Amber Ale Recipe

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Jonkl

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I'm wanting to make a big flavor amber ale. Not your basic "add some caramel malt and a bunch of cascade hops" amber. Thoughts?

This is a 2.5-gal recipe, and the efficiency I get from mail-order grains is pretty bad right now.

OG - 1.052
IBU - 47 (A little above style, but I don't really count the FO IBUs against the style restrictions)
SRM - 15.8

6 lbs - 2-Row - 75%
12 oz - Aromatic - 9.4%
12 oz - C-60 - 9.4%
8 oz - Special Roast - 6.3%

Mashing at 152F for 60 min

60 min - 0.3 oz Centennial (16.8 IBU)

15 min - Irish moss

10 min (~11.5 IBU)
- 0.2 oz Centennial
- 0.3 oz Liberty
- 0.3 oz Pacifica

Flameout (~18.7 IBU)
- 0.5 oz Centennial
- 0.7 oz Liberty
- 0.7 oz Pacifica

I'm leaning toward WLP029 Kolsch for the yeast, but I also have some WLP013 London Ale Yeast that might be good. I'm a little on the fence about that.

Thoughts?
 
Another thing I went back and forth over was Liberty vs. Crystal hops. I have both on hand, and I think they'd both compliment everything else I'm trying to do, so it's hard to choose.

If the base is good enough, I may make three other batches over time, with the two yeasts and Liberty/Crystal being my two variables, to nail down the recipe.
 
Motueka is a great hop for the not so typical Ambers. Also a newer malt is RedX that is pretty available these days. It has a great flavor. Also try bittering with chinook and finishing with Amarillo, or mandarina Bavaria. Or nelson sauvin with mandarina Bavaria. Or Willamette and perle.

If it is available WLP060 is a great versatile yeast. It has produced a lot of great beers for me. I like WLP051 vs. 029. It lends a better hoppyness with the balance of fruity ale yeasts. I get a smooth apricot, pear, apple vs orange lime lemony citrus.
 
Thanks for the info. Centennial/Motueka/Cascade sounds really good. Also, your mention of 051 reminded me of one of my other favorite yeast, the Bell's that I think Yeast Bay calls Midwestern. (It reminded me a lot of my experience with 051, only I think it flocced a little quicker).

You're not making this any easier...
 
To conclude this experiment:

I went with the Centennial/Liberty/Pacifica combo. Also, I actually ended up using WLP013, London Ale for the yeast.

Fresh, the Special Roast was a little strong. After the beer conditioned a bit, though, it was fantastic. I really liked the malt base, and the hop combo was a great blend of modern and classic hop characters. In fact, it might even find a spot on my "desert island beers" list.

So, if you (or I) want to try this in the future, if you want it fast and fresh, probably cut some Special Roast for a little extra Crystal malt. Otherwise, brew pretty much as-is, but make sure to let it condition a little while.
 

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