How about an Amber Ale recipe?

Anyone out there have a good recipe for an Amber Ale? I'm looking for a nice light beer (no, I'm not talking bud here...). For the most part, I'm a big fan of Pilsners, but I'm not quite ready to lager so I'm looking for the closest thing in an ale. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

A pale ale would be a lot closer to a light lager than an amber ale (which can be anywhere from light-ish to red to almost brown).

Here is the Amber Ale that I just recently did. Nice beer, great color, excellent head retension.

5.5 lbs Light Dry Malt
3/4 lbs Vienna Malt
1/3 lb Crystal 80L
2 tsp. Gypsum
3/4 oz tettnang (60 minute boil)
1 1/2 oz Tettnang (Last 10 Minutes)
1/2 oz (end of boil)
Wyeast 1056

O.G.: 1.051 - 1.056
F.G.: 1.010 - 1.015

I'm thinking that I ended up using Cascade Hops for this recipe, but regardless, I think that it turned out pretty good. Next time I think that I'll try to hop it up a bit more, but I will make this Amber Ale again.

Wouldn't a kolsch work well for what you describe. I've never done one, but I think that it matches the description you provide.

A really easy Amber recipe is just your base malt plus:
1 lb crystal (40L-75L) depending on the color you're aiming for
1 oz Northern Brewer (60)
.5 oz Cascade (15)
.5 oz Cascade (5)

Lil' Sparky said:

A really easy Amber recipe is just your base malt plus:
1 lb crystal (40L-75L) depending on the color you're aiming for
1 oz Northern Brewer (60)
.5 oz Cascade (15)
.5 oz Cascade (5)

Click to expand...

Could not have said it better myself. Almost exactly what I posted on a request for an extract version. If you a looking for a German flavor, brew a Pils with a clean ale yeast. This can be nothing more than 8lbs of German Pils malt and multiple additions of Saaz hops. Pils is a standard brew of mine using Pils malt and 5% wheat malt. I will change up my hops, some noble some not, just depends on my mood.

Since I had to edit my post due to spelling I will add a comment to the recipe. If brewing a Pils using an ale yeast, I would to make sure to add the 5% wheat or dextrine malt. From my readings, Pils get their classic head from extended cold conditioning and body from decoction mashing. If making an ale using a single infusion, I would be inclined to add something to help fill that void.

Sweet, thanks guys... I think I'll go with a Pale Ale for my next one and see how that goes... BTW, my wife is not big on the very bitter pale ales, would I just reduce the amount of bittering hopps or would I reduce the amount of time in the boil to make it less bitter?

dude your at ground zero for an sf lager yeast! When i lived in sf id make cali commons all the time, either make a kolsh type beer, or a common type.

its basically just a pale ale using northern brewer hops, and the sf lager yeast @ 55-65 degrees.

theres many ways to reduce the percieved bitterness: use less hops, use low alpha acid types for bittering, increase the crystal, boil for less. (i wouldnt boil for less, i think its easier to control amount then time...)

Like Bjorn said, there's several ways to change the hop/bitterness profile.

Not all pale ales are really bitter. I don't really care for IPAs, but I do like "hoppy" beer that isn't bitter. The last pale ale I made had 1 oz of Cascade for 60 mins + 1 oz at 10 mins. It's got a good hoppy flavor, but not too bitter.

Here's my Forbidden Ale recipe:

5gal recipe
50min boil
Est. SG: 1.063
FG: 1.012
ABV: 6.7%

6# Light LME
3# Amber LME

Hop Schedule (IBU's: 18):
2/3oz Willamett at 50min
2/3oz Willamett at 15min
2/3oz Willamett at end of boil steeped 5min

Yeast: Wyeast 3463 Forbidden Fruit

I fermented at 64deg. to reduce ester's from the yeast profile, yet get some sweet aromas.