imperial amber sounds interesting...at the same time, i'm not sure i'm looking to go for a BIG beer. my kegerator is empty currently and would like something with a fairly quick turn-around just to get something back on tap, then go for a bigger brew...i will look into that style though. any recipe you prefer? thanks for the suggestion!
nugget nectar is supposedly of the style. if i recall correctly it's 7.2% abv, and uses pilsener, vienna and munich in equal proportions. troegs say they use nugget, warrior, tomahawk, simcoe and palisades. flavor hops would be palisade dominant so i would stagger the hops using more simcoe at 15 and then blasting it with palisade at 5. dry hop with palisade and simcoe. clean yeast would be ideal. i'd stick with cali ale.
1.070 beer would want a little time to condition but being hoppy it shouldn't sit too long.
if you want quick turn around beers mess around with english bitters or milds. great flavors and low OG means you can drink in two weeks.
Imperial Amber
5 gal batch
70% efficiency
5# munich
5# pils
5# vienna
1# C40
mash at 153 mash out at 170 to collect 6 gals. 60min boil
.5 warrior @ 60
.5 nugget @ 15
1.0 simcoe @ 15
1.0 simcoe @ 5
2.5 palisade @ 5
2L starter (75% attenuation)
OG 1.071
FG 1.018
IBU 69
SRM 11
ABV 6.9
I dropped the columbus because i couldn't really fit it in anywhere. i feel like troegs may mix it with nugget to give a little character. i'm on the run so i don't have time to fuss with it. i don't think this is 100% accurate but the flavor should be close. i know they use a similar grain bill to what i have up here. the hop schedule most likely needs to be tweaked. the idea is that it's palisades forward with simcoe behind it. i like how this looks on paper but haven't brewed it yet though i have done similar brews with this grain bill and simcoe, citra, amarillo hops.
English Bitter
9# Maris Otter, Optic or Golden Promise
.5# C40
.5# Biscuit
Mash 1Qt per LB @ 150. Batch Sparge.
1.0 oz Fuggles @ 60
1.0 oz Fuggles @ 20
WLP002 or WLP 007 Ferment cooler if possible.
OG 1.047
FG 1.016
IBU 24
SRM 6.3
ABV 4.0
I know it's called bitter but they're not supposed to be hoppy. They're called bitter because they're the most bitter of english beers. They should still have good malt presence as with all english beers. If i were to tweak it i'd take a little off the 60 min and dry hop with it or add another # of base malt. The biscuit and thick mash are going to make this very malty.
If you wanted to be cheeky you could do the bitter with WLP002 then pitch the amber on the yeast cake. WLP002 should attenuate well enough for a bigger beer so I don't think you'd finish too high and the estery english character could go nice with the sweeter hops.
