Critique Amber Ale recipe

[rhys333]

Hi All,

I've decided to brew an amber ale this weekend and thought I'd share and get reactions. I'm going with a non-standard approach to ingredients this time, relying on pale chocolate to do the heavy lifting.

AMBER ALE. 25-30 IBU
80% 2 Row
7% Munich 10
5% Flaked barley
5% UK Pale Chocolate 180L
3% UK C120
Warrior @ 60 (IBU adjustment)
1oz Cascade @ 10
1oz Sterling @ 5
1oz Hallertauer Trad @ 0

Hops are scaled for a 6 gal (23L) batch. Yeast TBD. I have Ringwood, US05, and WY1214 on hand and haven't decided yet. Anyway, appreciate any thoughts/suggestions.

 

[NorthwestBrewman2013]

Looks pretty good. If it were me I'd go with the US-05 and let it be neutral on the yeast side. But, I tend to like standard American Ales when it comes down to it. I'd maybe cut the Munich in half and get the gravity points from 2-row instead.

 

[rhys333]

Well, I went with neutral yeast and subbed Centennial for Cascade, but I kept the grain bill as is. It's been bottle conditioning for just over a week, but I sampled one last night and so far I'm really pleased with it. I wasn't sure how 5% pale chocolate would come across, but its not roasty at all. It has a deep complex flavor to it though and going by SRM it might qualify as either an American amber or British brown. If it continues to develop I'll post this one in the Homebrew Ale Receipes section.

 

[rhys333]

Well, it's a couple weeks in now and I can say I have a decent AMBER ale here. It's on the darker side of srm, but not nearly dark enough to be considered a brown. Looks darker in the attached photos despite my best efforts to capture the ruby tone. The 5% pale chocolate and 3% C120 combine for a malty licorice type flavor. The foam really sticks to the glass too.

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