Very 1st Recipe: Amarillo Amber, need feedback

Hey all. So, I'm thinking about batch #3. I like Amarillo hops and I'd like to do an Amber. After looking at some Ambers/Fat Tire clones, I came up with this guy.

Beer Profile
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Estimated OG 1.059
Estimated FG 1.015
Estimated IBU 38
Estimated ABV 5.7 %
Estimated SRM 17


6.00 lbs Light Dry Malt Extract
.5 lbs American Crystal 20L
.5 lbs American Crystal 40L
.5 lbs Belgian Caravienne
.5 lbs Belgian Biscuit
.5 lbs Belgian Special B

1 oz Amarillo (60 min)
.5 oz Amarillo (15 min)
.25 oz Amarillo (5 min)
.25 oz Amarillo (1 min)

Will steep specialty grains for 30 minutes at 160 F.

thoughts?

I would cut some of the crystal malts down some, you have 2 lbs there. Maybe pick 2 of them to cut to 1/4lb. Personally, I would up your 1 minute addition to at least 1/2oz. But thats just me.

If ditching specialty grains (and wanting to go after the Fat Tire clone), probably keep the Biscuit. I'm not positive, but I think they use Biscuit. I'd also suggest cutting back on the kinds of grain if only for the sole purpose of learning what the different ones do.

Keep the Biscuit, but cut any two of the other four. That's way too much crystal malt (Caravienne and Special B are just very specific crystal malts).

Makes sense. I started with a Fat Tire clone for this, including the grain bill, then went forward with adjustments. But what I really want is something malty, hoppy, and that utilizes Amarillo hops.

Many of the amber recipes I see include equal amounts of the 20L and 40L crystal malt. Is there any reason behind this?

I'd also like to include some Special B, since I have a good amount of it from my last brew, but I'm thinking I'll cut this down significantly. I'll be taking out Caravienne; I haven't used it and it's one variable too many for where I'm at right now.

Thanks for the feedback!

enderwig said:

I would cut some of the crystal malts down some, you have 2 lbs there. Maybe pick 2 of them to cut to 1/4lb. Personally, I would up your 1 minute addition to at least 1/2oz. But thats just me.

Click to expand...

He could also move that 60 minute addition all to First Wort Hop and still get all that bittering and add some aroma to the mix.

Cut the Caravienne entirely and cut the Special B back to no more than 4 oz. The Caravienne is really too much and Special B is pretty potent stuff.

Agreed that increasing the late hops additions won't harm anything, especially at flameout.

Bob

Thanks, ya'll. I'm itching to do my own recipe - well, hell, I really want to drink an Amber with Amarillo hops - but I don't think I'm quite there with this one. I'm going to simplify the specialty grains and hop schedule and come back in a few.

Maybe try
.5lbs 20L
.25lbs 40L
.25lbs Special B
.5lbs biscuit

half a pound of biscuit in a 5 gallon batch will make it quite malty and delicious. Like the others have said, if you want it hoppy you should increase one the additions in the last 5 minutes, or maybe both. I'd probably go .5oz at 5 minutes and 1 minute. Just my opinion. Good luck with the brew.

Okay, I've given this some more thought and totally reworked this recipe. I'd like to showcase the grapefruity aroma of the Amarillo with a smooth finish. I removed the Biscuit, will try that clone again as fall nears, and decided to go for a red color for summertime.

I radically adjusted the grain bill from some other suggestions I found online on getting a nice red color (Special B and CaraMunich).

Now then:
6.00 lbs Extra Light Dry Malt Extract 84.2%
.5 lbs Belgian CaraMunich 7%
.5 lbs Crystal 20L 7%
2 oz Special B 1.8%

.5 oz Amarillo (60 min)
.5 oz Amarillo (15 min)
1 oz Amarillo (5 min)
1 oz Amarillo (1 min)
1 oz Amarillo (dry hop)

OG 1.056
FG 1.014
IBU 36
ABV 5.4 %
SRM 11

May your patience be with me. How's this looking?

That is looking extra tasty! Definitely keep the biscuit malt in mind for a future brew.

This almost feels like a pale ale to me, but the line between the two styles is so fine. I do very much like the revised hop schedule, though. Looks yummy!

yeah, even teh hop schedule is more like a pale than an amber - they tend to be a bit more balanced between malt and hops and with all that amarillo at the end of the boil + the dry-hop it's going to be hoppy. no worry though, it will be delicious.

I recently made my own version of an Amarillo Amber (dubbed mine 'Amberillo') and it's currently resting for a third week in primary in my basement, soon to be crash cooled and bottled. I used a little over a pound of various crystal malts and a touch of pale chocolate malt (vs. your special B) and I nailed the color I was looking for...I FWH'd some Amarillo and used smaller amounts at the end of the boil, plus I won't dry hop this one, but my objective here was to craft a balanced amber, rather than a hoppy amber. the hop schedule you have there is what i might put together for an APA....looks good either way and it would be fun to compare mine and yours sometime if you get er brewed up.

oh, and I love amarillo!

Thanks everyone! So, I'm not trying to cross TOO far into pale ale territory here. I just love me some Amarillo. I was hoping that by bittering with only .5 oz hops it would provide more balance. Does that make sense?

Although, really, my biggest goals are good flavor and red color.

Thanks for the feedback!

Oh and can I FWH as an extract brewer?

The line between APA and AAA is rather fine. If you're interested enough to read my writeup on AAA, check the HBT Wiki.

Bob

If I upped the 1/2 lb of Crystal to 40L or 60L, would that give more malt balance while preserving the color? That would be in addition to the 1/2 lb of CaraMunich.

I just did an American Amber and I also wanted it hoppy. My grain bill was:
15 lbs pale 2row
1 lbs 40L Crystal
.5 lbs 80l Crystal
1 lbs munich
.25 lbs black patent

This was 10 gallons. The munich malt really brought some sweetness to it to balance the 40 IBU I went with. I used black Patent for a color adjustment and hit 13.5, or so, for my color. Munich malt needs to be mashed and it will not necessarily raise your final gravity but still brings a strong malty flavor. It is less overwhelming than the biscuit you had been considering. You might look into munich malt in the place of an additional amount of crystal. This is your beer and you should do what YOU want but this is another idea.

Take your 1 minute addition and add it after flameout when the wort is at 180F or so. Make sure it's in there for at least 20 minutes as the wort cools. The aroma will crush a 1 minute addition.

Thanks. I'm going to stick to steeping for now - I don't want to move to partial mash until I understand the specialty grains & nuances of hopping.

Speaking of which - what is the benefit of adding them while the wort is cooling vs. flameout vs. the last minute or two of the boil?

I brewed this yesterday. Changed the malt to:

6 lbs Dry Malt Extract
.5 lbs Caramel - 80L
.5 lbs Caramunich
.13 lbs Special B

Hops:
.5 oz Amarillo (60 min)
.5 oz Amarillo (15 min)
1 oz Amarillo (5 min)
1 oz Amarillo (after flameout, when wort got to 180F)
1 oz Amarillo (dry hop)

Nottingham yeast. Pitched it in the high 70s but I've gotten it down to about 69 in the last 24 hours and it's still cooling.

Expected OG: 1.054
Expected FG: 1.013


I can't wait until it's done - I will say, I screwed up my beersmith calculations due to the partial boil. IBUs will be lower than expected at 26. I hope the hop aroma/flavor is strong enough.

Thanks for all the feedback!

7.5 weeks later, I'm on my 5th bottle of the stuff. It's just hitting its stride!

The aroma has a nice citrusy blast, but the flavor has a bit more balance. The grapefruit juiciness is undeniably there. 4 weeks conditioning and a few days in the fridge have done wonders for smoothing out the upfront hoppiness and the underlying body into delicious balance - one with a decided hop bias.