Amber Trinity; 3-grain amber ale experiment

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: WLP#028
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Original Gravity: 1.051 SG
Final Gravity: 1.013 SG
IBU: 32
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: 14 SRM
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): ~2 weeks @ 68F
Additional Fermentation: Condition in bottle
Tasting Notes: Aiming for spicy and malty with some hoppy backgroud

------------------Grain Bill----------------------
5.00 lb American Munich
1.00 lb Crystal 40L
1.00 lb American wheat
1.00 lb Rye malt
1.00 lb Flaked wheat
1.00 lb Flaked rye

----------------Hop Schedule------------------
Kent Golding 1.00 oz, 0 minutes
Perle 0.50 oz, 60 minutes
Perle 1.00 oz, 15 minutes

First Mash 5gal@148F for 60min
Second Mash 3gal@175 for 60min


I just wanted to get some feedback on this recipe that my friend and I thought up to help us use up some of the wheat/rye that we have excess of and figured this my be a good spicy/malty brew with a low ABV (compared to the BIG brews we normally drink).

Looks like a good session ale to me, just be ready with some rice hulls with all that wheat/rye.

Good to know we're not barking up the wrong tree with this

In re: rice hulls-should I toss those into my mash first or should I just mix them as I would with any other grain?

I do both, it’s nice to have some near the bottom and mixed into the rest of the grain. It also helps to scrape the top of the grain bed periodically as you sparge to ensure that protein doesn't buildup and block wort from passing through.

Thanks for the tip!

We got the batch brewed up today, with just one hitch: the MLT valve broke when I snagged my foot on the line (very cryface ). We decided that, in lieu of a sparge, we would add the 2.5 gallons to bring the pre-boil volume up to 6 with just plain water and an additional .5 lbs of honey to make up for the lost sugars. This might affect the final body of the beer, so we decided to drop the second addition of perle hops to flame-out with the goldings to lower the bitterness and boost the hoppy characters to compensate. We'll see how it turns out.

Anyway, it's in the fermenter now. OG is 1052ish, right around the calculated gravity. It has a lovely red tint, and a wonderfully spicy/floral bite. With luck this should turn out to be on track, with the next batch closer to what we had in mind for this beer.

Alright, update time!

SG is down at 1022 and I expect it's going to terminate around 1010-1012 because of the honey addition. It's still got that beautiful red hue, I have a feeling that it will retain some substantial body and the head should stick like super glue, as we hoped. The bitterness has thankfully backed way down, but it hasn't lost that spicy bit, or the hint of goldings from the first taste. Turning out decently.

For the next go-around we'll probably drop some of the flaked grains and up the malted wheat/rye, but we'll see when we get there.

Finally bottled this today, and it keeps a thick head, has a wonderful amber body, slight bitterness and a deep spicy/malty body. Next time, I think less munich and more 2-row pale is called for, along with replacing perle with a less bitter and more aromatic hop variety.

Still pretty darn good for my first ground-up recipe tho!