American Amber Ale House Amber (AG & Extract)

Made a variation of this on Saturday. I used cascade pellets for the boil, and a combo of cascade and amarillo whole leaf for the dry hop. I can't wait to enjoy!

I'm thinking about trying this recipe this weekend. I prefer to use LME instead of DME, how should I alter the recipe to reflect that change?

NWDuck said:

I'm thinking about trying this recipe this weekend. I prefer to use LME instead of DME, how should I alter the recipe to reflect that change?

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Enter the DME recipe into this and run the calculation by clicking the buttons.

http://www.recipator.com

Note the OG and IBU

Change the DME to LME and change p/p/g from 45 to 37

Upward adjust the lbs of LME to meet the original OG.

Check the IBUs to make sure they are close.

To get it 100% on the mark you might need to use both LME and DME or just change the brew volume. In cloning extract recipes I never use anything other than 100% of 3.3lb can then adjust the OG up with DME. Measuring out LME is PIA...

Do this and it will be a perfect match to the original.

Brewed this one on Saturday using 3 ounces of this years cascade hops. Only been off the vine a week now, 2 ounces at 60 min and 1 at flame out. Used some saf-05 yeast I had on hand and came in a little high on the OG but oh well, Thanks for sharing the recipe.

I just did a version of this over the weekend.

6lbs of Amber DME
0.5lbs of crystal 40
0.5lbs carapils
0.75oz cascade @60
0.5oz cascade @30
0.25oz amarillo @20
0.25oz amarillo @5
0.75oz cascade @flameout
S-05 yeast

Going to dry hop 1oz whole leaf cascade.

Should be good.

Just poured my first pint of this and the wife loves it, very well balanced and i love saying all the hops are home grown.

I brewed a variation of the extract version of this the day after Christmas. Using a mix of amber LME and DME, I brought the gravity to 1.055. I used C60 instead of C40, and hopped it to 33 IBUs.

Yesterday I transferred it to a secondary and took a sample. It was PHENOMINAL.

Malty, with just the right amount of caramel sweetness, along with the perfect amount of hop flavor and bitterness. I haven't even carbed it up yet, and I already know this is going to be a beer that I brew over and over. Next time I might add 1-1.5 ounces of roasted barley to turn it into a red.

I have not done this one for awhile. I think it's time to establish this a house main stay.

Glad to hear your beer is coming along well.

Schlenkerla said:

I have not done this one for awhile. I think it's time to establish this a house main stay.

Glad to hear your beer is coming along well.

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I've been playing around with some of my own recipes for a while. Some are really good, others not so much. But all the while I've had my eye on several recipes on this site during that time. I recently started trying a few of them, and finally got to this one. I wish I would have tried this sooner. Great recipe! Nice job!

Just made this today. Had to use Sorachi Ace for bittering and Cascade at flame-out. Should be just as good!

A few days ago I kegged the extract version that I brewed, and force carbonated it. I took a taste last night. It is fantastic!

A quick question for Schlenkerla, or anyone else who may know: is there a major difference between the extract and AG version?

CrookedTail said:

A few days ago I kegged the extract version that I brewed, and force carbonated it. I took a taste last night. It is fantastic!

A quick question for Schlenkerla, or anyone else who may know: is there a major difference between the extract and AG version?

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They are pretty close. I have always played with hops so its never 100% the same. Not mention I use some homegrown hops for this most of time.

Schlenkerla said:

They are pretty close. I have always played with hops so its never 100% the same. Not mention I use some homegrown hops for this most of time.

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Thanks. I do the same thing when I brew. Always tinkering.

I primarily do mashes, but I like to keep some really good extract recipes handy in case I'm pressed for time. I'll definitely keep this one because it's excellent, but I want to try the mash version.

By the way I used Amarillo hops in the batch that I brewed. If you haven't tried using them in this recipe, you should as soon as possible!

I'll be brewing this in the coming weeks as an amber option for my wedding rehearsal dinner. Gonna probably go for the 25IBU, to make a more crowd-friendly beer.

I might have some vienna laying around already, so if I can't get my hands on some munich, I might have to sub it out.

Also have a pound of cascade pellets I've been looking to use. Thanks!

Wanted to brew this next and I have only light Munich on hand. Any issue with that? I was thinking off lowering the c40 a bit and using some darker crystal to correct for color. I also have some aromatic malt and wondered if that would help give it some good malty aroma/flavor

Here's what I'm thinking for a recipe. Anyone tell me if anything looks out of place?

7 lbs 2 row
2 lbs Light Munich
1 lb crystal 40
0.75 lbs crystal 60
0.5 lbs carapils
0.25 lbs aromatic malt

Mash at 156

1.25 oz cascade at 60
1.00 oz cascade at 10
1.00 oz cascade at flameout

Yeast: wyeast 1056 with 1L starter (on a stir plate)

Sound good?

Also, I think I'm going to add 1 oz of chocolate malt for color

gcdowd said:

Wanted to brew this next and I have only light Munich on hand. Any issue with that? I was thinking off lowering the c40 a bit and using some darker crystal to correct for color. I also have some aromatic malt and wondered if that would help give it some good malty aroma/flavor

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gcdowd said:

Here's what I'm thinking for a recipe. Anyone tell me if anything looks out of place?

7 lbs 2 row
2 lbs Light Munich
1 lb crystal 40
0.75 lbs crystal 60
0.5 lbs carapils
0.25 lbs aromatic malt

Mash at 156

1.25 oz cascade at 60
1.00 oz cascade at 10
1.00 oz cascade at flameout

Yeast: wyeast 1056 with 1L starter (on a stir plate)

Sound good?

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gcdowd said:

Also, I think I'm going to add 1 oz of chocolate malt for color

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I saw this the other day, I want to give you an answer but I've been drinking.... ..... Let me think about it and back to you. OK?

Schlenkerla said:

I saw this the other day, I want to give you an answer but I've been drinking.... ..... Let me think about it and back to you. OK?

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No problem, and to throw another wrench in it, I only have 3.5 lbs of 2 row left so I was going to use that plus 3.5 lbs of golden promise. I gotta get some more base malt!

gcdowd said:

Here's what I'm thinking for a recipe. Anyone tell me if anything looks out of place?

7 lbs 2 row
2 lbs Light Munich
1 lb crystal 40
0.75 lbs crystal 60
0.5 lbs carapils
0.25 lbs aromatic malt

Mash at 156

1.25 oz cascade at 60
1.00 oz cascade at 10
1.00 oz cascade at flameout

Yeast: wyeast 1056 with 1L starter (on a stir plate)

Sound good?

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I'd go with this, as the grain bill is very similar to my original version.

Hey thanks for your input. I'm gonna brew it this weekend. I'll let you know how it turns out

So I brewed this yesterday and fermentation is going well. What's the turn around time on this? My OG was 1.057. I have a large pipeline going so waiting is no big deal

Without looking what's been posted on the the recipe, six weeks would be pretty standard. Three for fermentation and three for carbonation.

Obviously, four weeks is quite doable. The carbonation starts to mellow after a few weeks. I'm assuming that you keg. If you don't I'd stick with six weeks on bottling.

Ok thanks. Yes, I keg but like I said, it could be a few months until I get to it.

With that kind of delay drinking it, you should be rather pleased when you pull your first sample.

Brewed the AG (BIAB) version of this almost exactly, except for a few variations in the Cascade boiling times. Just took a taste-test last night after two weeks in primary, and WOW! That'll do. PERFECT balance, great Cascade nose, beautiful color. I can't wait to bottle this bad boy.

Any recommendations on corn sugar amounts for bottling this one? Put about 5 oz for 5 gal in the bottling bucket for my last batch (Irish Red, O.G. 1.039) and it was a little too bubbly. I definitely don't want to over-carbonate this one.

Schlenkerla said:

With that kind of delay drinking it, you should be rather pleased when you pull your first sample.

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Btw I tapped this about 2 weeks ago and it's nearly gone. Very delicious!

gcdowd said:

Btw I tapped this about 2 weeks ago and it's nearly gone. Very delicious!

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That's why I called it the house Amber...I should always have some on tap or ready to go.

Brewed the extract version of this recipe last weekend, I'm excited to see how it turns out! I brew a lot of hard cider but this is the first beer that I've brewed in quite a while.

Have you heard of people getting high initial SGs with this recipe? I followed the recipe as written, but ended up with an initial SG of 1.080. From what I've read it seems like most people start in the 1.055 - 1.060 range. Also, does it make much of a difference whether you dry-hop with pellet or whole hops? The brew store where I bought my hops only had pellet hops, so this is what I'm using. I'm thinking that I may have to rack it to secondary to clear some of the pellet mush thats developed. It's looking like I may be end up with a very strong, slightly cloudy brew. Thanks for the recipe!

jackstraw0083 said:

Brewed the extract version of this recipe last weekend, I'm excited to see how it turns out! I brew a lot of hard cider but this is the first beer that I've brewed in quite a while.

Have you heard of people getting high initial SGs with this recipe? I followed the recipe as written, but ended up with an initial SG of 1.080. From what I've read it seems like most people start in the 1.055 - 1.060 range. Also, does it make much of a difference whether you dry-hop with pellet or whole hops? The brew store where I bought my hops only had pellet hops, so this is what I'm using. I'm thinking that I may have to rack it to secondary to clear some of the pellet mush thats developed. It's looking like I may be end up with a very strong, slightly cloudy brew. Thanks for the recipe!

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The higher gravity can be due to mash efficiency. Factors like quality of grind, temperature, water-grist ratio, water pH, and sparging practices.

Take no offense, the amount you are off seems to be a mistake. My recipe has an assumed 75% efficiency. Were you really much more efficient? If it's a mistake could it be a difference of actual vs planned grain bill weight, or gravity measurement. Did you comp for the temp during the gravity check.

What do you think?

As pellet vs whole leaf. There is not much difference in regards to taste. Pellets tend to drop into the secondary, but not all. Whole leaf tends to float due to air pockets in the leaves. Your yield will be lower with whole leaf due to absorption. Pellets leave debris in your secondary which can affect racking. Whole leaves can clog a racking cane.

Either way take your time racking to your bottling bucket or keg. Don't be greedy and try for every last drop. It will just cause anguish over sediment or a clogged cane.

Cheers

Schlenkerla said:

The higher gravity can be due to mash efficiency. Factors like quality of grind, temperature, water-grist ratio, water pH, and sparging practices.

Take no offense, the amount you are off seems to be a mistake. My recipe has an assumed 75% efficiency. Were you really much more efficient? If it's a mistake could it be a difference of actual vs planned grain bill weight, or gravity measurement. Did you comp for the temp during the gravity check.

What do you think?

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I think he brewed the extract version. In that case, my guess is poor mix of wort and top off water.

gcdowd said:

I think he brewed the extract version. In that case, my guess is poor mix of wort and top off water.

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Right, I was thinking LME DME subbing but it is too high for this. You are probably right.

Thanks for the responses. And yes, I did brew the extract version. A bad mix of wort/water was what I would have thought too, except that I started the boil with the recommended volume, added the recommended top-off water volume, and had the final volume at what I was looking for. Who knows. I'll post how it turns out though, it smells great so far.

jackstraw0083 said:

Thanks for the responses. And yes, I did brew the extract version. A bad mix of wort/water was what I would have thought too, except that I started the boil with the recommended volume, added the recommended top-off water volume, and had the final volume at what I was looking for. Who knows. I'll post how it turns out though, it smells great so far.

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By "a bad mix of wort/water" they aren't talking about the total amounts, but that the water and wort weren't mixed together very well. Water and wort can be quite hard to mix together from what I've been reading, and are pretty much the only reason you'll have a OG that's off the recipe if you brew extract (unless you screw up the volumes obviously).

It won't matter in the end though, it'll all get mixed properly during fermentation.

As far as this recipe goes, I'll think I'll be lining it up for a brew in a month or so. I saw that you'd recommended 3 weeks primary fermentation for the extract recipe... I was just wondering what the optimal bottling time is, in your opinion (I read through a few pages in the thread, but not all of them, sorry if it was mentioned somewhere already). I'll be making this for a party, so I want to make sure it's aged enough in the bottle. I've got plenty of time though, so I'll be able to age it nicely... but since it'll be the first time a lot of people will be sampling my beer, I want to make sure it's as good as it can be . I'm assuming at least three weeks, but let me know if I should aim for 5-6 or even longer, or shorter(?). As I said, I've got the time, I just want to make sure I start it on time.

I normally ferment for six weeks then bottle. Then give four weeks for carbonation. That is temp dependent. Assume about 68F, lower longer, higher shorter. Temps should be for an ale about 65 to 75F during the summer as a general rule of thumb.

Thanks for the quick reply Schlenkerla, that timeline works out perfectly as I can squeeze in another batch before starting that one in about 4 weeks, I'll let you know how it turns out when all is said and done .

I was wondering how this would hold up to hop-bursting. Maybe add all of the hops in the final 15 minutes.

Something like this:

Fermentables
6lbs Amber DME (50% @ start, 50% @ flameout)
.5lbs Crystal 40L
.5lbs Carapils

Hops
2oz 6% AAU Cascades @ 15 min
2oz 6% AAU Cascades @ 5 min

Yeast
Nottingham

That comes out to just under 34 IBUs, and would probably have big time hop flavor. What do you guys think?

Not sure. How does the ibu turn out with that short of a hop schedule?

My guess is its short of the ibu target.

Run the calculation on some brewing software and find out for yourself.

You can use this if you don't have software.

http://hbd.org/recipator/

Schlenkerla said:

Not sure. How does the ibu turn out with that short of a hop schedule?

My guess is its short of the ibu target.

Run the calculation on some brewing software and find out for yourself.

You can use this if you don't have software.

http://hbd.org/recipator/

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With late extract additions, my recipe calculator says the bitterness will be a hair under 34 IBUs.

CrookedTail said:

With late extract additions, my recipe calculator says the bitterness will be a hair under 34 IBUs.

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Sounds like a go. Do it man!

Then let us know your results.