American Amber Ale Caramel Amber Ale

[mufflerbearing]

I just brewed his and missed my og. I landed at 1.040 and don't know why. I used sparge pal and followed the instructions. I mashed for 60min at 150 then sparged @170. Put in 1.5 cups of syrup @15min. I pitched the 05@ 68. What would you guys do at this point. I pitched tonight at 9:30pm EST. any help would be great.

 

[Beeru]

I just brewed another beer with the Chinook hops, and found it intensely bitter with only .5 ounces for 60 min, and .5 dry hopped. It made it taste more like an IPA, with an incredibly bitter bite that's somewhat leveled out with a sharp grapefruit finish. If I wanted something a little less bitter, could anyone recommend a substitute hops? I was thinking Simcoe...

 

[bolus14]

Willamette is often used with Chinook, IMO it would be a good swap. I have found I'm not a fan of Chinook as I've used in a couple beers and can now identify it in commercial brews.
For a cleaner bittering hop I like Perle. Doesn't seem like many use it but if I make this again I think I'll use these in place of the Chinook.
Another hop that's classified as very spicy like Chinook is nugget. If you can get you're hands on Troegs Nugget Nectar it'll give you a good idea of this hop.

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[Beeru]

Excellent. Nugget, Willamette, and Perle are all available at my LHBS, and I have some left over Willamette from my last batch. So maybe I'll do a mix of two of them for this one.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[sehedw]

I have used Chinook without any problem. How much IBUs were you shooting for? Your initial hop addition will boil for 60 mins and expect it to be bitter. If u want 20 IBU then put very little in the beginning and the rest at say 30 mins. Try it and it will turn out right but you have to determine how much IBU to achieve

 

[mlevings12]

I've been listening to John Palmer and Colin Kaminski lately on water. According to Colin a mash pH of 5.4-5.6 will result in a very sharp hop flavor and a mash pH around 5.2-5.4 will result in a more round hop profile. Have you considered looking at this instead of / in addition to changing your hops?

 

[Beeru]

That is a good idea. I've never tested my water before. I guess I never bothered because I'm in a rental, and don't plan to be here much longer.
I could boil chinook for less time, but I find the overall flavour of it somewhat unappealing, like the white pith of a grapefruit. I don't mind aiming for a higher IBU, around 30-40, so long as the bitterness isn't overwhelming.

 

[ShaKeyJ]

I adjusted my hop amount and schedule to get just below 30 IBU and I use a 50/50 mix of bottled water and tap water. Using tap water at start of recipe to be sure all is boiled.

 

[Ari]

Brewed it up about 2 weeks ago and I'll bottle it in another 2. I did a couple things different though, but not much. I accidently made a darker syrup, about what the mahogany one was and then made the right one. I liked the flavors of both so I put them both in, not really thinking about the 1.5-2lbs (I left some stuck in the jar and some got used in oatmeal) of sugar that I was adding. Hopefully that won't dry it up horribly or anything. I used harvested pacman, homade caramel malt and I hopped just like you said. It smelled great the whole week and I'll make sure to take picture in another month when it's ready. Thanks for coming up with such a beatiful beer!
-Ari

 

[LeathernoseBrewing]

Brewed this as my first all grain. I wound up having about a gallon of wort left over so I brewed 2 separate batches. For the initial batch I used kolsch, then I threw some British ale WLP005 in a 5 liter jug with whatever was left over. Both yeast were washed from previous batches. Just bottled them up today, very excited to see how the two compare. Will report back with the results in about two weeks

 

[mufflerbearing]

I finished this one up about a week ago. I ended up at about 6.5abv (i missed og and added too much extra light DME) so it is a little dry but still very tasty. Will make again and try it with 04 and pay more attention to my mash temps.

 

[idrinkstuffnthings]

Just brewed my second batch of this. Only regret is I didn't make it sooner. Mmmmm

 

[WillieBananas]

Crap! Just brewed this today. Everything went smooth. Then I read over this thread again. I cooked the syrup to 300* ? Think it will screw up the finished product?

 

[hokieguy95]

This seems pretty close to an ESB...'cept for the candy sugar. Am I on the right track? I think ESB's also need to catch on. Awesome balance and nice hop aroma.

 

[IslandLizard]

Crap! Just brewed this today. Everything went smooth. Then I read over this thread again. I cooked the syrup to 300* ? Think it will screw up the finished product?

As long as you didn't burn the sugar syrup, you'll be fine. What color was it?

I almost burnt my syrup the first time, and came out way too dark. I just bagged it and tossed it in the freezer, for some other cooking project. It was a little bit acrid.

So I made another batch and that was way better. Excellent flavor! I then knew what to look for colorwise. No need to condense it to a real syrup, that's how I burnt mine. Just pour the caramel liquid in at the end of the boil.

 

[glenn514]

I just bottled my third batch of this delicious recipe yesterday! And even the "green" beer remaining from testing the gravity and after all the bottles were filled was VERY, VERY TASTY! Methinks I'll be brewing this many more times!

glenn514

 

[djevans3]

I did a take off of this recipe and it is great. My changes were using only Centennial hops since that is what I had, but I also lowered the IBU's to 32. My OG came in a little bit high at 1.060 as well so it is a little bit dryer beer which makes the hop flavor come through more. Highly recommend this one, the caramel syrup makes it.

 

[damlamb]

I seen some posts on this thread about people who somehow or other ended up with high original gravity. Any word on how these ones turned out? I overboiled this weekend and ended up at 1.065 and exactly 5 gallons of wort.

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[Transamguy77]

So I'm brewing this now, I made it before a couple months ago and it was delicious, went fast. Everyone that had it said it was delicious but no one could taste (including me) the caramel sauce. Anyway I just realized I don't have enough sugar to make the caramel sauce, I tried reading through the thread and didn't see anyone who didn't add the sauce, so my question is can I just make it tomorrow and add it before the yeast really take off? Or just omit it since it didn't bring any flavor to the final product.

 

[bolus14]

No reason you cant make it and add to the primary, many people prefer doing this with honey rather than adding to the boil. It may even give more of the sauce taste since you're not boiling it off.

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[WillieBananas]

Bottled today, sample tastes great!


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[sehedw]

Will like to go back got the chinook hop issue. You can try to put it at 30 mins as the only hop addition. It will give you less IBU and grapefruit flavor. If you do not like the flavor then I cannot help



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[iram84mx]

Can somebody explain what is the purpose of using Candi Syrup Amber on this recipe?
Can it be substituted by any special Malt(s)?
The color of the beer looks awesome by the way.
thanks.

 

[damlamb]

Can somebody explain what is the purpose of using Candi Syrup Amber on this recipe?
Can it be substituted by any special Malt(s)?
The color of the beer looks awesome by the way.
thanks.

Ive made this beer a few times and Ive tasted the syrup by itself and the taste and smell of the beer was unmistakle to me as the syrup. I wouldnt sub it out. The sryup is easy to make the day before and have it ready.

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[hmmmbeer]

Can somebody explain what is the purpose of using Candi Syrup Amber on this recipe?
Can it be substituted by any special Malt(s)?
The color of the beer looks awesome by the way.
thanks.

I make this while I'm waiting for my mash (takes much less time than an hour). Easy and is a vital component of this brew. This is my GO TO brew if my keg runs dry.

 

[Mx750ktm]

Thought I would chime in here as one more person who brewed this recipe !! :rockin:
This was my first BIAB all grain Brewday and everything seemed to go pretty smooth. My SG was 1.055 and I checked it yesterday which would have been 18 days and I'm at 1.010 so looks like all went well. During primary fermentation I use a blow off and I didn't need it for this beer but 16 days in the fermenter this thing was still bubbling away. I'm pretty new but I have never had action for that long. Any who tried a small sample yesterday and tastes great can't wait to bottle next week.
Thanks op for the recipe!!

Edit 4 days later now and I still have a bubble about once a minute so a total of 22 days with some signs of active bubbling!!! All krausen has fallen and I'm cleaning bottles as we speak!

 

[64stangman]

What was the gravity before syrup addition?

 

[wstehling]

Brewing tomorrow as a BIAB, can't wait to see what this beer has waiting for me. Pretty much nailed the candi syrup, it's gorgeous and was really interesting watching it change colors at each 10 degree increment as the recipie calls for. The knowledge gained just by watching that temp/color rise and subsequently reading about Maillard Reactions was pretty cool.

Will report back after brew day!

 

[wstehling]

Brew day is done, this was my first BIAB and everything went near perfectly after weeks of planning.

I used BIABacus to plan this recipe and I'm in awe at how accurate the predictions are from it. I hit all the volumes pretty much on the nose. My target OG was 1.055 and I hit 1.052 so not going to complain about that.
Predicted FG is 1.013.

Hydro sample tasted really good, and definitely had the plum/raisin notes from the 290F syrup, but it wasn't overwhelming at all.

Only thing I'm mildly concerned with is the hops. They weren't quite as noticeable as I expected in the pre-pitching hydro sample.

I'll report back in a few weeks. Thanks for the great recipe KingBrian!

What was the gravity before syrup addition?

64stangman - My gravity at the beginning of the boil (before syrup addition) was a temp adjusted 1.029

 

[wstehling]

Here is my 290F syrup.

 

[wstehling]

Just took a gravity reading at 8 days and it was at 1.006 which as about 88% attentuation, so i'll expect this to be a little bit on the dry side. First time I've used US-05 so wasn't real sure what to expect. It was a little slow to start with a 36 hour lag but when it got going, it really churned, had to put a blow off tube on it.

The hydro sample was just plain outstanding, I can't wait to get this one finished but I'm going to force myself to take the slow and patient route on this.

Great recipe Brian!

 

[mariahman]

This is a great recipe. I changed it to partial mash, subbing the base malt for LME and still hit all numbers. Super clean and roasty flavor. Similar to Fat Tire. Everyone lives it, will brew again.

 

[user 131481]

Nottingham clears up nicely. A great beer overall!!


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[damlamb]

This is one of my favorites. I entered this beer into a local competition this year. Took third place overall despite the fact that I boiled off a little too much and ended up with a high OG. I ended up around 6.8 abv.

 

[MikePote]

I finished brewing this 10 minutes ago. I added a little too much water pre boil and ended up with a full 6 gallons at a SG of 1.046. Maybe a hair shy of where I was supposed to end up but close enough.

It was my first time making the candy syrup and as far as I can tell all went well. Hydro sample super caramely. Results in a month or so. Thanks for the recipe!

 

[FatDragon]

My first brew was an extract caramel amber ale kit, almost certainly based off this, but with brown sugar in place of the candi syrup and without the late Chinook (I believe), and S-04 instead of US-05. I was told to ferment it at 24C (75F) for the esters. After a few beginners' mistakes, I pitched around 30C (86F). I got super-fast fermentation - 4-5 bubbles/second in the three-piece - that left some bad flavors. It was an alright beer if you ignored the aftertaste brought on by the high fermentation temps, but nowhere near as good as it was when I drank the same beer, properly made, at the home of the guy who sold me the kit.

I decided to come full-circle and try again now, after seven months and about a dozen BIAB batches.

My adjusted recipe (based on my ingredients and efficiency):

3.9kg 2-row
.7kg C60 (a mediocre batch, unfortunately)
.52kg homemade Candi Syrup (290F x2) - meant to add .6kg, ended up with a bit less than intended. I was surprised how little color it added compared to Beersmith calcs - apparently I estimated way too high on the SRM.
.08kg "old red sugar" - very dark brown sugar ("old red sugar" is directly translated from the Chinese), used to make up for coming up short on the Candi Syrup.
22g Chinook 60m
29g Chinook 0m
29g Willamette 0m
1 packet S-04, rehydrated

Overshot my OG and volume by a bit (still adjusting some Beersmith profiles): 14p (1.057) vs. 12.3p (1.051 - replacement hydro only had Plato) and ~6 gal vs. 5.5 gal. Color seems about right.

Cooled down to about 26C with my IC (maybe 45 minutes), pitched about four hours later after cooling to ~19C in my ferm chamber. Chilled down to 17C by the morning, adjusted the temp controller to 18C, got bubbles 8 hours later, left town for a day and a half, came back and bumped to 19C, then 19.5C the next morning, 20C last night. I'm planning on reaching 24C (the temperature recommendation from that first kit) at 1C a day, then letting it sit for a week, dropping down as close to 12C as I can for a few days (chamber's lower limit - it's a wine fridge), then bottling around the 3 week mark to free up the chamber for my tea beer experiment.

 

[MikePote]

I finished brewing this 10 minutes ago. I added a little too much water pre boil and ended up with a full 6 gallons at a SG of 1.046. Maybe a hair shy of where I was supposed to end up but close enough.

It was my first time making the candy syrup and as far as I can tell all went well. Hydro sample super caramely. Results in a month or so. Thanks for the recipe!

I am drinking a hydro sample as I type. Really good but the sample is much more bitter than I had hoped. It is still young and hopefully the bitterness subsides and the caramel shines through. I dont plan to bottle for at least a week. Results in a month or so.

 

[natural]

This has probably been asked either in here or somewhere else but the search option isn't working for me on my app. What the hell is dap? How do I make this?

 

[FatDragon]

This has probably been asked either in here or somewhere else but the search option isn't working for me on my app. What the hell is dap? How do I make this?

DAP is di-ammonium phosphate yeast nutrient. LD Carlson's Yeast Energizer has a significant amount of di-ammonium phosphate as well - it's what I used, though I would use DAP yeast nutrient if you can get it. Read the first post of this thread and you'll be off to the races.

 

[wstehling]

Well, after 15 days of bottle carb'ing this sucker is done, this is one damn good beer. Although I finished at 1.005, it really isn't all that dry, it still has a very nice malt finish and the slightest hint of the caramel flavor from the carmel candi syrup. The color is just amazing.
I'm putting this one in a contest in early August, have my competition beers set aside and hopefully the extra month or two of aging will just improve them, with a beer this good I can't make it last that long except for the ones I put aside for the competition.

Will report back then. This one is going into the regular rotation.