Amber Ale Recipe Critique

So due to much frustration with Northern Brewer and living an an area where the homebrew stores stock next to nothing (didn't even have munich) and many hours researching on the internet, this is what I came up with for an Amber Ale.

Please let me know if this will work. This is only my 2nd original recipe and the first one didn't turn out great. I know the color is a bit low for an Amber. I am limited to 12 lbs of Grain due to only having a 5 gal mash tun.

ALL GRAIN

OG - 1.056
IBU's - 35.0
Color - 11.9 SRM
Est ABV - 5.8

Malt Profile:
7.5 LBS Pale
2 LBS Victory
1 LB Vienna
.75 Caramal/Crystal 60
.25 Caramal/Crystal 20

Hops:
.50 oz Centennial (8.7) @ 60
.50 oz Centennial (8.7) @ 25
.50 oz Cascade (7.3) @ 25
.50 oz Cascade (7.3) @ 5
.50 oz Willamette (4.9) @ 0

Yeast:
California Ale - I just made the starter about 3 hours ago

That's too much victory malt. I'd cut that to no more than .75 pound, and even that is quite a lot.

In an amber, one of my favorite recipes has nearly 15% crystal malt so you could definitely increase that to get a really nice American amber. I like a mix of light and dark crystal like you have, but I'd really like to see a darker crystal in there instead of the 60L, like 80-90L. I like 40L and 80L in an amber, but that's probably just me. I'd go with more like a pound of 40L and .5 pound of 80L, or use the light crystal you have in a greater amount.

I'd move the 25 minute hops to 15 minutes, but otherwise I like the hopping.

I was thinking the same on the Crystal. I've never used Victory before so I didn't know how much I should add. If the LHBS had anything higher than 60L I would have bought that.

Thanks for the help.

Wouldn't 1.5 lbs be a bit much for the Caramal Crystal? I always thought you weren't supposed to used more than 1 lb for a grain bill of 12 lbs.

I just found .5 lb of Special B. I've had it since January, would that be a nice addition?

Ya got the idea, but heres what I use in my amber...

.75 lb C 80
1lb C 60
.75 lb Victory

I also added a little munich in the last batch, not kegged yet so I cant tell ya add or not..

I only add 2 hop additions on mine, cascade at FWH and another at 2min...Then dry hop an oz of cascade. Let us know how she turns out..

The LHBS didn't have 80 and Munich, so I got Vienna and Victory. I thought about FWH and still might do it. I will take Yooper's advice and move hop additions to 15 rather than 25

How's this look? I added Special B, lowered the Victory, and increased the Caramal/Crystal.

Malt Profile:
7.5 LBS Pale
.75 LBS Victory
1 LB Vienna (this is in place of the LHBS not having Munich)
1.00 Caramal/Crystal 60
.25 Caramal/Crystal 20
.25 Special B (this should increase the color)

I agree with Yoop on the victory, at the very least switch the amount with the Vienna. As I have stated in previous posts, Ambers aren't my favorite, so I won't go into the crystal, but I would fwh the entire ounce of cascade and move the 25 minute centennial to 15, I would also go with a full ounce of Willamette, but keep it at fo

histo320 said:

Wouldn't 1.5 lbs be a bit much for the Caramal Crystal? I always thought you weren't supposed to used more than 1 lb for a grain bill of 12 lbs.

I just found .5 lb of Special B. I've had it since January, would that be a nice addition?

Click to expand...

Well, sure, for some beer styles 1.5 lbs of crystal would be too much. But not for an American amber, where up to 15% of the grainbill can be crystal malt. Some styles should have no crystal at all, while others should have enough to really be tasted- it depends on the style. I've never heard that you weren't supposed to use more than a pound in a 12 lb grainbill- that might be fine for an IPA but not for an amber, and certainly that's too much for a light lager.

Special B is very strong, and it would be very noticeable in an amber.

We have a nice write up of American amber (American red) in our wiki: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/American_Style_Amber/Red_Ale for more info, but one of the lines is: 10-15% of the grist should be comprised of crystal malt.

To address the limitation of malt variety... There are other quality websites for purchasing supplies besides Northern Brewer. Personally, I like Midwest Supplies as a secondary to my LHBS. I like that you support your LHBS, but it sounds like you feel trapped.

chrryghst said:

To address the limitation of malt variety... There are other quality websites for purchasing supplies besides Northern Brewer. Personally, I like Midwest Supplies as a secondary to my LHBS. I like that you support your LHBS, but it sounds like you feel trapped.

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I am trapped. I exclusively used Northern Brewer but this past week they didn't have the malt and backordered it without informing me. Unfortunately today is the last day I will be able to brew until December so I was in a bit of a time constraint.

I will probably be going to Midwest.

Thanks for all the help fellow HBTers. This is what I went with

9 lbs 2 Row
1 LB Caramal/Crystal 60
1 LB Vienna
.5 Caramal/Crystal 40
.5 Victory

Yes I know, its more of a Pale than a Hybrid. I was making this with the help of a future brewer and we decided to make sort of a hybrid between a APA and Amber Ale.

Hop Additions were:
1 oz Centennial at 60
.5 oz Citra at 15
.5 oz Cascade at 15
1 oz Willamette at FO

Samples tasted great and thank you for your input.

That looks real good, let us know when done

I will keep you guys posted.

What would you suggest for a dry hop?

I was thinking about mixing .5 oz of Cascade and Citra that I have left.

They are both good for dry hopping, Columbus is good as well, but as long as you have those already, may as well go for it. I'd only leave it in them for 3 days with this recipe

i like amarillo amd cascade as a dry hop in mine..