Recipe Suggestion Wanted

Hello folks, so I made the following recipe and it's sitting in primary now. I was looking and I seem to almost have enough ingredients for another batch. Only thing I am missing is the 2 lb of Amber dry malt extract. I'm thinking to pickup another type of dry malt extract, just experiement a little, but not really sure what would go well with this recipe (and how much).


3-4 lb. Pale malt extract syrup, unhopped
2 lb. Amber dry malt extract
12 AAU of bittering hops (any variety) For example, 1 oz. of 12% AA Nugget, or 1.5 oz. of 8% AA Perle
5 AAU of finishing hops (Cascade or other) For example, 1 oz. of 5% Cascade or 1.25 oz. of 4% Liberty

Yields about 5 gallons

Suggestions welcome

If you have access to it, some munich extract would work well and add a nice malty flavour.

bradsul said:

If you have access to it, some munich extract would work well and add a nice malty flavour.

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How much? Just replace the amber with munich, so 2lbs?

Sounds tasty to me, I'd drink it!

It'll be very different from the original recipe but it will be really nice regardless.

What bout light DME and then steep some crystal?

Hoosierbrewer said:

What bout light DME and then steep some crystal?

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Keep in mind this'll be my second batch ever, so trying to keep it simple (and only change 1 ingredient).

DuffmanAK said:

Keep in mind this'll be my second batch ever, so trying to keep it simple (and only change 1 ingredient).

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Instead of buying the amber extract, get yourself another 1 or 2 lbs. of light extract, 1# of crystal 40 (crushed), and a steeping bag. Steeping is quite easy to do (no harder than making tea) and once you do it you'll be glad you did. I've never made an extract batch without steeping grains.

Ahhh ok, so crystal is a type of hops?

DuffmanAK said:

Ahhh ok, so crystal is a type of hops?

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Well, there are Crystal hops, but I was referring to Crystal Malt (sometimes also called Caramel Malt). You would get the Crytal Malt from your homebrew supply shop and have them crush it.

Crystal malt comes in a variety of colors & flavors (from very light to very dark) and it adds a great deal of flavor, aroma, and color to brews. It is one of the most commonly used character grains, especially in extract brews.

This is a description of the different types of malts:
http://www.howtobrew.com/section2/chapter12-1.html

This is a nice description of the steeping process:
http://www.howtobrew.com/section2/chapter13.html

Ahhh ok, I'll check my LHBS. Sadly, though my LHBS is basically a few shelves in the back of a nice liquor store with some supplies on it. Not an overly grand selection.

One other question. If I was to use crystal malt, how much would I use in this recipe? Steep 2lbs of it?

DuffmanAK said:

One other question. If I was to use crystal malt, how much would I use in this recipe? Steep 2lbs of it?

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1# is good. Its enough to give nice color and flavor without being overwhelming.

Steep about 1lb in a fine mesh (muslin) bag in a gallon of water at 155ish for about 30-45 minutes, then add that to the water to make the brew and go like last time. Or pour it through a kitchen strainer instead of the bag, just make sure you don't boil any of the grains.