American Amber Ale Caramel Amber Ale

[WhoDatDad78]

I did .25 oz on the 60 min addition and the remaining .75 oz at 30 min. Didn't seem to have a harsh bitterness on the hydro sample.

 

[troglodytes]

Awesome, I'll adjust as I see many have. As far as the dryness and balance, I see many people talking about increasing wheat, when there is no wheat in the original recipe. Is there a verified adjunct that would help balance or is the caramel malt enough to ensure this bad boy doesn't drop to too low of a FG?

 

[WhoDatDad78]

Awesome, I'll adjust as I see many have. As far as the dryness and balance, I see many people talking about increasing wheat, when there is no wheat in the original recipe. Is there a verified adjunct that would help balance or is the caramel malt enough to ensure this bad boy doesn't drop to too low of a FG?

I had no problem with FG dropping too low. I left mine in primary for an extra week and have seen no significant drop in gravity. I don't know about anyone else.

 

[WhoDatDad78]

I took a gravity sample today. First pull looked like caramel colored watery oatmeal. Second pull was caramel colored with small bits of protien and yeast (think needle point) floating around. Gravity was 1.011 @60.6°F. This is day 18 and has been kept @60-64°F. OG was 1.063 @60°F. Is the concensus to cold crash and add gelatin or wait another 7 days or so?

 

[bolus14]

I have tried 3 bottles of mine, brewed with all Calypso hops .78 oz @30 min, .5oz @15min, and .2oz @5min, that measured to 44IBU. The bitterness is less harsh than when I made it with Chinook, but it's still there. At 44IBU it's higher than I've seen some breweries IPA's but it's a smoother citrus like bitterness, not grapefruit citrus either.

The taste is initially a nice sweet caramel malt followed quickly by that bitterness, then the two combine into almost a caramel covered apple like taste. Some might say that the apple (maybe green apple taste) is an off flavor that shouldn't be there but I've tasted it in other beers that were heavy on Calypso, and personally I like it in this. When I tasted it had only been bottles for about a week and the carbonation was still a little less than I would like, but should end up right where I want it. It also still had some haziness to it that I think was yeast still in suspension since it was only in the fridge for about 24 hours.

All in all, solid recipe as many other have stated, the swap to all Calypso is a nice "substitute" in my opinion, still might be able to knock the IBU's down to 35ish and it might be better for those that aren't fans of the up front bitter taste, this didn't have much bitterness in the finish.

 

[WhoDatDad78]

This one could use another week to carb. Flavor is great though. Anyone else have a comparable pic?

View attachment 1463443943872.jpg

 

[rwh]

I brewed this a week ago so I don't know what the final product will be. The hydrometer sample tasted great. I mashed a little higher (154) and added some oats. I can't wait to try it.

I will say this makes the best spent grain bread I have ever had. It had excellent flavor.

 

[bolus14]

Here's mine

View attachment 1463533799214.jpg

 

[troglodytes]

I had my first tasting last night after less than a week bottled (I couldn't resist). It's clearly still got some priming sugar sweetness as its not yet fully carbed, but this is going to be really good. Color is bright red and the caramel flavor is so complex. If I didn't tell you what was in it you would swear this was in a secondary with raisins and cherries. Great fruity caramel flavor and just enough hops so this its not going to finish as a sweet beer. Great recipe and will report back in a few weeks once properly conditioned.

 

[FatDragon]

For my fourth iteration of this beer (fifth if you consider my first brew, which was a modified extract kit version of it), I got a bit experimental:

My candi sugar from @SnickASaurusRex's recipe came out darker than usual - more like a double-cooked mahogany. Little to no burnt-sugar taste, but very dark-fruity and very little classic caramel flavor. It also gave a much bigger SRM boost than my previous iterations, so while I was expecting a light amber/orange brew, I'm looking at more of a dark amber/light brown beer.

For grains, I kitchen sinked it to use up 3kg of pils and 200g each of Caramunich III, Carared, Caraamber, and Melanoidin. It won't be miles away from the original recipe, but the malt and caramel profiles will definitely be different.

For hops, I used Cascade of unknown AA%. 30g@60 minutes, 50g@10 minutes. Crossing my fingers that they'll provide enough IBU's - if they're 6% or above, they should do the job, but if they're lower it'll be a bit of a stretch.

Finally, this is my first beer fermenting on Omega Hothead, a famously fruity strain that works well over a wide temperature range. I started it in the mid-sixties but let it start free-rising after about 20 hours. Thanks to some rain cooling things down, it's probably chuffing along at around 27C rather than the low-to-mid-30's of brewday on Saturday.

All in all, there's lots of potential for a very tasty beer and no few places where it could go horribly wrong. I'll be bottling in a couple weeks and then hopping on a plane to the States where I'll be away from the beer for a month and a half, so we'll find out if it was a success or an unmitigated disaster in mid-August.

 

[KingBrianI]

Awesome! You'll have to let us know how it comes out. I'm particularly interested in how the malts you used affected it, but it may be hard to pick that out from all the other variables. What kind of fruity flavors does the hothead strain produce? I've not done much research on it but it sounds intriguing.

 

[FatDragon]

Awesome! You'll have to let us know how it comes out. I'm particularly interested in how the malts you used affected it, but it may be hard to pick that out from all the other variables. What kind of fruity flavors does the hothead strain produce? I've not done much research on it but it sounds intriguing.

Yeah, it'll probably be too many variables for my palate to pick out any malt-specific differences, especially since I haven't made this recipe in a year or two and probably fudged the caramel malt additions in past iterations as well because of what I had in stock. I'll try to report back once I'm drinking this batch, but it won't be for another couple months.

As for the Hothead yeast, it's my first time using it but it's known for performing consistently anywhere from about 62-100F (check their website for more accurate numbers). I've heard "fruit bowl" and "fruity like Brett but without the funk" as descriptors.

 

[hiya]

What does leaving it in primary achieve for 30 days vs the typical 1-2 weeks that I've read? I am new to home brewing and made this batch once in a 1 gallon batch, but only let it sit in primary for about 2 weeks. How would this change the flavor if I let it go for the full 30? I just brewed 3.5 gallons of this again and put it in the fermenter last night. The first batch(also first beer brewed) was good and I was surprised that it was drinkable when I opened a bottle, but something just seemed a bit off. I also used Wyeast Nutrient in the first batch instead of straight DAP because the guy at the store told me it was the same thing. This time I made the caramel with DAP.

 

[madscientistbrewNq]

I see no reason to leave the beer on the yeast cake for that long. The longest I typically do is 21 days. The shortest I will do is 10 days. F.G. plays a role in my decision but the yeast can clean up your beer for you.

One thing to consider is leaving a couple days to cold crash.

What does leaving it in primary achieve for 30 days vs the typical 1-2 weeks that I've read? I am new to home brewing and made this batch once in a 1 gallon batch, but only let it sit in primary for about 2 weeks. How would this change the flavor if I let it go for the full 30? I just brewed 3.5 gallons of this again and put it in the fermenter last night. The first batch(also first beer brewed) was good and I was surprised that it was drinkable when I opened a bottle, but something just seemed a bit off. I also used Wyeast Nutrient in the first batch instead of straight DAP because the guy at the store told me it was the same thing. This time I made the caramel with DAP.

 

[MBN]

Let me get this strait..When making the caramel you don't bring it up to hard crack temp. In doing this it stays in a liquid form util time to be used? I think hard crack temp is above the 300 deg mark for a few min or something.

 

[IslandLizard]

Let me get this strait..When making the caramel you don't bring it up to hard crack temp. In doing this it stays in a liquid form util time to be used? I think hard crack temp is above the 300 deg mark for a few min or something.

You want to keep the caramel at 290F (deep amber) for quite a while, 30 minutes at least. To prevent it from going over 290F add small amounts of water. half to a full tablespoon at a time. To test, you can drop some in a glass or cup with ice water, and taste the little droplets from the bottom. When it's done and to your liking, add a little more water to the thick syrup so it doesn't get solid. It's much easier to add the thinner syrup to your wort (or beer) than to dissolve the solidified/softball mass.

It should never go over 300 degrees and reach hard crack stage that way.

If you add too much heat while it's simmering, it will start to become dark quickly and cause acrid flavors. You cannot undo that, once that happened. So go slowly and keep that temp as close to 290 as you can. If it drops a little bit lower from time to time, it will take longer, but it's better than too high, at least you won't pyrolyze it.

 

[NHBrews]

Looks like a great recipe, I used it for the inspiration for my first brew using my homegrown hops. I pulled back on the 60min hop addition (pellets) and used fresh/wet Chinook and Cascade hops from my garden for the FO addition... can't wait to taste it in a few weeks. I scaled the fresh hops by approx 1-to-5 or 1-to-6 for estimated IBU contribution.

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 12.92 gal
Post Boil Volume: 11.07 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 10.51 gal
Bottling Volume: 10.04 gal
Estimated OG: 1.048 SG
Estimated Color: 17.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 30.1 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 66.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
5.60 g Calcium Chloride
5.60 g Gypsum
15 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) 75.0 %
3 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) 15.0 %
2 lbs Candi Sugar, Amber (45.0 SRM) 10.0 %
1.00 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min 25.3 IBUs
5.00 oz Chinook [2.25 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 4.0 IBUs
2.50 oz Cascade [1.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 0.8 IBUs
2.0 pkg Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05)

 

[MBN]

Interested to see how the amber 45 turns out in your batch.

 

[NHBrews]

Interested to see how the amber 45 turns out in your batch.

Yeah, my hops were ready to pick and didn't have everything (or the time) to make the candi sugar so grabbed a couple bags of D-45. From the description sounds similar to the 290F. The color seemed pretty close to pictures posted here as well. Hoping the caramel/vanilla flavor comes thru

 

[MBN]

Yeah, my hops were ready to pick and didn't have everything (or the time) to make the candi sugar so grabbed a couple bags of D-45. From the description sounds similar to the 290F. The color seemed pretty close to pictures posted here as well. Hoping the caramel/vanilla flavor comes thru

Any updates on the final product?

 

[NHBrews]

Any updates on the final product?

Still in primary (3 weeks as of today). Will keg later this week and report back a 5-6 days after.

 

[jpb2716]

Still in primary (3 weeks as of today). Will keg later this week and report back a 5-6 days after.

Have you sampled your batch yet? I'm very interested in the D-45 addition, especially if the vanilla notes are detectable.

 

[NHBrews]

Have you sampled your batch yet? I'm very interested in the D-45 addition, especially if the vanilla notes are detectable.

Sorry for the delay, took longer to get into the keggerator. Definitely has the caramel flavor. Vanilla notes are minimal at best. Delicious beer however. Would love to try making the candi syrup, but the ease of D-45 is nice. I added a drop of vanilla extract to a pint it is was excellent. I drink vanilla porters fairly often so my threshold for vanilla may be skewed. I may add a vanilla bean tincture to my second keg (I made 10 gal).

 

[MBN]

Sounds amazing, this will be one of my first brews when.i get back.

 

[jpb2716]

Sorry for the delay, took longer to get into the keggerator. Definitely has the caramel flavor. Vanilla notes are minimal at best. Delicious beer however. Would love to try making the candi syrup, but the ease of D-45 is nice. I added a drop of vanilla extract to a pint it is was excellent. I drink vanilla porters fairly often so my threshold for vanilla may be skewed. I may add a vanilla bean tincture to my second keg (I made 10 gal).

Thanks for the response! I ended up brewing a version of this last weekend. I didn't have time to make the candi syrup from scratch so I used the D-45 like you did. I bittered with Warrior hops and added the suggested 1 oz. of Willamette and a small amount of Galaxy at flameout. I'll post how it is once it's finished up.

 

[FatDragon]

Awesome! You'll have to let us know how it comes out. I'm particularly interested in how the malts you used affected it, but it may be hard to pick that out from all the other variables. What kind of fruity flavors does the hothead strain produce? I've not done much research on it but it sounds intriguing.

Long-overdue tasting notes:

I bottled the batch just before going back to the States for the summer and didn't get a chance to taste it until mid-August. When I finally did taste it I was disappointed because it wasn't a summer-appropriate beer like some of my riffs off of this recipe have been and I needed something summery at the time. As the weather has cooled I'm liking it more and more, though - it's a great beer for drinking in the fall.

I'd be lying if I pretended to have any idea what the malts did to the recipe, so I'll skip that entirely. The candi syrup I made was definitely the darkest I've gotten it without significant burnt flavors, probably thanks to the new thick-bottomed pot I made it in. It gave strong plum notes and undertones of a more generic dark stone fruit flavor but not really the dried fruit flavor often associated with maillards, ala prunes or raisins.

It's hard to precisely pin down the effect of the Hothead yeast and hot fermentation. The beer fermented about as dry as US-05 would but may have a slightly thinner body. There are no unpleasant off-flavors but it's definitely not as clean as US-05 or even S-04, but not in a "yeasty" way. I feel like the yeast enhanced the fruit flavors of the syrup I made and may be contributing more low-level fruit flavors that are mostly masked by the heavy plumminess, but I'd probably need to try it on a simpler grainbill to really analyze it.

The best tasting notes I've gotten from anyone on this beer: "It's like a session Quad." That summed it up pretty well. Next time I mess around with this recipe, I'm probably going to aim for a more typical caramel flavor with lighter syrup and maybe a higher mash temperature or some oats for mouthfeel. There are so many places to take the concept - from easy-drinking, semisweet American Amber to "session quad" to caramelly British cask-style ale - that I have a hard time repeating the recipe because I always want to try something new with it.

 

[MBN]

My first attempt at the syrup. I think it my have come out a little over done. I did yhr 290 then added a cup and brought it back to 290. Then cooled it down with one more cup. It looks almost black. Taste kind of burnt.

 

[NHBrews]

So I brewed 10gal of this a couple months back and just carbed up my 2nd keg. I decided to add 12oz of maple syrup to have something new on tap (added direct to chilled keg, so no fermentation). It tastes awesome! A touch sweeter and the maple aroma and taste go well with the caramel and subtle vanilla. Highly recommended if you want to change up a portion of a batch

 

[cheesebach]

My first attempt at the syrup. I think it my have come out a little over done. I did yhr 290 then added a cup and brought it back to 290. Then cooled it down with one more cup. It looks almost black. Taste kind of burnt.

There's a wide range of color on the homemade candy syrup that different users have posted in this thread, but I think the color in your photos looks about right to me. There was a post early in the thread showing the range of color for the different terminal temperatures with a drop of each syrup on a piece of foil. You want to match the color in that post in the same way, not by looking at the full batch in a mason jar. If you matched the deep amber color with a drop of the syrup on the foil, the full batch will look nearly black in your mason jar, just like you posted. The commercial stuff (D-45) that the 290F syrup is meant to replicate is nearly the same color I believe.

 

[FatDragon]

My first attempt at the syrup. I think it my have come out a little over done. I did yhr 290 then added a cup and brought it back to 290. Then cooled it down with one more cup. It looks almost black. Taste kind of burnt.

From my experience, getting that kind of color in the syrup will lead you to Quad/Special B type flavors, and give you more of a winter-warmer ale flavor profile that goes well in the colder months rather than a year-round refresher. Both are good beers and legitimate takes on the recipe. The next time I do this beer, I'll probably stop my sugar at 275-280 in order to focus more on the caramel flavors and less on the plum flavors for a beer that's more refreshing than complex.

 

[MBN]

I went and made a second batch and it turned out the same. The only thing I did different this time was to leave the stove around 4 to 5 on the heat setting. The first batch I think I had it set around 7 to 8. I'll run with what I have..although I may do another batch in the lower temp ranges. Oh as the Yeast nutrient cooks does it put off an ammonia odor?

 

[cheesebach]

From my experience, getting that kind of color in the syrup will lead you to Quad/Special B type flavors, and give you more of a winter-warmer ale flavor profile that goes well in the colder months rather than a year-round refresher. Both are good beers and legitimate takes on the recipe. The next time I do this beer, I'll probably stop my sugar at 275-280 in order to focus more on the caramel flavors and less on the plum flavors for a beer that's more refreshing than complex.

Do you find that you are able to reach a temperature of 290F without the color getting to where it looks almost black in the jar when finished? I made the syrup twice, because I was skeptical about how dark it looked in the jar the 1st time. The second time making it, I stopped it a few degrees cooler (around 287F), and checked the color of a drop on a piece of foil just like the color chart posted in the candy syrup thread for each temp. The drop was definitely right between the 280F and 290F syrup color on that chart, but the full batch still looks nearly black when i put it all in a glass jar. I don't know what color syrup is the best for this beer having only made one batch, but I'm fairly confident that 290F should be quite dark and definitely not transparent when looking at the full batch in the glass jar. D-45 syrup is just as dark and is supposed to have a lot of caramel/vanilla flavor, rather then the raisin/plum flavors you'd get from the D-90 and darker ones. I don't think I had anything resembling quad-like flavors in my finished beer, but I'd definitely be interested to know the results if anyone has experimented with different syrup temps with this beer.

 

[cheesebach]

I went and made a second batch and it turned out the same. The only thing I did different this time was to leave the stove around 4 to 5 on the heat setting. The first batch I think I had it set around 7 to 8. I'll run with what I have..although I may do another batch in the lower temp ranges. Oh as the Yeast nutrient cooks does it put off an ammonia odor?

That sounds like exactly my experience with the syrup - it sounds/looks to me as though you made the 290F syrup correctly. That being said, I have no idea if 290F or a lighter or darker variant is "best" for this recipe. And yes to the DAP releasing ammonia as the solutions starts boiling.

 

[MBN]

That sounds like exactly my experience with the syrup - it sounds/looks to me as though you made the 290F syrup correctly. That being said, I have no idea if 290F or a lighter or darker variant is "best" for this recipe. And yes to the DAP releasing ammonia as the solutions starts boiling.

Thanks for the help everyone. We will find out today as I'm BIAB 5 gallons.

 

[Oophaga]

Brewed this recipe, except with D-45 as I did not have the time to make the syrup myself. Next time I will. I also substituted 8 oz of 2 row for flaked wheat, simply for head retention. Went a point over target, not too bad! The color is simply amazing.

Will post back when carbed and ready.

 

[MBN]

I brewed this up about 3 days ago. I went over the numbers beersmith gave me. I did a BIAB method. It was my first. Over all it went well. Did a 90 min mash per beersmith. Not sure why it had me do it. I still need to work the program out I think. It was a first using it too. Pitched 05 yeast dry on top and it started bubbling about a day later. Going good now and should be finished and ready for keg by the 10th. Cold crash for a day. Then carb it up. Report back around the 12th I think if all goes right.

 

[MBN]

I'm cold crashing my ale today. FG was 1.13 I'll carb it up tomorrow or the next day. Should be ready for a drunk on Sunday. These are the numbers I got from breersmith. 1.041 post boil. Mine was 1.043. Est OG 1.059 mine was 1.057. Finished at 1.013. Or at least that is where I stopped it and cold crashed it. It Est my final to be 1.007. I tasted the sample and it has the flavor from the syrup for sure that dark almost burn tase. My next try will be with a lower temp. Maybe try around 280 ish.

 

[FatDragon]

Do you find that you are able to reach a temperature of 290F without the color getting to where it looks almost black in the jar when finished? I made the syrup twice, because I was skeptical about how dark it looked in the jar the 1st time. The second time making it, I stopped it a few degrees cooler (around 287F), and checked the color of a drop on a piece of foil just like the color chart posted in the candy syrup thread for each temp. The drop was definitely right between the 280F and 290F syrup color on that chart, but the full batch still looks nearly black when i put it all in a glass jar. I don't know what color syrup is the best for this beer having only made one batch, but I'm fairly confident that 290F should be quite dark and definitely not transparent when looking at the full batch in the glass jar. D-45 syrup is just as dark and is supposed to have a lot of caramel/vanilla flavor, rather then the raisin/plum flavors you'd get from the D-90 and darker ones. I don't think I had anything resembling quad-like flavors in my finished beer, but I'd definitely be interested to know the results if anyone has experimented with different syrup temps with this beer.

I did the double-cooked 290F syrup last time for my caramel amber ale (and again tonight for a quad I'm brewing tomorrow) so it's darker and a lot more intense than the single-cooked 290F version. From tasting drops taken at various stages in the cooking process tonight, I would say a single-cooked 290F batch would do well, though I would probably go for 280-285F myself. As for the color, my double cooked sugar is almost molasses dark even when it's just a little drop. My past experience with 290 was that it's a reddish amber color in small drops that turns to a dark transparent mahogany color in aggregate, and that it has a very minor impact on the color of the final beer so if you're doing an ingredient profile for recipe software, 15-20 SRM is probably the color range you want to tell your software in order to get a decent idea of the color of the finished beer.

 

[Oophaga]

If you're doing an ingredient profile for recipe software, 15-20 SRM is probably the color range you want to tell your

That's interesting, do you mean the final SRM of the beer, or the SRM of the candy syrup? I used d-45(45SRM) and it looks very close to the OP's recipe photos, maybe a hair more red.

 

[FatDragon]

That's interesting, do you mean the final SRM of the beer, or the SRM of the candy syrup? I used d-45(45SRM) and it looks very close to the OP's recipe photos, maybe a hair more red.

I mean with homemade candi syrup ala SnickaSaurusRex's recipe. Even though the sugar cooked one time to 290F looks pretty dark in a jar, when added to a beer, the color contribution is a lot less than I expected. I've found that with a double-cooked variant, which is dark like blackstrap molasses, calculating its color contribution to the final beer at ~45 SRM is pretty accurate, at least in Beersmith, while the single-cooked 290F sugar is significantly lighter and probably contributes at a ~15-20 SRM level. Note that's the color contribution of the sugar, not the actual color of the finished beer.