner
27% - 3lb Maris Otter
6.6% - .75lb Crystal 40
1.4% - 2.5oz Pale Chocolate - 200L
1.4% - 2.5oz Brown Malt - 65L
.5% - 1oz Chocolate malt - 350L

.5oz Magnum - 60 Min
.75oz Cascade - 10 min
.25oz Cascade - 0 min

WLP001

10SRM
4.9%ABV
24IBU

So my question is will ~3.4% of roasted malt be very noticeable? I want a very very slight hint of roast but it to be a smooth easy drinking amber that any BMC drinker would consider trying. Not the same but something along the lines of Yuengling. I used the 1oz of regular chocolate malt to get the color of ~10SRM.

Thoughts?

6 oz of roasted malt does not seem excessive, but when I think of yuengling I think corn rather than Marris Otter.

In an amber, I'd probably take out the brown malt and use more crystal malt. I've used up to 15% crystal malt in American ambers (also called American reds) with great results, but I"m not so sure about the brown malt.

I love brown malt in porters, and even in some English browns, but it's got this very "dry" finish to it that comes also from roasted malt. It's basically a "light" version of roasted barley.

I think with the chocolate, the pale chocolate, and the brown malt that this beer is much more like a porter than an American amber. It would be lighter colored than a typical brown porter, but it would have a lot of the flavor and finish of a porter, from looking at that recipe.

If you replace the brown malt with crystal, and even consider raising the crystal to 12%, it would be more like an American amber.

I agree with you on second thought.

What if i keep the pale chocolate the same amount, but drop the brown malt and chocolate malt?

Replace them with crystal 120 or special B?

7lb Pilsner
3lb Maris Otter
.75lb Crystal 40
2.5oz Pale Chocolate - 200L
4oz Crystal 120

Yooper said:

If you replace the brown malt with crystal, and even consider raising the crystal to 12%, it would be more like an American amber.

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I personally like a blend of crystal malt from 10,40,80srm in ambers it a nice complexity of sweet candy, carmel, toffee delicious.

Yooper said:

I think with the chocolate, the pale chocolate, and the brown malt that this beer is much more like a porter than an American amber. It would be lighter colored than a typical brown porter, but it would have a lot of the flavor and finish of a porter, from looking at that recipe.

If you replace the brown malt with crystal, and even consider raising the crystal to 12%, it would be more like an American amber.

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Do you think it would taste like a porter even at those small amounts? It's about 6oz roasted grain in a 11 lb grain bill.

I don't want a sweet American amber. I want a very slight roast character, that's easy to drink.

Look up i beleive south and north english brown ale, I think thats more of what your lookin for.

chuckstout said:

Look up i beleive south and north english brown ale, I think thats more of what your lookin for.

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I'm not really looking for a brown ale. I've made both of those styles before.

Im looking for an amber ale, one with the slightest hint of roast but very subdued.

You could also Try about 4-5oz of amber malt, I think it works wonderfully in an amber ale and helps balance the crystal sweetness , its smoother than the darker roasted males IMO but can be easy to overdo it though

I wouldn't think you'd have too much of a dominating flavor with the roasted malts you've got in those amounts

Mpavlik22 said:

I'm not really looking for a brown ale. I've made both of those styles before.

Im looking for an amber ale, one with the slightest hint of roast but very subdued.

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It just seems like if you go to the light side of the style and then bump up the C40 or C60 it might get you what your looking for. With the extra caramel/toffee giving way to the slight roastness your trying to acheive.