Critique my first recipe

Just brewed my first batch with a kit from the local BYO. Now I'm going to start working on that "perfect" amber I've been threatening to get into brewing for

Using beersmith at 5gal batch, going to knock it down to a 1gal tester batch.

6# Light dry extract
.75# crystal 40
.75# crystal 60
1oz liberty(Mt hood?) at 60 mins
1oz cascade aroma at 15mins left
Nottingham danstar 11oz dry yeast

IBU's 24.8
esitmated color 13.4

I'm not looking for alot of complexities yet, just a basic amber to build on. Looking for not too bitter, not too sweet, with citrus and floral tastes/aroma. Also, I'm not that concerned about staying in style. Once I get what I like, then I'll worry what style it really is

The hops are still confusing me a bit, and the liberty might be in the wrong place for a bittering hop. The cascade should give me citrus/floral flavor and aroma correct?

What do you all think?

That doesn't look like too bad of a start.

The 1.5lbs of crystal is probably too much. I think you want to stay under 15% otherwise it will be too much caramel. Also think about using a small amount of crystal 120 (~2oz.) to give it a little complexity and color. If it were me, I would probably take out the C40 and replace it with 2oz. of C120.

Here's a website I use when I'm wondering what a type of hop will add to my beer:
http://www.brew365.com/index.php
When you get to the site, click on the hops tab. As far as the Liberty/Mt. Hood goes, I would probably substitute that for an equal IBU amount of Horizon. It's clean, citruisy, and floral. That's just me though.

I think you should add about 0.5-1oz. of cascade or centennial (or any other American citriusy hop) at the end of the boil. The 15 minute addition will give you mainly flavor and not so much aroma. The hop addition at the end of the boil will add a good amount of aroma, a little bit of flavor and very little bitterness.

Let us know how it goes.

Hmmm... The reason I went with Crystal 40 and 60 was for the (apparent) caramel and toffee flavors. Some 120 might be interesting tho. I've heard 15-20% crystals overall. So maybe something like this, which is about 16% of the total for crystal malt.

6# Light dry extract
.5# crystal 40
.5# crystal 60
.13 crystal 120
1oz (Undecided) at 60 mins
1oz cascade aroma at 15mins left
1oz cascade at flameout
Nottingham danstar 11oz dry yeast

IBU's 24.9
esitmated color 12.7

Horizon hops (according to beersmith) have a 12% alpha, which is way higher than Libery/Mt hood which are 4-6%. I like the flavor/aroma profile of the Horizon, just not sure I want that much alpha. So what would I do, maybe halve the Horizon hops for a bit less bitterness? (just re-read that, ok an equal ibu amount). So just lower the oz to equal the ibu I want correct?

I'd also thought about some Amarillo as bittering hops, which should be 5-11% alpha. Thoughts?

beginner question...why Light DME rather than Amber DME?

Yoda said:

beginner question...why Light DME rather than Amber DME?

Click to expand...

From what I understand, using light (also called pale) DME, you have more control over what goes into your brew. Amber DME has some level of Crystal something in it. Not always easy to figure out what it is and how much.

I think Amarillo would be fine. I haven't used them, but heard lots of good things about them.

About the crystal, I was doing some searching on here and your original recipe might be OK. It's just a matter of preference. I would go with your second recipe, but I don't think the first one is over the top.

Yeah the more I thought about that, it sounded like a personal taste thing. I'm probably going to try the first one as a starter batch, but I am curious to see what a touch of crystal 120 will add to it. Thanks for the feedback!

Looks straightforward. That is 11 grams of yeast, though. Not 11 ounces.

Doh! Ok 11 grams

I've been reading that more yeast is the way to go? So adding 2 packs of yeast would do what?

Twofox said:

Doh! Ok 11 grams

I've been reading that more yeast is the way to go? So adding 2 packs of yeast would do what?

Click to expand...

You only need one pack of yeast for that beer. If your brewing a higher gravity beer then use 2 packs. There is a great yeast calculator on mrmalty.com

I like the original recipe. The revised recipe also looks good. Do both and compare

Looks like a good start. I have heard from a few brewers that they use a little of every variety of crystal malt to get the whole spectrum. Just titrate to effect for color.

The amber I just made has 1 pound 2 oz of crystal 40 and carapils with 2oz of roasted barley for color calibration. It is an award winning recipe (not mine .

Eric

Thanks for all the replies.

After talking with my local brew club, and alot more guessig, heh. Here's what I've come up with.

6# Light dry extract
.5# crystal 40
.5# crystal 60
1oz Willamette at 60 mins
1oz Amarilli at 15mins left
1oz Amarilli at 0mins left
Nottingham danstar 11oz dry yeast

IBU's 30.1
Esitmated color 11.5

So the question is... what do you all think the it will taste like?

I'm thinking that it might be too bitter, but that also might balance out the citrus from the Amarillo?

I ran your recipe through Beersmith and I get:

SG: 1060 (style range 1045-1060)
IBU: 26.3 (style range 25-40)
BU/GU: .44

The BU/GU is actually quite low for the style. I actually don't think your IBUs are high enough.

If you do a late extract boil, adding your DME at 15 minutes left, your IBUs are 43.1, which I think would put you right on the money.

Personally, I would recommend the late extract boil.

Do you want the citrusy Amarillo flavor? I have never used Amarillo in an amber, but it could be tasty. I used cascade as a late hop and centennial as a dry hop for my amber, which is definitely a different flavor/aroma than the one you will get.

Eric

EricCSU said:

I ran your recipe through Beersmith and I get:

SG: 1060 (style range 1045-1060)
IBU: 26.3 (style range 25-40)
BU/GU: .44

The BU/GU is actually quite low for the style. I actually don't think your IBUs are high enough.

If you do a late extract boil, adding your DME at 15 minutes left, your IBUs are 43.1, which I think would put you right on the money.

Personally, I would recommend the late extract boil.

Do you want the citrusy Amarillo flavor? I have never used Amarillo in an amber, but it could be tasty. I used cascade as a late hop and centennial as a dry hop for my amber, which is definitely a different flavor/aroma than the one you will get.

Eric

Click to expand...

That SG looks high? I could see 1.057 if it was only 5 gallons. But I think most people now ferment 5.5 gallons to account for loss of volume to yeast, trub, transfer, etc... With 5.5 gallons I get a SG closer to 1.052

From beersmith I get SG 1.053
and FG 1.013

To me an IBU of 30 seems high, but guess I'll have to find out heh.

I realize I'm going to have to play with different recipies till I get what I want, just trying for the best first try that I can for what I'm looking for.

Thanks guys!

Just realized something. The recipe is .5# of crystal malts. that's why the ibu's are different.

I think a mid 20s IBU is closer to what you're looking for, but 30 should still be fine and lightly hopped.

maida7 said:

That SG looks high? I could see 1.057 if it was only 5 gallons. But I think most people now ferment 5.5 gallons to account for loss of volume to yeast, trub, transfer, etc... With 5.5 gallons I get a SG closer to 1.052

Click to expand...

I used a 70 percent efficiency for the mash. You probably got less because the efficiency is lower.

Eric

You may want to consider a different yeast, notty is is a bit overeager and tends tone down the hops and other flavours. I was warned but tried it a couple times myself anyways and its true. It settles out really nicely and will chew through anything you throw at it ( up to 12-15% at least) but does not help suttle flavours come through. I hear US-05 is a better choice for a neutral ale yeast though I havn't got my hands on any yet.

EricCSU said:

I used a 70 percent efficiency for the mash. You probably got less because the efficiency is lower.

Eric

Click to expand...

It's an extract beer. There is no mash

6# Light dry extract
.5# crystal 40
.5# crystal 60
1oz Willamette at 60 mins
1oz Amarillo at 15mins left
1oz Amarillo at 0mins left
Nottingham danstar 11oz dry yeast

Brewed this yesterday as a 1 gal batch for testing.

SG ended up at 1.060
FG was at 1.011

Also the Amarillo hops were actually higher AA at 8.9% so IBU's are around 32-33.

I'll bottle it in 3 weeks (2 in secondary) and go from there. I'm hoping this process will let me find out what does what, and how to get the amber I want.

THanks for all the input!