American Amber Ale Caramel Amber Ale

[BigTerp]

Just wanted to let everyone know who is considering this beer that it's awesome!! I've brewed this several times over during the past few years, and it's great everytime. Just follow the orginal recipe in the first post and you can't go wrong. My last batch of this I gave a few bottles to a fellow homebrewer and coworker and his response was "It was so good I made my pregnant wife try some". Made me laugh!!

 

[MikePote]

I brewed this up 5-13 and bottled last night. I would have let it sit a little longer but I need the fermenter. Finished at 1.004! Wow I cant believe it got that low. I followed directions exactly and have a ferm chamber. If anybody has any idea why it got so low let me know please. The beer was really good and didnt taste dry for the low FG. A little hoppier than I had hoped but it was good hoppy not super bitter. I definitely could taste the caramel and some malt. Really excited for this one to carb up. If the hops subside a little and let the caramel show through this is really going to be awesome. Taste test in a few weeks or so.

 

[wstehling]

Mike, see my post a few befiore yours. Mine finished at 1.005 and it is not dry at all. I'm enjoying one right now, excellent beer.

 

[MikePote]

Just had one and after only a week in the bottle it is REALLY good! Very well balanced with a tiny bit of hop at the finish. When I bottled a week ago it was pretty hoppy but they have faded a lot which is good in my opinion. Hopefully they fade a tiny bit more. As stated in the post above it finished very low (1.004) but really isn't dry at all. Update in a couple weeks.

 

[Tippsy-Turvy]

Must be fate that I stumbled across this thread just as I've been preparing for my first attempt at a caramel amber!

What struck me about this tasty recipe though was the yeast. I thought S-04 is designed for darker beers and that's what I had intended to use. Why use the S-05 for this amber?

 

[KCBigDog]

I finally got around to brewing this yesterday. She is bubbling along nicely this morning.

Can't wait to get it in the Keezer.

 

[Tutsbrew]

Must be fate that I stumbled across this thread just as I've been preparing for my first attempt at a caramel amber!

What struck me about this tasty recipe though was the yeast. I thought S-04 is designed for darker beers and that's what I had intended to use. Why use the S-05 for this amber?

I wonder if the OP wanted a very clean (and highly attenuating) yeast to let the grain bill and caramel-sweet-yumminess to shine?

 

[kvedderman]

I brewed this yesterday and it is fermenting now..My first of many home brews..30 days can't go by fast enough to drink this..Love Amber Ale beers..My final gravity came in a little low because I left the lid on for 30 minutes of the boil(rookie)..I saw it and removed..If that is my only mistake in a first home brew that is all good with me..

 

[damlamb]

Congrats on your first brew. You picked a great recipe too. Ive made this a few times and it always turns out good for me. I screwed up by boiling too long before and ending with high gravity. I entered it in the competition anyways and snagged third place so im sure your beer will still taste great.

 

[mdbrewer1]

I just got done putting 5 gallons of this into the fermenter. I tasted the hydrometer sample and it was very hoppy. I thought I could detect some caramel flavor, but it was pretty much like licking a Chinook pellet. Is that to be expected? I was slow with my cooldown since I was stuck using a tiny sink for my ice bath. My chiller is arriving tomorrow. I don't know if that allowed more of the hop flavor/aroma to impart itself or if that is normal.

I hope to have this ready by Labor Day, but I realize it might not make it. I've got it in a swamp cooler in the basement since I've read that one of the best things you can do when trying to turn a beer around quickly is ferment at the low end of the range when it starts so that it doesn't give off much off-flavors.

We shall see!

 

[mdbrewer1]

And we're off! I had bubbles in the fermenter after 8 hours. Go yeasties go!

 

[IslandLizard]

I just got done putting 5 gallons of this into the fermenter. I tasted the hydrometer sample and it was very hoppy. I thought I could detect some caramel flavor, but it was pretty much like licking a Chinook pellet. Is that to be expected? I was slow with my cooldown since I was stuck using a tiny sink for my ice bath. My chiller is arriving tomorrow. I don't know if that allowed more of the hop flavor/aroma to impart itself or if that is normal.

I hope to have this ready by Labor Day, but I realize it might not make it. I've got it in a swamp cooler in the basement since I've read that one of the best things you can do when trying to turn a beer around quickly is ferment at the low end of the range when it starts so that it doesn't give off much off-flavors.

We shall see!

It's a great beer and the recipe is very forgiving. Unless you used way more hops or your Chinook was way more potent it will all come together once fermented out. The hop harshness will mellow out and the malts and caramel flavor will become more pronounced.

The beer should be ready for bottling in about 2-3 weeks, but it will take another 3 weeks to get them carbonated, unless you can keg and force-carb it. Maybe borrow a keg and CO2 cylinder from a friend?

 

[mdbrewer1]

It's a great beer and the recipe is very forgiving. Unless you used way more hops or your Chinook was way more potent it will all come together once fermented out. The hop harshness will mellow out and the malts and caramel flavor will become more pronounced.



The beer should be ready for bottling in about 2-3 weeks, but it will take another 3 weeks to get them carbonated, unless you can keg and force-carb it. Maybe borrow a keg and CO2 cylinder from a friend?

Thanks for the reassurance. I've taken to buying craft beer and letting my homebrew sit. It has been hard letting my stout sit in the basement the past month.

If this recipe isn't ready by Labor Day, I'll still have my stout and Centennial Blonde available.

 

[mdbrewer1]

I was just down in the basement sniffing the airlock and it smells good. Nice sweet caramelly goodness.

Everyone does that, right?

 

[sm_batch]

brewed about 35gal of this guy so far.... tried once with caramel we purchased ( not as good)... brewed 2 batches with white labs California ale yeast (this is how we will do it from now on).

Thanks for the recipe!

 

[matthammill]

Sniffing the airlock....thought I was the only one...haha

 

[mdbrewer1]

This brew bubbled the airlock fairly consistently for a full 6 days before finally slowing down yesterday. I'm going to let the temperature rise back to room temperature of the basement while it sits for another week. I'm planning to bottle it this coming weekend if the gravity readings are stable. I can hardly wait!

 

[GeorgiaMead]

I have about a pound of fresh cascade hops, if I wanted to use some of these, how much should I use, or would they even be a good match in this beer?


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[Mojzis]

I have about a pound of fresh cascade hops, if I wanted to use some of these, how much should I use, or would they even be a good match in this beer?


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Last time I made this I used 2oz of home grown cascade. It turned out great. I plan on doing it again with this years harvest.

 

[GeorgiaMead]

Did u replace one of the hops or just an addition? Cause I was thinking of adding them at flame out..... What do you suggest?


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[Mojzis]

I replaced them. 2oz at 0. If you like it even more hoppy, then I would do 3. But for me, 2 worked out great.

 

[GeorgiaMead]

Thanks


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[mdbrewer1]

It made its way down to 1.012 so I bottled my batch tonight. Tastes good, but still a little more hoppy than I had imagined. We'll see how it is in a couple weeks.

 

[GeorgiaMead]

I just brewed mine last night, it smells great... Can't wait to bottle and carb


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[mdbrewer1]

Shoot. I'm 98% sure I forgot to give everything a little stir after siphoning to disperse the priming sugar. I added the priming sugar solution to the bottom of the bottling bucket, so I'm sure it got spread out a little from the swirling motion while siphoning over, but I figure I'll still end up with a range of carbonation.

Has anyone ever done that? What range of carbonation should I expect? Should I be concerned about bottle bombs? Is there anything I can do at this point?

 

[bolus14]

I only mix my priming sugar that way, I've never stirred after I finished racking into the bottling bucket. I've never had a problem with inconsistent carbonation, except with bottles that have been left at warm temperatures for extended periods. You should be fine, assuming everything else went well.

 

[mdbrewer1]

I only mix my priming sugar that way, I've never stirred after I finished racking into the bottling bucket. I've never had a problem with inconsistent carbonation, except with bottles that have been left at warm temperatures for extended periods. You should be fine, assuming everything else went well.

Thanks. I did a search on the bottling/kegging forum and it sounds like others have done it the same way with no ill effects. This batch is my first "wide release" and I'd be disappointed if I were handing out bottle bombs and flat beer.

 

[mdbrewer1]

Being the impatient, relatively new homebrewer that I am, I had to try a bottle last night at 1 week. It was really good already. The flavors have started to come together. Slightly undercarbed, but seems about right for 1 week old. Hopefully all of the bottles are similar. I can't wait to share this and see what others think!

 

[TrustyOlJohnson]

Being the impatient, relatively new homebrewer that I am, I had to try a bottle last night at 1 week. It was really good already. The flavors have started to come together. Slightly undercarbed, but seems about right for 1 week old. Hopefully all of the bottles are similar. I can't wait to share this and see what others think!

I almost always try a beer 1 week after bottling, and Ive done 40ish batches

 

[mdbrewer1]

I almost always try a beer 1 week after bottling, and Ive done 40ish batches

I thought that once I get a better pipeline going, that I might be able to wait a while longer before trying out a new batch, but knowing me, I'll probably always try one after about a week. In the name of science of course.

 

[GeorgiaMead]

I just racked to secondary, my FG was at 1.009 I was quite impressed by the speed of the drop. The sample... I mean spillage was delicious


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[LampyB]

The most recent 5 or so pages of discussion are all around technique and not the actual beer being brewed.

How did the beer come out for everyone? Has anyone brewed it a second time? Do you believe it's tasty enough to want to brew more of it?

My numbers were spot on, a bit under-carbed, but overall I would say it's a decent beer. Unique, but I wouldn't say it's excellent. If I were to brew it again I would probably add some oats.

What were everyone's thoughts? I'd like to discuss adjustments to the recipe or process to make it better, but I'm relatively new with a handful of BIAB batches under my belt.

 

[Mojzis]

I've made it twice now. Once with home grown cascade and once with citra and simcoe. The first was great, the second was gross. The simcoe citra combo was not something I would pursue in this beer again.

That aside I plan on another 10g batch of it soon I've got some chinook and centennial i'd like to use. I wouldn't change anything on the grain bill. I think it's great the way it is.

I would say since you're new, focus on technique and use fresh ingredients. I like to get the sugar to a nice dark brown color. Hit your mash temps and ferment healthy. You won't be disappointed. For me, I wouldn't add oats since I think the large amount of crystal adds significant body and mouthfeel.

Anyway, just my $0.02.

 

[mariahman]

I really liked this beer, as did all my friends who helped me drink it. I definitely want to brew it again with maybe a minor tweak to make it different. It's solid, nothing too crazy, but I like that about it too. I was thinking maybe some biscuit malt to see how close it can be to fat tire, just for fun.

 

[Jsamp]

I'm drinking on a version of it right now. I substituted Vienna for the 2 row. I also only used Columbus for the biting addition with no additional hop additions. It's still young but it's really good. I've also made it to recipe and really liked it. I'm going to try Munich malt and late cascade hop additions next time I brew.

 

[hetyu]

I'm pretty new to this category but by checking the recipe the Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80.0 SRM Grain 15.79 % sounds a bit of overkill to me. I've used to read that everyone propose not to use cara malts over 15% and that most recipes stick to ~5%.
According to my limited knowledge and experience this amount of cara malt will need a few months of aging to turn the beer not only to sweet but to drinkable as well.

Am I wrong on this (and why?) , please?

 

[Mojzis]

You're not wrong exactly, but I have a few reasons it works well here. Keep in mind this is the only beer I would ever use this much.

Adding the sugar/caramel will thin the body, so the crystal will adjust it. Also the caramel flavor from both the large amounts of caramel and crystal malts add that extra depth of caramel flavor. The two combined make and interesting sweet malt profile from a relatively uncomplicated grain bill. The bitterness and aroma of the hops balance out this sweet caramel wort quite well.

 

[Hanso]

What he said. It works. Don't skip the sugar. You could back down some of the crystal but then make sure to also back down some IBU accordingly.

 

[hetyu]

Thanks for the feedback, your opinion makes sense!

 

[FatDragon]

The most recent 5 or so pages of discussion are all around technique and not the actual beer being brewed.

How did the beer come out for everyone? Has anyone brewed it a second time? Do you believe it's tasty enough to want to brew more of it?

My numbers were spot on, a bit under-carbed, but overall I would say it's a decent beer. Unique, but I wouldn't say it's excellent. If I were to brew it again I would probably add some oats.

What were everyone's thoughts? I'd like to discuss adjustments to the recipe or process to make it better, but I'm relatively new with a handful of BIAB batches under my belt.

My first batch was a caramel amber ale extract kit from China's only foreigner-owned homebrew shop that I know of. It was mediocre, though much of that was due to process problems.

I did a version of this recipe several months ago for what was probably about my tenth batch (all BIAB after that first batch). I made a few modifications because of ingredient availability, as well as going with S-04 for the yeast. You can read a bit more about what I did in a post several pages back., including the fermentation temperature schedule which I think contributed to giving it some complementary esters and drying it out.

Regardless, the result was quite good. Stylistically it wasn't at the top of my list, but it was definitely the best beer I've made, and many friends claimed it was the best beer they'd ever had (noting that as mainland Chinese, they haven't had a very wide variety of beer). I made another batch yesterday, tinkering because what's what we do - I dropped the 80 grams of brown sugar I used last time, added 100 grams of Special B because I think it will complement the other flavors, and roasted the C60 in my oven for about ten minutes in order to approximate something like a C80. I also did a better job making my candi syrup this time, probably the combination of more yeast energizer and a lower flame, so it was darker and more flavorful. The resulting wort is a lot darker than the last batch (like 20 SRM vs. ~8 SRM for the first batch), and I'm excited to try it out.

tl;dr - This is the best beer I've made in about 15 attempts, even if it falls a couple spots shy of being my personal favorite. It's the only brew I've repeated so far and it's likely to be a regular request from my wife and many of my friends.