Almaden House Amber

Ambers are my favorite style and I've been working on a standard house version. I think I've finally got it. I threw a little party over the weekend with bottles of all my favorite commercial beers plus three homebrews on tap. This was the most popular of all by far.

It's got a nice rich caramel flavor, a little toffee and is just malty enough. The hops balance the sweetness perfectly. If I do any tweaking next time, I may bump the Munich up a notch just to see what happens.

My efficiency was not great with this batch, but the flavors are awesome.

OOPS! - yeast is US-05.

Almaden House Amber
American Amber Ale


Type: All Grain
Date: 10/11/2008
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Brewer: Quicksilver Home Brewery
Boil Size: 7.00 gal
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: Brew Pot (7.5 gal) and Cooler (50 qt)
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.40


Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
8 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 71.11 %
1 lbs Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 8.89 %
1 lbs Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 8.89 %
12.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 6.67 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 4.44 %
0.50 oz Centennial [8.80 %] (60 min) (First Wort Hop) Hops 17.5 IBU
0.25 oz Centennial [8.80 %] (20 min) Hops 4.8 IBU
0.25 oz Amarillo Gold [6.75 %] (20 min) Hops 3.7 IBU
0.25 oz Centennial [8.80 %] (15 min) Hops 3.9 IBU
0.25 oz Amarillo Gold [6.75 %] (15 min) Hops 3.0 IBU
0.25 oz Amarillo Gold [6.75 %] (10 min) Hops 2.2 IBU
0.10 oz Amarillo Gold [6.75 %] (3 min) Hops 0.3 IBU
1.00 tsp Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs Safale (Fermentis #US-56) Yeast-Ale



Beer Profile

Measured Original Gravity: 1.052 SG
Measured Final Gravity: 1.016 SG
Actual Alcohol by Vol: 4.69 %
Bitterness: 35.5 IBU Calories: 233 cal/pint
Est Color: 14.7 SRM Color:

Looking for a good house amber All Grain recipe. I'm gonna give this a try next week. Looking forward to it. Just one quick question. Only done a few All Grain batches so far. Is there a point in have crystal 60 and crystal 120 in a recipe? Wouldn't just keeping it simpler by only using Crystal 90 be pretty much the same?

Do not make the mistake of only looking at the color the grain provides. Each crystal has a distinct flavor. You cannot replace white chocolate and dark chocolate with milk chocolate; it would not taste the same.