New Amber Ale?

3.00 lb Extra Light Dry Extract
2.00 lb Amber Dry Extract
2.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L
0.50 lb Honey Malt
0.25 lb Amber Malt
0.25 lb Munich Malt - 10L
1.00 oz Cascade Hops (60 min)
0.50 oz Crystal Hops (5 min)
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (10 min)

Steep grains for 30 min. Add malt extract.
Boil Cascade Hops for 60 min adding Irish Moss at 10min left and Crystal Hops at 5min left.
Cool to 80F and Pitch Yeast.

I was just playing around with BeerSmith today... I'm wanting to branch out from just extract kits...

This is what i've come up with to try to make an Amber Ale... I tried to move toward using more grains than normally come in a Kit... But i'm also not sure if there is a limit to the amount of grains I can steep like doing an extract kit...

Let me know what ya'll think...

do you know the AA's of your hops, I might switch them around

I moved this to recipes, since the database is only for proven recipes and this is a "work in progress".

That's a lot of crystal malt. I never use more than about a pound or so in most recipes. The amber extract probably has some crystal, too, and with the honey malt, I think that beer would be cloyingly sweet.

You can steep as much as you can fit in your grain bag/brewpot, so that's the only limit on the amount of grain.

Don't forget that some grains, like Munich malt, must be mashed (it should have an exclamation point next to it in Beersmith), which can easily be done with those grains simply by using 1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain, and kept at 153 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour.

I forgot I hadn't switched that...
BeerSmith gave me 5.5% for the cascade and 3.5% for the crystal...
But if it will work I think I might use Glacier Hops 7.4%... (I have some laying around from last brew)

.75 oz Glacier 7.4% for 60 min
.25 oz Glacier 7.4% for 5 min

Those numbers gave me a bump up to 16.6 IBUs

that is not hoppy enough fo me,

1 oz glacier 60 min
.5 cascade 30 min
.5 cascade 15 min
.5 crystal 5 min

Is what I would do

Thanks for the quick replies guys...
I'm sorry i didn't quite know where to put a work in progress... But thanks for the switch...
I adjusted the recipe a little based on the things you've said... Upped the Amber DME and lowered the Crystal and eliminated the Munich. Also changed the hops based on previous post...
Let me know what you think of this...

3.00 lb Amber Dry Extract
3.00 lb Extra Light Dry Extract
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L
0.50 lb Honey Malt (25.0 SRM)
0.25 lb Amber Malt (22.0 SRM)
0.75 oz Glacier [7.40 %] (60 min) Hops 14.1 IBU
0.25 oz Glacier [7.40 %] (10 min) Hops 1.7 IBU
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min)
1 Pkgs Nottingham Yeast

This now gives me a OG of 1.054 and a FG of 1.013. The new hops give it a 15.8 IBU, and the New color profile is 12 SRM.

Since you have Beersmith, take a look at the style guidelines for an American Amber. You can look at the guidelines right in your recipe view. Ambers are balanced, but still with plenty of hops to balance the malt. 25-40 IBUs is the standard. (http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style10.html#1b Like an American pale ale with more body, more caramel richness, and a balance more towards malt than hops (although hop rates can be significant). Known simply as Red Ales in some regions, these beers were popularized in the hop-loving Northern California and the Pacific Northwest areas before spreading nationwide.)

I think you've got it underhopped, and too much caramel and honey malt (I know, I already said that- sorry!).

A good amber is like a malty pale ale. Not sweet, but not overly hoppy either.

YooperBrew said:

A good amber is like a malty pale ale. Not sweet, but not overly hoppy either.

Click to expand...

Yooper you are making me thirsty, well back to the tapper....

you guys have helped so much...
I reworked the numbers again (BeerSmith is awesome!!)

3.00 lb Amber Dry Extract
3.00 lb Light Dry Extract
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L
0.25 lb Amber Malt
0.25 lb Honey Malt
1.00 oz Glacier [7.40 %] (60 min) Hops 18.9 IBU
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (10 min) Hops 2.6 IBU
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min)
1 Pkgs Nottingham Yeast

OG and FG still the same... 21.5 IBU now with the added cascade hops... and color of 12.7 SRM...
I am leaning a little more toward the malty side cutting down on the hops a little bit...
BeerSmith has the little thing next to the Amber Malt and Honey Malt for mashing...
I gotta go look up mashing a little bit more... But why wouldn't they be able to just be steeped like the other grain?

those grains need to be convered (starch to sugar) you need to mash not steep, they are different. you can steep crystals and other grains because all they offer is body/color/taste and very little fermentables. check it out, what you will be doing is a partial mash

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/easy-partial-mash-brewing-pics-75231/

you may need to go buy supplies

okay so whats the difference between steeping and mashing...
When i steep my grain i put them in a grain bag at 155F for 30 min..
The only thing i can tell different between what i do and what he is telling me to do is the sparging... Does the "tea-bagging" in the fresh hot water do that much?
Thanks for dealing with my noobish questions...

YooperBrew said:

I think you've got it underhopped, and too much caramel and honey malt (I know, I already said that- sorry!).

A good amber is like a malty pale ale. Not sweet, but not overly hoppy either.

Click to expand...

Yoop (et al),

Have a look at my HBT Wiki article on AAA. The salient point I'm trying to make is that Crystal makes it AAA. Not "malty", like Munich or Biscuit or decoction, but Crystal.

"Add some 80L crystal to Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and you not only have a different beer, but a different style of beer." (emphasis mine)

Me, I'd advise subbing Light for the Amber extract and adding a half-pound of 80L Crystal to the 40L. 10-15% of the grist should be Crystal malts, depending on the hops schedule; less hops, less Crystal. Use American ingredients, not European, because this is a distinctly American style; Cascades or some other easily-discernible citrusy hops are pretty much required, IMO.

Honey malt, I agree - I don't like it in this style. Best to keep it simple - Pale/Light malt/extract, a couple different degrees of Crystal malt, maybe a touch of roasted barley for color only, some "C" hops, and S-05 or some other American Ale yeast. Call it a day.

Bob

This is my all grain AMber Im brewing this weekend:

10# 2 row
1.25 60L Crystal
.5 40L Crystal
.5# Munich
.5 Chinook 60min
.5 CHinook 20 min
.5 Cascade and Cenntennial 10 min
.5 Cascade and Cenntenial 0 min

This is about 44 IBU..14 SRM

Clean ale yeast 153 Mash temp..

It will fit more of a west coast Amber ale becasue it is on the hi end of IBU and late hops but that is what I wanted..not sure for extract but for all grain u want your crystal malt between 10 and 15% grist..bit of Munich will help but you want your malt sweetness from the crystal but dont over do it.

hope this helps/

J

4.00 lb Amber Dry Extract (12.5 SRM) Dry Extract 57.14 %
2.00 lb Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 28.57 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 7.14 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 7.14 %
0.75 oz Glacier [7.40 %] (60 min) Hops 14.3 IBU
0.25 oz Glacier [7.40 %] (30 min) Hops 3.7 IBU
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (10 min) Hops 2.6 IBU

Beer Profile:
Est Original Gravity: 1.053 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.014 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.16 %
Bitterness: 20.5 IBU
Est Color: 14.4 SRM

Ya'll's input has been awesome... This is what i have come up with now.
First can anyone shed some light on my earlier question about the way i steep my grains vs. mashing...
Second... do ya'll think i should ease off of the Amber DME and use more of the light DME because i'm using the crystal grains?
I know that you guys said to aim for 15% of the recipe and someone said that the Amber DME probably has some crystal in it...
Anyway... thanks again for all the input!!
This is going to be an amazing beer when its all said and done...